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"Shout, sister, shout!" 900 years of songs about women
ZORGINA's newest concert offering combines popular, traditional, and original music with early music in a program that weaves a tapestry of women's lives in song over 900 years. In medieval cloisters and at Renaissance court, on drawing room settees and in factory assembly lines, from the fields of the Balkans to the shores of the New World, across lines of class, culture and nation, women have told the stories of their lives in song. This timeline of music by and about women, spanning from medieval chant to 1960's girl group hits, offers a fascinating look at how women's lives and society's attitudes about women have changed over the past millennium. And how in so many ways, they haven't really changed at all.

In Winter's Glance - a celebration of the season
The Christmas season has always been associated with an intriguing array of traditions and rituals. An amalgam of a Christian and a pagan holiday, it is a season ripe with contradictions, a time when feasting and revellry, religious homage, garish embellishment, and sober resolution share the same table. ZORGINA vocal ensemble serves up a medieval holiday feast with sacred songs in praise of Mary, medieval carols, songs of celebratory excess, meditative laments, and songs to herald the new year in this concert program that pays tribute to the many elements that make up the season.

Gateway to the Renaissance - Secular Music of the 14th and 15th Centuries:
The 14th century was host to such tumultuous events as the Hundred Years War, the Papal Schism, and the Black Plague. The resulting economic chaos exposed widespread corruption within the church, which strengthened the growing popular disillusionment with religious rule. Intellectuals were drawn towards naturalistic, humanistic modes of thought, culled from the ideas and aesthetics of classical antiquity. These ideas would launch Europe into the Renaissance, and had a profound impact on the arts. In music, unprecedented support for secular composition, along with innovations in musical notation, gave rise to an especially imaginative and diverse body of secular, composed music known as "Ars Nova." ZORGINA offers three concert programs of this repertoire:

"Une Vipere En Cuer..." Pioneers of Ars Nova
In this program, ZORGINA presents vocal music from the rich oeuvre of two of the 14th century's greatest composers, Francesco Landini and Guillaume de Machaut. Their work developed the Ars Nova style, which had its beginnings in the late 13th century, to its compositional and musical apex. They pioneered far-reaching innovations in secular music, and influenced generations of composers to come, among them Guillaume Dufay and his contemporaries.

"Fumeux Fume Par Fumeé..." The Avant-garde in the 14th and 15th Centuries
While many consider avant-gardism to be a modern idea, every era has had forward-thinking artists who developed new, experimental works of art. Following the work of Machaut and Landini to the outer reaches of the Ars Nova tradition, this program presents the most avant-garde compositions of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Music from the intriguing, experimental Chantilly Codex will be featured, as well as a few modern surprises.

Non Mi Lassar Morire! Love Songs of the 14th and 15th Centuries
An intimate look at the poetry of love in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Crushing tear-jerkers, pious devotional songs, and sensual ballades by some of the greatest composers of the time, including polyphonic works by Machaut, Landini and Dufay, compositions from the 14th century Chantilly Codex, 15th century Italian lauda, English and Italian madrigals, and some of the richest love poetry ever written.

"I Know That I'm Too Bold"
ZORGINA presents sacred and secular early polyphonic music by and about women: songs from cloister collections; songs about love, politics, philosophy and folly from the Middle Ages; ardent madrigals from the Renaissance. Works from manuscripts such as Montpellier, Las Huelgas, Montecassino, Pixiérécourt, and Cancionero de Palacia, as well as from the composers Guillaume de Machaut, Antonello da Casserta, Juan Vasques, and others, form a storybook that reveals much about the social and musical life of women in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The program closes with traditional vocal music from the Balkans, where there is an ancient and still-thriving women's singing tradition.

"Frese Nouvelle..." Secular Music from the 13th Century Notre Dame School
The 13th century produced a great wealth of secular polyphonic music, among the most fascinating of which was the motet, a form which might seem quite anomalous today. Several lines of music, either newly composed or adapted from a popular song, were added to a tenor line, usually based on a liturgical chant. Each line of the composition might have its own subject matter, and even be written in a different language. The resulting collage of medieval ideas and languages created a fascinating musical texture. Selected motets from the Las Huelgas, Montpellier, and Florence Manuscripts are featured, as well other highlights of 13th century polyphony, including works by Adam de la Halle (1231-1288), one of the most prolific and forward thinking composers of his time.

This concert program is also offered with the prize-winning ensemble, Les Haultz et Les Bas, performing on shawms, cornetto, bagpipes and percussion.

A Cappella and Alta Capella
The two most important medieval ensembles were the small vocal ensemble and the loud wind band, the alta capella. In this program ZORGINA joins forces with the international alta capella, Les Haultz et Les Bas (prize-winning ensemble at the International Early Music Festival of Bruges, Belgium), performing on shawms, bombards, slide trumpet and bagpipes. With polyphonic music by some of the greatest composers of the time - Dufay, Ciconia, Wolkenstein, and others - ZORGINA and Les Haultz et Les Bas present a concert that showcases the contrasting yet complimentary textures of medieval voices and medieval wind instruments.

The Marriage of Heaven and Earth - the Sacred and Profane in the 13th and 14th century
One of the most interesting aspects of medieval music stems from the close relationship between the spiritual and secular in medieval cultural life. The line between the earthly and heavenly was rarely clearly drawn, but music, especially vocal music, could obscure this boundary entirely. Songs could combine transcendental metaphors and celestial beliefs with political opinion or corporeal longing, from verse to verse or even in different texts voiced simultaneously. The music chosen for this program is from the famous Montpellier, Florence, and Las Huelgas Manuscripts, by anonymous composers, and by such prolific composers as Adam de la Halle, Guillaume de Machaut, and Francesco Landini.

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ZORGINA offers the following workshops for Music, Language Arts, Poetry, Women's Studies, Medieval Studies, English, Foreign Language (French, Italian, German), Literature, Art History, and Semiotics departments. Workshops can be from one to three hours.

A Tapestry of Women's Lives in Song
Songs texts can be a potent vehicle for exploring a society's values and attitudes, and can also provide a voice for social groups underrepresented in the mainstream of their culture. In this workshop we focus on representations of women, as well as writings by women themselves, in song texts spanning 900 years. ZORGINA presents songs and poetry from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the early American period, the early years of the 20th century, and Balkan and other folk music from around the world in an exploration of women's lives in song. English translations of all texts will be provided.

Medieval Music Demystified
How was music written in the Middle Ages? Who were the composers? Who were the performers? Who paid for it? What's this music about? Why does it often sound so strange to us? ZORGINA offers explanations, insights, and anecdotes for both newcomers to early music and aficionados. Activities include 'You Can Write a Rondeau,' and the 'Motet Sing-along'.

Women and Courtly Love
Few people realize the scope of women's freedoms, rights, and responsibilities in the Middle Ages, especially before the 14th century. While peasant women's lives were certainly tough (though probably equally as tough as peasant men's lives), women of class enjoyed a number of 'leisure pursuits' that are encoded, or sometimes fully bared, in the poetry of the Courtly Love tradition. ZORGINA presents medieval songs and poetry, by and about women, in their original languages (English translations are provided), along with excerpts from racy literature by prominent medieval women.

The Renaissance (or, why all of a sudden so much art?)
The Renaissance witnessed the greatest resurgence of secular art in the western world since classical antiquity. By the close of the Middle Ages the political climate in Europe had turned upside-down and everything from gender roles to class divisions to the Papacy itself was affected. Secular vocal music reached its peak, knowing how to sing became a social necessity, and popular songs became more, well, popular. ZORGINA will entertain you will gay madrigals and will discuss the social and political climate of Europe's cultural transformation. Everyone will sing English caches and rounds.

The Golden Harp - Music of the American Middle Ages, 1600-1850
The early European settlers to the New World brought with them a puritanical, devout spirit, an acute sense of mystery and wonder, and an ear for modal harmony. Starting a nation is hard and cruel work, and the vocal music from this time is ripe with hopes and prayers for salvation in an afterlife that could only be better than the hardships of life on earth. This fascinating, moving repertoire will be presented and discussed in its historical context.

In addition to their work as performers, the members of ZORGINA are all experienced educators in early music repertoire, contemporary vocal repertoire, and vocal technique. Each of these workshops can be adapted for periods of time from 1/2 day to up to 2 weeks.

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Repertoire and Vocal Ensemble Study
Groups may choose from a wide range of repertoire according to their interests, including chant, medieval polyphony, madrigals, traditional American gospel and "shape-note" music, and pop and modern music. The main focus of our work will be on expression and interpretation of the selected repertoire to create a stylistically appropriate performance, and a blended and balanced sound within the group. We will also spend some time on vocal technique and will discuss the historical context of the chosen music. This workshop can be adapted for all skill levels and for groups of up to 15.

Vocal Improvisation
Students will be guided both in vocal improvisations on specific harmonies and scales and in improvising with the voice itself, with the goal of exploring the full scope of vocal expression. Participants will be encouraged to suspend their ideas about classical vocal beauty, focusing instead on using the voice as a musical instrument capable of the widest range of expression. This residency is for open-minded singers of intermediate to advanced skill levels. Group size is limited to 12.

Vocal Technique
The focus of this residency is on the bodywork and mental imagery that is essential for developing a freely resonating voice. Through a series of exercises and visualizations, in small groups and individually, participants will learn to recognize and release tension in their own voices, and to identify tension in others. When unproductive singing habits are replaced with proper breathing technique and creative visualization, dramatic changes in the voice can occur in a remarkably short period of time. These exercises can be adapted for all skill levels, but a wide disparity of skill levels within one group is not recommended. Group size is limited to 12.