Friday, July 21, 7:30 PM

Les Canards Chantants

Sex, Drugs, and Madrigals

This amazing vocal ensemble includes six singers, two of them former members of Chanticleer. For this concert they will be joined by lutenist, Charles Weaver, professor of lute at the Julliard School in New York.

Founded in England in 2011, Les Canards Chantants are now based in Philadelphia, where they present concerts of Renaissance polyphony at home and abroad.

Reviewers praise their “elegant vocalism” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “finely tuned vocals, robust singing, emotional flexibility, and sense of adventure” (Broad Street Review), “brilliant and moving programming” (Early Music America), and “liveliness and theatricality” (Boston Musical Intelligencer).

Innovative programs like Sex, Drugs and Madrigals (staged Italian madrigals) have cemented the ensemble’s reputation for daring and entertaining presentation in concert and for engaging with the most unusual repertoire from the Renaissance. Sex, Drugs, and Madrigals is a wild and theatrical ride through the extremes of style, drama, humor and emotion in the late Italian madrigal: Willaert, Marenzio, Gabrieli, Palestrina, Banchieri, Croce, d’India, Schütz, Gesualdo, Valentini, and of course, Monteverdi.