Posted on Nov 30, 2009

Boston Camerata, founded in 1954, is one of the world’s oldest continually functioning early music ensembles. On Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m., the group, which plays historically informed compositions from European medieval, renaissance and baroque eras, returns to Union.

Boston Camerata, directed by Anne Azema

During the upcoming concert, Boston Camerata’s distinguished singers and specialists in early instruments will present a Christmas narrative, retold through songs, chants and instrumentals from Spain, Italy, southern France, northern Africa and the Middle East. The pieces the group will play have been drawn from medieval manuscripts and archaic oral traditions.

Boston Camerata, which also performs early American music, appears all over the world. And with more than 30 CDs and videos to its name, the ensemble has clinched many prestigious awards and won critical acclaim over and over again. In 1989, under director Joel Cohen, the group was awarded the coveted Grand Prix du Disque for its recording of the medieval Tristan and Iseult legend.

In addition to live performances, musical education is also important to Boston Camerata members. A highly regarded, annual summer workshop in medieval song was produced by the group in France between 1996 and 2005. And during fall 2007, Boston Camerata was in residency at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Under the auspices of the school’s Marco Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, it was the group’s most extensive and ambitious educational project to date.

The concert is free to members of the Union community. General admission tickets cost $25, though area students may attend for $10. For a complete listing of Concert Series performances, click here.