BLEMF 2023
Early Music Crossroads
Arabia, Iberia & Latin America
May 21-28, 2023 | SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
BLEMF 2023: Early Music Crossroads maps musical connections across Arabic regions, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Americas during the early music period, revealing deeply complex cultural relationships that emerged from centuries of conquests, occupations, and colonialization. Musicians long stood at these intersections, both in times of peace and of great conflict and oppression. Their music influenced cultural exchange among communities and individuals, putting forward their own distinctive traditions or absorbing and adapting elements of traditions they encountered. The result was a musical world resonant with social, political, and cultural history over the course of nearly a millennium.
In few places was the mix of cultures more profound or the reverberations more far-reaching than al-Andalus during seven centuries of Arab Muslim rule, and the so-called “New World” over the next four centuries of Spanish colonialism. That such history produced art of great and lasting beauty is a complicated paradox, yet it is also a valuable opportunity for us today. It is through this art—the glorious and inspiring music of Muslims, Jews, Christians, and indigenous peoples of the Americas—that we invite you to hear and better understand the past.
BLEMF Events are FREE & OPEN TO ALL.
Virtual Concerts will be available for streaming until JUNE 4th!
THE BLEMF 2023 VIRTUAL CONCERT SERIES IS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY STANLEY RITCHIE.
We regret that due to travel issues, Cantoría will not be joining us for their Friday evening concert this year. But we are excited to announce that they will instead join us for BLEMF 2024!
Learn more about the festival’s offerings:
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All in-person concert venues are handicap-accessible. Pre-concert discussions take place prior in the same venue.
No tickets or RSVP necessary to attend!
Live Concerts & Pre-Concert Discussions will be livestreamed and available for streaming soon after the festival.
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Enjoy Virtual Concerts & Discussions from the comfort of your own home.
Or join us for free public screenings at 6PM at FAR Center for Contemporary Arts (Monday to Wednesday) & Lotus Firebay (Thursday & Friday). Saturday screenings at Lotus Firebay at 2PM, 4PM & 6PM.
All Virtual Concerts will be available for streaming until JUNE 4th.
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Educational workshops, other than Tavern Hopping Through Time are designed for children and the young-at-heart. Kids under the age of 9 should be accompanied by an adult.
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On the day of the concert, “Watch concert!” and “Watch pre-concert discussion” buttons will appear below the concert listing. Click the button and you will be redirected to the Bloomington Early Music YouTube page.
For VIRTUAL CONCERTS & DISCUSSIONS, these buttons will take you directly to that video which will premiere at the posted start time.
For LIVE CONCERTS & DISCUSSIONS, you will be directed to the main YouTube page where you will click on the “Live Now” video at the posted start time. Concerts will also be live streamed on our Facebook page at the scheduled start time. The recording will then be available to watch on our Facebook video page.
Sunday, May 21
Opening Night!
8:00pm | Live Concert
Nota Bene
Continental Drifters
Nota Bene takes the audience on a 16th-century musical tour of unexpected connections from the Iberian Peninsula across the European continent, Asia, and the Americas. The program begins in Spain with Cristóbal Morales, whose works were admired throughout Europe and performed as far west as Mexico and as far south as Angola. The tour then moves to music that traveled to distant lands with missionaries and traders, exploring Portuguese music taught to Japanese children, French music transported in Spanish ships and copied by Guatemalan natives, and Spanish music performed and adapted by Mexican musicians.
This Opening Night performance by the renowned Nota Bene viol consort sets the stage for BLEMF 2023, giving life to the music of Iberia—itself an amalgamation of traditions dating back to the Islamic conquest and occupation—as it traveled around the world and deep into the Americas during the colonial period. (Boston, MA & Bloomington, IN)
7:15pm | Pre-Concert discussion with Nota Bene director and founding member Sarah Mead and BLEM board member and baroque violinist Ingrid Matthews
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
Livestreamed at www.BLEMF.org
Photo: Joan Hill Photography and Design
GENEROUSLY NAMED BY PAUL W. BORG
Monday, May 22
2:00pm | Workshop
What’s that Sound?
Making Early Music
Start the week of workshops with the sounds of music! As the educational workshop series begins our exploration of everyday life in earlier days, we take a first and close listen to the music itself. How do instruments make sound? Why does the shape of an instrument and how it’s put together matter? And why do instruments sound different in different spaces? Learn about acoustics, instrument construction, and how these all came together to make the sounds of music hundreds of years ago.
Led by Adrian Murillo
Workshop runs 2:00pm-4:00pm.
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
6:00pm | Public Screening
Asefa
Mediterranean Encounters: Judeo-Islamic Soundscapes
Mediterranean Encounters traverses the Arab-Andalusian past as carried by Jews and Muslims into North Africa. With songs performed in Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, and Ladino, this world-renowned ensemble draws upon a rich intercultural mix of Hebraic and Islamic traditions from North Africa and the Middle East while delving into Andalusian and Maqam-based musical dialects, to create an exhilarating and enlightening musical experience. (New York, NY)
5:45pm | Pre-Concert Discussion with ASEFA director Samuel Torjman Thomas and ethnomusicologist and Jewish Studies scholar Judah Cohen
Screening at FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
12:00pm | Released at www.BLEMF.org
SUPPORTED BY THE LOU AND SYBIL MERVIS CHAIR IN THE STUDY OF JEWISH CULTURE, INDIANA UNIVERSITY
8:00pm | Live Concert
Hamid al-Saadi with Safaafir
Maqams of Baghdad
Showcasing the repertoire of an ancient musical art form unique to Iraq, Maqams of Baghdad offers soulful melodies, ornate vocalism, and complex improvisations underscoring texts from secular Arabic poetry to Sufi mysticism. Safaafir, the only US-based ensemble dedicated to Iraqi maqam, is joined in this performance by Hamid al-Saadi, a singer known throughout the Arabic music world for his powerful voice and comprehensive knowledge of Iraqi tradition. (New York, NY & Bloomington, IN).
7:15pm | Pre-Concert Discussion with Safaafir director Amir ElSaffar and BLEM board member and musician Tomás Lozano
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
Livestreamed at www.BLEMF.org
SUPPORTED BY LIBBY DEVOE
Tuesday, May 23
2:00pm | Workshop
What’s on Your Head?
Historical Hats & Wigs!
Who wore what on their head, when…and why?? Learn fun facts about historical headwear in this hands-on workshop exploring styles of hats and wigs from different lands throughout the early modern period. Take a tour through art history to enhace your fashion sense, as we survey early modern artwork depicting hats and wigs of pirates and princesses and more. Then use what you’ve learned to design and create your own paper versions of historical headwear to parade about town!
Led by Devon Nelson
Workshop runs 2:00pm-4:00pm.
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
4:00pm to ~10:00pm | Virtual Concert Screenings
Movie Marathon
Drop in or Stay all Day!
Join us for our first-ever Movie Marathon, as we preview all 6 virtual concerts over 6 hours for a real Early Music extravaganza—and enjoy free summertime drinks and scrumptious goodies from Soma! For the adults in the room, beer and wine will be available for purchase. Travel from the Mediterranean and North Africa to La Plata in modern-day Bolivia. Fall Into the Melting Pot during the Spanish Expulsion. Listen to glorious vocal works of Victoria, Lobo, and Lusitano, and the exquisite fortepiano of a rising star at the keyboard. Visit the music salon of the most prolific Peruvian composer at the onset of the Republican era. And dance the decadent fandango in celebration of an evening brilliantly well spent. A full week of virtual concerts in one performance-packed night!
Concerts will be screened in the order they appear on the festival program. Pre-Concert Discussions will not be included in the marathon but are available on our website for viewing at your leisure.
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
WITH THANKS TO OUR FRIENDS AT SOMA COFFEHOUSE
Wednesday, May 24
2:00pm | Workshop
Sword Fighting on the High Seas
Blow me down!
Learn how to fight like a pirate without hurting a fly from a certified, professional stage combat instructor! Set sail across the Mediterranean with our crew of swashbuckling rogues, and thrust and slash your way to victory like the dreaded Redbeard himself. And if you dare to enter the pirate’s den for this seafaring adventure, you get to take home your own (foam!) sword to vanquish your foes—Aaarrrggghhh!
Led by Andrés X. López
Workshop runs 2:00pm-4:00pm.
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
6:00pm | Public Screening
The Telling
Into the Melting Pot
The innovative concert theater ensemble The Telling returns to BLEMF with their most recent film, Into the Melting Pot, set in 1492 during the Spanish Expulsion. At twilight on her final night in Seville, a Jewish woman lights the lamps and finds herself tuned into the voices of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women of past eras across the peninsula. With plaintive Sephardic songs and lively medieval music, her story intertwines with women’s tales of integration, intolerance, and love throughout the ages. (Southampton, UK)
5:45pm | Pre-Concert Discussion with singer, playwright and producer Clare Norburn and historian of the medieval Mediterranean world, Sarah Ifft Decker
Screening at FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
12:00pm | Released at www.BLEMF.org
SUPPORTED BY J. PETER BURKHOLDER & DOUG MCKINNEY
6:30pm | Reception
Harmonia ~ 1,000th Episode Celebration
Join us for a reception to celebrate the 1,000th episode of WFIU’s early music radio program Harmonia! As WFIU is an NPR affiliate, Harmonia is heard across the country and beyond, reminding audiences year round that Bloomington is at the heart of early music in the US. Come early to FAR Center ahead of the evening’s concert to enjoy light refreshments in medieval style and to pick up some Harmonia and WFIU swag!
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
Listen to Harmonia’s recent two-part feature, Ottomania, and get in the spirit of the festival!
8:00pm | Live Concert
MIRYAM
Shir Levi’im: A Song of the Levites
Shir Levi’im (the song of the Levites) traces the thread of Jewish community, resilience, and creativity from medieval Spain and Portugal to baroque Amsterdam, offering a window into the musical life of the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam and the late 17th century synagogue, the Esnoga. MIRYAM frames their program with two new settings of mystical poems by the 11th-century poet Yehuda Halevi and concludes with a new setting of the Kaddish Shalem, a central prayer of thanksgiving and praise. (Boston, MA)
7:15pm | Pre-concert Discussion with MIRYAM director Alicia DePaolo and BLEM board member and early modern music scholar Devon Nelson
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
Livestreamed at www.BLEMF.org
NAMED BY JACK DOSKOW & JEAN PERSON
SUPPORTED BY DANA MARSH AND BY THE LOU AND SYBIL MERVIS CHAIR IN THE STUDY OF JEWISH CULTURE, INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Thursday, May 25
2:00pm | Workshop
Printing & Decorating Music Books
How’d they make that book?
See book-making technologies from hundreds of years ago—a printing press, paper making, and marbling—right here in Bloomington at the Lilly Library. Join us to decorate your own paper, explore the library’s amazing collection of historical music books, and learn to chant from one of the Lilly’s antique antiphonals!
Workshop runs 2:00pm-4:00pm.
The Lilly Library
1200 E. 7th Street
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LILLY LIBRARY
6:00pm | Public Screening
Ensemble Alkymia
Sucreries: Y se va la segunda!
Discover the musical treasures of the city of Sucre, formerly La Plata, capital of the Spanish vice-royalty of Upper Peru! With privileged access to the manuscripts of the Cathedral of Sucre—a collection of Spanish baroque and traditional music that follows both the Catholic liturgy and the pagan calendar—Ensemble Alkymia has created a musical journey of festive rhythms and playful poetry reflecting the syncretism of indigenous and colonialist cultures in sacred celebrations that live on in modern-day Bolivia. (Lyon, France)
Pre-Concert Discussion* available online, with Ensemble Alkymia director Mariana Delgadillo Espinoza and Latin American musicologist Bernard Gordillo Brockmann
*in Spanish with English subtitles.
Screening at FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
12:00pm | Released at www.BLEMF.org
NAMED BY HARLAN LEWIS & DORIS WITTENBURG
8:00pm | Live Concert
Tonos del Sur
Music from New Spanish Convents
This exceptional Bloomington-born ensemble offers a rare glimpse into the worship of cloistered nuns in New Spain in this premiere performance of villancicos from the Sanchez Garza repertory in Mexico City, one of the largest and most important collections of music composed for and performed by women in Latin America. The program brings to life twelve villancicos out of some 400 liturgical manuscripts played by Santisima Trinidad Convent nuns in Puebla, Mexico, from the late 17th century through the end of the Spanish colonial era. Music from New Spanish Convents will also feature the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project’s wonderful new continuo organ! (Bloomington, IN)
Tonos del Sur is a BLEMF Emerging Ensemble.
7:15pm | Pre-concert Discussion with Tonos del Sur director Sarah Cranor, UCLA musicologist Cesar Favila and Northwestern musicology PhD candidate Paul Feller
FAR Center for Contemporary Arts
505 W. 4th Street
Livestreamed at www.BLEMF.org
NAMED BY CATHLEEN CAMERON
SUPPORTED BY THE LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC CENTER, INDIANA UNIVERSITY AND BY FUNDS FROM THE NOAH GREENBERG AWARD OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
WITH THANKS TO THE BLOOMINGTON BACH CANTATA PROJECT FOR USE OF THE WENNERSTROM-PHILLIPS ORGAN.
Friday, May 26
2:00pm | Workshop
Dancing across the Ages
¡Baila Flamenco!
Join Bloomington’s own flamenco instructor extraordinaire, Bette Lucas, and learn the fancy footwork of this famed dance of Spain. With roots in Andalusian Roma culture that first flowered in southern Spain sometime between the 9th and 14th centuries, the dance that was to become flamenco entwined with Sephardic Jewish and Moorish traditions to produce this unique and lively art form. Bring a full dose of energy and get ready to stomp and clap the day away!
Led by Bette Lucas
Workshop runs 2:00pm-3:30pm.
Lotus Firebay
105 S. Rogers Street
7:00pm | Live Concert
The BEMI Players
The Stanley Ritchie Youth Performance
Come hear the debut of the BEMI Players, as they showcase new skills and newly discovered talents from our brand new Bloomington Early Music Immersion program! BEMI brings together middle-school age string players from the area for a week of daylong instruction and activities on historical technique and repertoire. A partnership between Bloomington Early Music and the Historical Performance Institute of the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, BEMI is free to participants and the first program of its kind.
Directed by Sarah Cranor
In partnership with the Historical Performance Institute at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
World-renowned violinist and pedagogue Stanley Ritchie is the principal founder of Bloomington Early Music.
Trinity Episcopal Church
111 S. Grant Street
Livestreamed at www.BLEMF.org
THIS PERFORMACE IS SUPPORTED BY LEAH SHOPKOW AND BY JOANNA BLENDULF & AARON CAIN.
THE BLOOMINGTON EARLY MUSIC IMMERSION PROGRAM IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE SMITHVILLE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION AND BY THE BLOOMINGTON ARTS COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BLOOMINGTON.
Saturday, May 27
10:00am | Workshop
Sing Along with Tembembe!
Join the exciting and energetic Tembembe Ensamble Continuo the morning of their much-anticipated Closing Night concert! Members of this renowned group from Mexico City will teach and lead you in song, pulling from the vast repertoire of Latin American folk music, and introduce you to an array of traditional instruments. There will be room to move, and dancing will be encouraged and wildly fun! Tailored to the younger set, but fabulous for all ages, this workshop is part of Morgenstern’s Books Saturday morning children’s activity series, and we could hardly be happier!
Morgenstern’s Bookstore & Café
849 S. Auto Mall Road
SUPPORTED BY THE ARTS MIDWEST GIG FUND, A PROGRAM OF ARTS MIDWEST THAT IS SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, WITH ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE INDIANA ARTS COMMISSION.
WITH THANKS TO OUR MUSICALLY MINDED FRIENDS AT MORGENSTERN’S
2:00pm | Public Screening
Patricia García Gil
Cross-Compilations
A keyboardist “set apart by consummate musicianship, confident technique and elegant interpretation,” Patricia García Gil assembles an extraordinary collection of late 18th-century music for the fortepiano, tracing the spread of a new enthusiasm for Italian music and this then-innovative keyboard instrument during the time when the old regime was coming to an end. Works by Scarlatti, Soler, Haydn, and others traveled into salons, studios, and libraries across the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America, breaking down barriers of social status and national and cultural difference. (Zaragosa, Spain)
Patricia García Gil is a BLEMF Emerging Artist.
1:45pm | Pre-Concert Discussion with Patricia García Gil and Rutgers University musicologist and historical keyboardist Rebecca Cypess
Screening at Lotus Firebay
105 S. Rogers Street
12:00pm | Released at www.BLEMF.org
4:00pm | Public Screening
Ximenez Quartet
Pedro Ximenez’s Salon
Pedro Ximenez’s Salon celebrates the music of the most prolific South American composer of the early 19th century, Pedro Ximenez Abrill Tirado. Composing during the period when Spanish colonial rule was giving way to the Republican era, Ximenez drew heavily from local and traditional Peruvian musical styles—including yaravíes, an Inca song genre associated with the Independence cause—and European models and aesthetics. This program offers a fascinating exploration of music shaped by colonialism, the fight for freedom, liberty, independence, and ultimately, democracy. (Montréal, Canada)
The Ximenez Quartet is a BLEMF Emerging Ensemble.
3:45pm | Pre-Concert Discussion with Ximenez Quartet violinist and founding member Karin A. Cuéllar Rendón and 19th & 20th century Spanish music specialist Christine Wisch
Screening at Lotus Firebay
105 S. Rogers Street
12:00pm | Released at www.BLEMF.org
NAMED BY SUZANNE RYAN MELAMED & DANIEL R. MELAMED
6:00pm | Public Screening
Mamás Bravas
¡Venga!
During the 18th century, Spain rebelled against the operatic boom of France and Italy, giving birth to Spanish music-theater, embodying deep ties to folk and Gitano culture through entertainment and celebration without regard for social class. Old, young, rich, and poor spilled out into the streets, ready to dance their beloved fandango. This vibrant performance brings Iberian Baroque decadently to life, with a surprise ending that will thrill even the most stoic of listeners. (Melbourne, Australia)
5:45pm | Pre-Concert Discussion with Mamás Bravas artistic director Allegra Giagu and musicologist and director of the Foundation for Iberian Music at the CUNY Graduate Center, Antoni Pizà
Screening at Lotus Firebay
105 S. Rogers Street
12:00pm | Released at www.BLEMF.org
SUPPORTED BY DOLORES RYAN & KEVIN HAINSWORTH, IN MEMORY OF DONALD P. RYAN
Saturday, May 27
Closing Night!
8:00pm | Live Concert
Tembembe Ensamble Continuo
Un Fandango Barroco
“The music of Tembembe illustrates an explosive 17th-century moment when Baroque sensibilities and instrumentation dominant in Europe collided with New world colors and rhythms” –The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Exploring layers of overlap between Hispanic baroque guitar music and traditional Mexican songs, this concert program showcases how and why baroque and traditional expressions are two faces of the same musical coin, distant in time yet close in spirit. Widely celebrated for their festive performances of music, singing, and dance, Tembembe Ensamble Continuo has performed extensively in Mexico, the Americas, and across Europe and Asia, including at such prestigious US venues as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. They have recorded for UDC (Mexico), Sony BMG Deutsche harmonia mundi (Germany), and AliaVox (Spain). (Mexico City, Mexico)
7:15pm | Pre-concert Discussion with Tembembe co-founders Eloy Cruz and Enrique Barona, and BLEM board member and director of the Latin American Music Center at IU, Javier F. León
Trinity Episcopal Church
111 S. Grant Street
Livestreamed at www.BLEMF.org
SUPPORTED BY LINDA HANDELSMAN
THIS ENGAGEMENT IS SUPPORTED BY THE ARTS MIDWEST GIG FUND, A PROGRAM OF ARTS MIDWEST THAT IS SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS, WITH ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE INDIANA ARTS COMMISSION.
Sunday, May 28
… and the Day After!
2:30pm* | Workshop
Tavern Hopping through Time,
caffeinated edition
Celebrate the end of festival week with us!
Drink coffee and be merry while you learn about the role of various drinks in historical Middle Eastern cultures. Join us at the iconic Hopscotch Coffee on the B-line to celebrate the end of festival week and take a peek into early modern coffee houses and the communities they brought together through music and coffee. Indulge in activities showing how both coffee and alcohol culture in Western Europe derive from traditions in the Arabian peninsula and trade across many regions. Hear how musical repertory reflects competing ideas of "intoxicants" of all sorts in the Arabian peninsula and Western Europe. Enjoy free Hopscotch coffee (and for adults, beer, available for purchase) as we explore music and drinking cultures!
Led by Devon Nelson
Workshop runs 2:30pm-4:00pm.
*Please note later time than other afternoon workshops!
Despite earlier information on this site, this year’s Tavern Hopping event is NOT 21+. All ages are welcome, but this workshop is catered towards adults.
Hopscotch Coffee B-Line Cafe 235 W Dodds Street #2
