Booking and details
Dates Fri, Feb 14 – Sun, Feb 16, 2025
Tickets $20 – $45
Please note: Children under the age of 4 are not permitted.
Celebrate music, love, and poetry this Valentine’s Day weekend. Folger Consort blends medieval music with a bold world-premiere composition by acclaimed composer and Guggenheim Fellow Juri Seo and readings from Geoffrey Chaucer’s A Parlement of Foules by DC actor Holly Twyford.
Chaucer’s 14th-century poem contains the first reference to St. Valentine as patron saint of lovers. For this concert, Seo has created a four-movement work (with movements interspersed among the poetry and period music) that complements A Parlement of Foules, capturing the wit and charm of his avian world through music.
Seo’s new composition, Fowles of Every Kinde, sets five stanzas from the heart of A Parlement of Foules. The piece blends themes of love, nature, and politics through the antics of a parliament of birds. Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales and often called the father of English literature, paints a scene in which over 35 bird species gather to debate matters of the heart, each representing different facets of society.
The program will also feature musical selections that Chaucer himself may have known, including English works from the 13th and 14th centuries. Among these are charming bird songs, engaging dances, and the famous Summer Canon. In tribute to Chaucer’s connection to the French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut, Folger Consort will perform two of Machaut’s songs—the lyrical chanson Rose, lis and the lively Gais et jolis. Rounding out the program are songs evoking birds and bird calls, along with Jacopo da Bologna’s delightful 14th-century Italian piece celebrating the noble eagle.
Artistic directors
Artists
Folger Consort Sponsors
Premier Season Sponsor
Dr. Bill and Evelyn Braithwaite
Andrea “Andi” Kasarsky
Production Sponsor
Gail Orgelfinger and Charles Hanna
Contributing Sponsor
Mr. Leslie Taylor
Associate Sponsor
Robert J. and Tina M. Tallaksen
Artist Sponsor
Karl K. and Carrol Benner Kindel
Pre-concert discussion
Friday, February 14
Join Christopher Kendall and Robert Eisenstein, co-Artistic Directors of the Folger Consort, for a lively discussion with guest artists from 7:00pm-7:30pm before the Friday, February 14 performance.
Free entry with concert ticket.
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