Italian madrigals are famous for expressing a wide range of emotion: love, humor, longing, joy, lamentation. This Monday you can hear all that and more.Collegium Musicum, Lawrence’s early music ensemble, will perform a concert of Italian madrigals entitled “Madrigali di vita e d’amore.” The ensemble features Lawrence singers and instrumentalists collaborating on pieces from the Baroque, Renaissance, and Medieval periods.
The members are a mix of music performance and education majors, along with other non-music majors. All the members are deeply interested in learning about and performing early music.
Collegium, directed by Richard Bjella, rehearses once a week to prepare for concerts. Various sizes of recorders are often called for, and Steve Butts, who is the director of institutional research here at Lawrence, plays with and coaches the recorder players. Other instruments that have shown up at Collegium concerts include harpsichord, organ, and various types of violas.
One of the greatest features of Collegium is the opportunity for student leadership. Some of the pieces are assigned to smaller groups within the ensemble, and these students rehearse by themselves. This sort of individual work gives Collegium members an experience that can be very hard to come by.
During the concert, Collegium members will give a brief history and insight into each piece, allowing the audience to see the context in which each piece was written. With such a comprehensive approach to the performance, this evening stands to be an exciting time for all.
Collegium Musicum performs this Monday, May 10, at 8 p.m. in Harper Hall.