Online Newsletter

The Boston Camerata flies to Paris, France this weekend for a special concert reprise of its well-known "Sacred Bridge" program. Joel Cohen will lead the Camerata, assisted by the Sharq Arabic Music Ensemble, in a performance of medieval music from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim sources.

Camerata is a frequent guest in Paris concert halls. The upcoming performance on Sunday April 22, at 4 P.M. will take place under the auspices of Radio France, the French National radio, and will be given in their main concert hall in the 16th arrondissement. More information on the event is available here .

Further overseas tours by the Boston Camerata are in the advanced planning stage for the 2007-2008 season, and will be announced shortly.

"That's Entertainment" --
"The Night's Tale" triumphs in Boston

The March weekend weather was cold and miserable,  the streets clogged with snow and ice,  but the Camerata faithful who came to the American première performances of "The Night's Tale: A Tournament of Love" were treated to something hot.

The Boston Globe reviewer used language we are more used to seeing in reviews of rock concerts: "Raucous," "gleeful,"  "impulsive" and "rowdy" were some of the terms he employed.   "Superb...zest and elegance up front,"  he continued.  "This group was so committed and immediate, you forgot that the music was 700 years old. That's entertainment."

The audiences for the two performances were in agreement, as spontaneous standing ovations greeted the cast each night.   Rendezvous for the musicians in a little over three months,  for a July reprise of the show in France.  The commercial recording of this production is slated for a September release.

A "Tournament of Love"
plays to a sold-out hall in France

There was not a seat to be had for months in advance. The much-anticipated,  fully staged version of Anne Azéma's Tournoi de Chauvency,  to be heard in concert version next March 16 and 17 in Boston ,  premièred to a capacity audience in Metz ,  France ,  on the last day of Feburary,  to cheers and bravos from the packed hall.

The musical production,  based on a medieval narrative of a tournament in a French castle,  was given a sumptuous staging by Italian-born stage director and choreographer Francesca Lattuada.  

After a week of recording for the French label K617,  and a second performance at the Grand Théatre of the Duchy of Luxembourg, Anne and the cast members will travel to Boston for their appearances on Camerata's subscription series.

Following the Tournoi's dress rehearsal, A Metz-based internet blogger was among the first to write down his impressions:

It is a magnificent production, influenced by Japanese No theatre,  a formative influence on the Italian artist.  Costumes with just the right touch of modernity,  breathtaking in their richness of creativity,  with totally complementary voices -- especially touching are those of baritone Marc Mauillon and soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani.  And of course,  there is Anne Azéma, who has been in a medival-themed  residence for three years in Metz .  She is at the origin of this show, to which she offers her magnificent voice and her winning personality.

Not a single false note to the evening.  We await the recording with impatience.

"MAGNETIC SENSUALITY":  FURTHER PRESS EXCERPTS, 
FEBRUARY – MARCH 2007

“A project that may very well alter the way we look at the Middle Ages….Anne Azéma's interpretation  is by turns evocative and distant… a new and liberated manner imposes itself….in the course of the performance,  the [performer's]  outer shell falls, to reveal another body,  and an interior landscape,  in an evocation of the art of our own time.  A dream world is present at the rendez-vous.”
Roger Tellart,  Diapason ,  March 1 2007

“Anne Azéma's voice appears,  sovereign in the ray of light, often expressing itself a capella, mastering the fiorituras and shaping a clear, rigorous,  and subtly nuanced vocal line.”
Georges Masson,  Liberté de l'Est ,  March 2, 2007

“Annie Dufresne,  Jennifer Ellis Kampani, Els Jannsens, Marc Mauillon, David Newman, Stephan Olry,  and Jean-Paul Rigaud,  in the very sparseness of their movements,  give off  magnetic sensuality of love or attraction”
RL ( Metz ), February 27, 2007

Boston-area music lovers are invited to reserve their seats now for the concert version of this extraordinary new work,  presented by the Boston Camerata!

TO ORDER TICKETS VIA THE WEB PLEASE CLICK HERE OR PHONE OUR TICKET LINE AT 1.866.427.2092.

Our photographs:  1. The male singers of the Tournoi cast   2. Anne Azéma and Francesca Lattuada conferring onstage during a rehearsal

We welcome your inquiries. The Boston Camerata's highly acclaimed CD's on Erato, Nonesuch, and Harmonia Mundi (here is another chance to consult the current discography ), and other good stuff. All profits from merchandise sales go towards supporting future Boston Camerata projects.

Click on this link for more info concerning Camerata director Joel Cohen; or send him mail by clicking here. To inquire about Camerata activities, purchase tickets, order merchandise, offer comments or suggestions regarding what's on our Web site, we welcome email at the following address: manager@bostoncamerata.org