Electric Earth Concerts will present a mixed-media concert at the Jaffrey Center Meetinghouse on Sunday, Aug. 7, at 4 p.m.
Renaissance scholar Claire Preston and the musicians of LeStrange Viols will draw upon rich connections between literature and music to conjure a view of the 17th-century English cultural landscape. They will begin their exploration with the Elizabethan era, taking listeners on an artistic journey through 17th-century England that includes courtly masque music and the sounds of tumultuous civil war.
Preston will place music of composers William Cranford, Thomas Dowland, Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell in context with observations and readings, weaving together a virtuoso presentation that engages listeners on multiple levels.
Musicians Zoe Weiss, Douglas Kelley, James Waldo, John-Mark Rosendaal, Loren Ludwig, and Kivie Cahn-Lipman first came together in 2014 to record the modern premier of William Cranford’s consort music. Their many previous appearances together in diverse musical combinations and their experience in acclaimed American ensembles allow LeStrange to craft refined and vigorous performances of intricate treasures of the consort repertoire.
Preston is professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University, London. She has held posts at Oxford, Cambridge, and the University of Birmingham.. She was awarded the British Academy’s Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 2005.
Admission is $25.
For more information or to reserve tickets, visit Electricearthconcerts.org.