(WASHINGTON, DC) – Folger Consort, the early music ensemble in residence at Folger Shakespeare Library, was honored for the fourth consecutive year as Best Classical Chamber Ensemble at the 26th Annual Washington Area Music Award. Winners were announced at a ceremony at The State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, on Sunday, February 19, 2012.
The awards—affectionately known as the Wammies™—are given annually by the Washington Area Music Association, an umbrella organization of Washington area musicians, concert promoters, lawyers, recording engineers, managers, graphic artists, and related businesses.
Folger Consort’s season continues March 16-18 with The Songbird: Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court. This performance centers on the early Baroque music of Francesca Caccini, the 17th-century virtuoso singer and first woman to compose an opera, and features Folger Consort with soprano Michele Kennedy, violinist Risa Browder, and harpsichordist, Joseph Gascho. The season concludes April 13-15 with City of Ladies: the Musical World of 15th-Century Burgundy, inspired by the era of influential 14th century author Christine de Pizan, who wrote The Book of the City of Ladies in appreciation of the achievements of women in history and culture. Folger Consort is joined on the program by countertenor Drew Minter and mezzo-sopranos Barbara Hollinshead and Judith Malafronte. Both events are part of Folger Shakespeare Library’s Celebration of 1,000 Years of Women Writers.
Congratulations also go to Rosa Lamoreaux on her win in the Classical Vocal Soloist category. Lamoreaux, the internationally acclaimed soprano, is a frequent Folger Consort collaborator. The Washington Post has praised her "wonderfully rich timbre and an amazingly flexible voice."
ABOUT FOLGER CONSORT & FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY:
The early music ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library for more than 30 years, Folger Consort presents music from the 12th through 21st centuries, with a focus on the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Artistic Directors Robert Eisenstein and Christopher Kendall are joined by guest artists, including the world’s leading vocalists and instrumentalists in the field of early music. With recordings and early music seminars, Folger Consort continues to add to the interest in and knowledge of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. Janet Alexander Griffin serves as Artistic Producer, and Jennifer Bowman is the Interim Folger Consort Manager. For more on Folger Consort, please visit www.folger.edu/consort.
Folger Shakespeare Library is a renowned center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts. Home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection and a primary repository for research material from the early modern period (1500-1750), Folger Shakespeare Library is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities; a national leader in how Shakespeare is taught in grades K-12; and an award-winning producer of cultural and arts programs—theater, music, poetry, exhibits, lectures, and family programs. A gift to the American people from industrialist Henry Clay Folger, Folger Shakespeare Library—located one block east of the U.S. Capitol—opened in 1932 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Learn more at www.folger.edu.
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