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2014

Montreal Medieval Festival 2014

BREAKFAST ON THE LAWN

During the 2014 edition of the Montreal Medieval Festival, we presented 3 concerts:

Ensemble EYA
presents:

Déjeuner sur l'herbe
Songs of nature and dawn in times of the Troubadours

This program assembles a few troubadours, trouvères, and minnesänger around a Picnic. We savour songs about dawn, spring, nature, as well as excerpts from the famous Carmina Burana. The bird songs announce the end of winter, lovers do what lovers do, and the wine flows...

When the nightingale sings night and day with his companion, I am with my beautiful lover underneath the flower, until the nightwatch cries, "Lovers awake! I see the sun rising and the day is clear."

Musicians

Femke Bergsma: voive, flutes, medieval fiddle
Jean-Philippe Reny: medieval lute, oud, percussions



THE PANTHER AND THE STORK




Ensemble ALKEMIA

presents:

La cigogne et la panthère

Come and meet the panther, the doe, and the turtledove"; but especially the stork (cigogne), Johannes Ciconia, who flew far away from his native town of Liège and travelled through time for the benefit of us all.

Musicians:

Femke Bergsma: voice, flutes, medieval fiddle
Jean-François Daignault: voice, flutes
Pierre-Alexandre Saint-Yves: voix, flûtes, rauschpfeife
Dorothea Ventura: voice, flutes: portativ organ

BEAST OF PREY, BEASTS OF LOVE



Ensemble SCHOLASTICA and guests
presents:

As with most facets of medieval life, and as evidenced in Gaston’s Livre de chasse, the hunt was also imbued with spirituality and thus lent itself well to metaphor. The rules of courtly love poetry were already well established by Gaston’s day, and this included the frequent use of pastoral images. As the hunt gained in popularity as a noble pursuit, so too did its use as metaphor for that other noble pursuit, namely courtly love. Further, medieval poetry often borrowed from Greek mythology, and the ancient poets had also used the hunt to represent the chase and the dangers of love. By the 14th century, poetic depictions of the hunt could weave, against a backdrop of chivalric morality, Greek heroes and heroines into a cast of shouting, horn-blowing hunters and their animals, both domestic and prey -- all of which, ultimately, in typical medieval fashion,were assembled to explore the theme of romantic desire.

Musicians:

Rebecca Bain: Musical director, voice, Medieval fiddle
Catherine Herrmann: voice, organetto
Micheline Racicot: voice, lute
Angèle Trudeau: voice, gothic harp

Invited guests:

Elise Guay: Shawm, bagpipes, tambourinaire
Gary Nagels: sackbut
Daniel Stillman: shawm, flute








MEDIEVAL MUSIC DAYS



Les Reverdies de Montréal celebrated start of its 5th season with its very first Medieval Music Day, celebrating medieval music and the autumnal equinox. This celebration reunited music lovers and musicians, offering a place to get together, share, participate, listen and learn. The afternoon started off with a workshop on Carmina Burana, followed by a concert by Les Reverdies, and a medieval supper.

All details of the event can be found on the following PDF document.