Upcoming Concerts
COVID-19 Policy: We encourage our audience to wear masks during our concerts but do not require it.
Convivium Musicum 24/25 Season Preview:
Convivium Musicum is thrilled about our upcoming 2024-2025 season, which will feature an exploration of stunning and complex works by Isaac, Lassus, Janequin, and more. We begin our season with Heinrich Isaac, one of the most famous composers of his day, and his most notable pupil, Ludwig Senfl. We will perform some of their most well-known pieces, written for historical events, such as Isaac’s “Virgo Prudentissima,” as well as explore their more humorous side.
In the winter, we will be delving deep into Psalm settings, including one of Lassus’ settings of the Penitential Psalms, which are some of his longest and most substantial works. In the spring, we will look at the many ways in which Renaissance composers used the concept of word-painting to describe everything from frolicking animals to passionate emotions, including works by possibly the most famous word-painter of the period, Clément Janequin.
Save the Dates for Convivium’s 2024/25 Concert Season!
Fall Season
Saturday, November 23
All Saints Church, Brookline
Sunday, November 24
First Unitarian Church, Worcester
Winter Season
Saturday, March 1
First Unitarian Church, Worcester
Sunday, March 9
All Saints Church, Brookline
Spring Season
Saturday, May 31
Christ Church Andover
Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF):
Saturday, June 14
Old West Church, Boston
We are pleased to be participating in the Card to Culture program by offering up to five free tickets per concert to EBT cardholders. This program is a collaboration between the Mass Cultural Council and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services’ Department of Transitional Assistance, designed to make the power of culture accessible to a wider range of Massachusetts residents. See the full list of participating organizations.
Virtual Concerts
Joy & Sorrow, The Music of William Byrd
Convivium explores Byrd’s beloved Mass for Five Voices, together with many other of his works that explore a wide range of expression from sorrow and anxiety to lively joy. 2023 marked the 400th anniversary of Byrd’s death, and we took this opportunity to celebrate his mighty body of work.
Byrd was a Catholic at a time when that religious choice was considered “treasonous” by the British government, and the anxiety and isolation that pressure created can be heard in some of his mass movements and his beautifully longing motets. At the same time, he has many glorious and joyful musical moments as well, and, was not above some lighthearted madrigal fun.
This concert was professionally live recorded on Saturday, February 25, 2023, at Harvard-Epworth Church in Cambridge, MA, by Cole Barbour, Audio and Video Engineer.
While we present this recording for free to all, we ask that you consider making a donation in support of Convivium at www.convivium.org/support. Your donation is 100% tax deductible and supports our mission to bring unique, high-quality Renaissance choral music to audiences in and around the Boston area, providing educational, cultural, and social enrichment for its members and its audience and thereby making a contribution to the community.