Pacific Spirit United Church
El Parnasso: La Música de Estevan Daça
Works by: Estevan Daça, Francisco Guerrero, Thomas Crecquillon, and more
Artists: Perrine Devillers, soprano & Ariel Abramovich, vihuela
Pre-Concert Chat: 2:30pm hosted by David Gordon Duke
Runtime: 60 minutes – no intermission
The vihuela, a somewhat mysterious instrument from the Iberian Peninsula that replaced the lute in Spain and Portugal, was the means of realizing the highest instrumental art of this region in the 16th century. This concert presents the works of Spanish composer and vihuelista Estevan Daça from his only musical publication, El parnasso (1576), containing works for solo vihuela and for vihuela and voice, alongside pieces by his contemporaries.
Generously sponsored by Agnes Hohn.
PROGRAMME
Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599)
Prado verde y florido, a quatro
Rodrigo de Çeballos (1525-1581)
Pues ya las claras fuentes, a quatro
Estevan Daça (1537 – 1591/1596)
Fantasía a tres, por el octavo tono
Dame acogida en tu hato
Quando las desdichas mías
Fantasía de passos largos
A tierras agenas
Thomas Crecquillon (ca 1505-1557)
Votre rigueur
Jacob Clemens non Papa (c.1510/1515-1555 /1556)
Je pense en gré
Estevan Daça
Escripto esta en mi alma, a quatro
Quan bien aventurado, a quatro
Rodrigo de Çeballos
Duro mal, a quatro
Estevan Daça
Fantasía por el tercer tono
Ay fortuna cruel, a quatro
Ay, mudo soy, hablar no puedo, a quatro
Quien te hizo Iuan pastor
Gritos dava la morenica
Nunca mas veran mis oxos
Click here to read the programme notes by Dr. John Griffiths
Perrine Devillers, soprano
After studying clarinet and educational sciences in France, Perrine Devillers continued her studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she specialized in vocal interpretation of early Renaissance-Romantic music and obtained a master’s degree. During her years at this world-renowned institution, she studied singing with Ulrich Messthaler and Italian and English Madrigals with Anthony Rooley and Evelyn Tubb. She also followed the teaching of artists such as Margreet Honig, Alessandro de Marchi, Andreas Scholl and Peter Kooij.
She sings regularly with ensembles such as Sollazzo Ensemble (cond. Anna Danilevskaïa), Pygmalion (cond. Raphaël Pichon), Profeti della Quinta (cond. Elam Rotem), Vox Luminis (cond. Lionel Meunier), Ensemble Correspondances (cond. Sébastien Daucé), La Tempête (cond. Simon-Pierre Bestion), Huelgas Ensemble (cond. Paul Van Nevel).
She was Abra in Juditha Triumphans by Vivaldi at the Basel Theater (A. Marcon / R. Wherlock), Belinda in Dido and Aeneas by Purcell in the same city, a Handmaid in Miranda after Purcell at the Opéra Comique in Paris ( R. Pichon / K. Mitchell) and Alcina in La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina by Francesca Caccini (P. Van Nevel).
17th century music holds a special place in her repertoire. For this reason, she performs in various formations throughout Europe, singing court arias, secular and sacred cantatas, madrigals, motets and diminutions and operas. In 2016 and 2017, she collaborated with the Profeti della Quinta for the production of their CDs, dedicated to the composers Luzzasco Luzzaschi and Carlo G – Le Manuscrit Carlo G – which received the Diapason D’or .
Particularly fond of late medieval music, she performs with Sollazzo Ensemble; in addition to tours in the main European festivals, they also released two albums in 2017 and 2018: Parle qui veut , moralizing songs from the Middle Ages – Linn Records – Diapason D’or of the year 2018 and Editors choice Gramophone and En Seumeillant – Ambronay Musique – also Diapason D’or .
Ariel Abramovich, vihuela
Dazzled by a fantasy by Luys de Narváez, Ariel Abramovich decided – being still a teenager – to dedicate exclusively to the lute and vihuela repertoire of the 16th century, a decision he has maintained to this day without any major regrets. In 1996 he moved to Switzerland to study with his teacher and mentor, Hopkinson Smith, at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Later, he will visit Eugène Ferré in France, who will offer him a very special view of the instrument and its music.
In 1998, together with José Hernández-Pastor, he founded the duo “El Cortesano”, a musical project dedicated to the repertoire of the Spanish vihuelistas. In 2008 he undertook another duo project with the British tenor John Potter, revisiting the literature of English “Lute songs”. In 2011, they founded – together with Anna Maria Friman and Jacob Heringman – “Alternative History”. They recorded for ECM a first album, “Secret History”, released in 2017. In 2015 ECM released the quartet’s second recording, “Amores Pasados,” for which musicians such as Tony Banks (Genesis), Sting or John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) contributed with unpublished works and/or written especially for this project.
He founded in 2013, together with soprano María Cristina Kiehr, the duo “Armonía Concertada”, dedicated to Italian and Iberian literature for voice and plucked strings of the 16th century. Together with Jacob Heringman – also a Renaissance specialist – she shares a project dedicated to intabulations for lutes and vihuelas. Together they recorded in 2014 the album “Cifras Imaginarias”, published in 2017, released by Arcana.
He is a member of the ensemble “Da Tempera Velha”, dedicated to Medieval and early Renaissance Castilian repertoire. She also shares, at present, duo projects with the French soprano Perrine Devillers and the Argentine tenor Jonatan Alvarado.
