Projects

Men’s Voices

In the mid-1980’s, Sequentia began to undertake large-scale projects involving an ensemble of 3-9 men’s voices, directed by Benjamin Bagby, for the performance of chant, music drama, liturgical polyphony and monophonic sacred repertoires. By the late 1980’s the men’s ensemble of Sequentia was a renowned trans-Atlantic collegium (many of the singers came from Boston) which performed and recorded widely in North America and Europe, sometimes under the name ‘Sons of Thunder’. More recently, the ensemble has toured with programs such as ‘Pilgrims to the Apocalypse’ (2000) and in 2004 joined with the men’s ensemble of the ensemble Dialogos (dir. Katarina Livljanic) for the project ‘Chant Wars’, which toured in Europe, North and South America, and continues to be performed. The Boston men’s ensemble premiered a new program in 2008: ‘Carmina Burana’ (with the Boston Symphony Orchestra), and in 2009 a new ensemble of Sequentia’s men’s voices was founded in Paris (see Programs: ‘Voices from the Island Sanctuary’).

Past and present concert programs

Voices from the Island Sanctuary (2009-2010)
The Original ‘Carmina Burana’ (2008)
Chant Wars (with Dialogos, 2004-2010)
The New Voices of Notre Dame de Paris (2002)
Pilgrims to the Apocalypse (2000)
Liber Sancti Jacobi – Codex Calixtinus (1999)
Hildegard von Bingen Project (multiple programs, 1995-99)
Christmas Music from Aquitanian Cloisters (1996)
Singing Stones (1987-88)
Frauenlob (1987-1990)
Music-drama (multiple projects,1985-92)

Sequentia recordings featuring the men’s vocal ensemble

• Chant Wars
  The Carolingian ‘Globalization’ of Medieval Liturgical Chant
  A collaboration with the ensemble Dialogos, directed by Katarina Livljanic
• Frauenlob (Heinrich von Meissen, ca. 1260-1318)
  The Celestial Woman / Frauenlobs Leich, oder der Guldin Fluegel, zu latin: Cantica Canticorum
• Hildegard von Bingen: Saints
• O Hildegard von Bingen: Jerusalem
• Aquitania
  Christmas Music from Aquitanian Monasteries (12th c.)
• Shining Light
  Christmas Music from Aquitanian Monasteries (12th c.)
• Visions from the Book
  Vocal music inspired by Bible stories (12-14th c.)
• Bordesholmer Marienklage (ca. 1475)
• Vox Iberica I: Sons of Thunder / Donnersöhne
  Music for St. James the Apostle (12th century)
• Vox Iberica II: Codex Las Huelgas
  Music from the Royal Convent Las Huelgas de Burgos (13th -14th centuries)
• Vox Iberica III: El Sabio
  Songs for King Alfonso X of Castile and Léon (1221-1284)
• Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361)
  Motets and Chansons
• Philippe le Chancelier (ca. 1165-1236)
  Conductus, Lai, Sequence, Rondellus / ‘School of Notre Dame’

Upcoming Concerts

19 June 2010
Montalbâne Festival, Germany
Fragments for the End of Time

24 September 2010
Cité de la Musique, Paris
The Rheingold Curse

See full concert schedule

News

Early Music America Annual Award

Early Music America, the national service organization for the field of early music, has announced the winners of its 2010 awards recognizing outstanding accomplishments in early music. Benjamin Bagby will receive the Howard Mayer Brown Award for lifetime achievement in the field of early music. The awards will be presented at the EMA Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony at the Berkeley Early Music Festival on 11 June 2010.

Visions of Paradise

In September 2009 a new film about the life of Hildegard von Bingen, directed by Margarethe von Trotta and starring Barbara Sukowa, was released in Germany. More

Interview with Benjamin Bagby

WNYC, New York Public Radio, aired an interview with the ‘Beowulf’ performer, B. Bagby. Listen to the show

Beowulf on DVD

Benjamin Bagby’s legendary performance of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf (part I) recorded live in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Visit the Beowulf website