Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 8 pm First Church in Cambridge, Congregational

Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 4pm St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church 87th Street, New York City between Broadway and West End Avenue

For the first concert of its 2011-12 season, Blue Heron welcomes Ensemble Plus Ultra (U.K.), making its US debut, to share the stage for a program of Renaissance English and Spanish music. Directed by Michael Noone, Ensemble Plus Ultra specializes in 16th-century Spanish music and has released numerous recordings of music by Morales, Guerrero and Victoria, including a set of 10 CDs of music by Victoria issued in observance of the 400th anniversary of his death in 1611.

Ensemble Plus Ultra will sing music by Victoria and other Spanish composers; Blue Heron, a grand Salve Regina by Richard Pygott from the Peterhouse partbooks (c. 1540). The two groups will join forces for music by John Browne from the Eton Choirbook (c. 1500) and polychoral works by Victoria and others.

Free pre-concert talk (Cambridge only) at 7:15 by Michael Noone and Scott Metcalfe — sponsored in part by The Cambridge Society for Early Music

“…the American ensemble Blue Heron [has] a fine sense of the idiom of this distinctive music, and their performances are rich, muscular and expressive…the singing and interpretations are impeccable.”

D. James Ross, Early Music Review (UK)

» View/Download Concert Program

Ensemble Plus Ultra