Blog

Nov 10, 2010

Pablo Corá, a tenor and founding member of the Concord Ensemble – an acclaimed vocal ensemble that performs a wide range of music, from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque era to today – offers an unexpectedly contemporary perspective when he describes the program the group will present with members of Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, "Le tre stelle: Italian Trios for Virtuoso Voices", on November 13 at 8 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Pasadena and November 14 at 3 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica.

"In our time, it would be like the Spice Girls meet the Backstreet Boys in a sing-off," Corá explains. "The trios are not just vocal music, and they're not just choral music. They're like vocal acrobatics from the 17th Century.  The music was written for specific people of the time who were the celebrity voices of the day and who demonstrated an extraordinary ability to sing these extremely demanding pieces."

Musica Angelica lutenist Daniel Zuluaga and guest musician Annalisa Pappano, on lirone and viola da gamba, will accompany the singers. "The use of the lirone is very interesting," Corá reflects. "It's an instrument that was designed to specifically accompany this kind of music in the late 16th through the 17th centuries. Many of us have heard of the lira, described in Greek and Roman mythology. The later Italian interpretation of this instrument was the lirone.  Today there are only a handful of people in the world who play the lirone, so all of us are eagerly anticipating hearing Annalisa perform."