September 05, 2006
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Contact: Scott Silversten
Phone: (718) 862-7232
E-mail: Public Relations |
Parthenia, Consort Of Viols, To Perform At Manhattan College
Quartet receives praise for its repertoire of viols
Performance to feature actor Paul Hecht and soprano Jacqueline Horner
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Parthenia, the much-praised consort of viols, will perform at Manhattan College on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 8:15 p.m. in the Chapel of De La Salle and His Brothers. The program is free and open to the public.
The performance at Manhattan College is entitled “When Music and Sweet Poetry Agree: Shakespeare, Donne and their Elizabethan Musical Contemporaries.” The performance will feature actor Paul Hecht and soprano Jacqueline Horner.
A New York-based quartet, Parthenia has thrilled audiences across the United States and Europe since 1989 with its extraordinary repertoire for viols of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, from Elizabethan England to the court of Versailles. The consort of viols, much loved by musicians in Renaissance Europe, is the precursor of today’s string quartet.
Parthenia has been hailed by The New Yorker as “one of the brightest lights in New York’s early music scene.” The New York Times says it’s “a first-rate consort of viols.” Parthenia collaborates regularly with other ensembles, such as Piffaro and Lionheart and has performed at the Regensburg Tage Alter Musik Festival, among other acclaimed music events.
Rosamund Morley is Parthenia’s treble viol player, and Lawrence Lipnik is the tenor viol. Beverly Au and Lisa Terry are the bass viol players for Parthenia, which is devoted to playing passionate viol consort programs for the contemporary listener. The members are well known individually, as well for their engaging performances with some of the best early music ensembles in America.
“We’re dedicated not just to singing these songs, so to speak, but to making them have a sense of movement through the evening,” says Morley, a former member of the New York Consort of Viols.
Hecht, who served as N.Y. branch president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1991-95, made his Broadway acting debut nearly 40 years ago and earned a Tony nomination for his role as the Player in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. He has also appeared on such television shows as Law and Order and Remington Steele.
A native of Northern Ireland, Horner is a member of the world-renowned ensemble Anonymous 4 and has a career as a soloist, singing the music of composers such as Bach and Babbitt. She also teaches singing and ensemble vocal technique.
For more information about this concert, please contact Liam Mulligan, Manhattan College’s director of performing arts, at (718) 862-7254. More information about Parthenia can be found at www.parthenia.org.
If you are a member of the press and wish to cover the event, please call Scott Silversten at (718) 862-7232 or e-mail scott.silversten@manhattan.edu.
Manhattan College is located at West 242nd Street near Broadway in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, one mile from the Westchester County line and accessible by MTA subway line 1.
Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of undergraduate study in the areas of arts, business, education, engineering and science, along with graduate programs in education and engineering. For more information about Manhattan College, visit www.manhattan.edu.
