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311 SonnambulaPressPhoto smallerThe ladies of Sonnambula take on the three-part viol repertoire in this program to feature the unique sound of viols, alone. From the soloistic bass writing of Marais in seventeenth-century France, to offshoots in Germany and in Reformation England, we explore some of the most supreme repertoire for the viol while indulging in its glorious sonorities.

Elizabeth Weinfield, Viola da Gamba
Amy Domingues, Viola da Gamba
Shirley Hunt, Viola da Gamba

Praised as “superb” by Alex Ross in The Rest is Noise, and hailed as a “fine home-town group,” by The New Yorker, Sonnambula is a Renaissance ensemble that brings to light unknown music for various combinations of early instruments with the lush sound of the viol at the core. The group has performed on historic instruments at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has been a featured ensemble at the Amherst and Boston Early Music Festivals, and has presented concerts at Alice Tully Hall, Columbia University, and The Museum of Biblical Art in New York, as well as in numerous other venues throughout the Northeast. Now in its fifth anniversary season, Sonnambula will continue its residency at The Hispanic Society of America in New York in 2016 with a concert of Cuban baroque music in conjunction with the Cuban Cultural Center of New York. The ensemble will also travel to Princeton University this season to work with composers to commission new work for viol consort. The name Sonnambula is a reference to the Fantasia, a contrapuntal free-composed form favored by Renaissance composers, and a pun on the Humanist notion that art gives life to metaphor.

Midtown Concerts sponsors lunchtime performances of music of the 18th century and earlier. Ensembles are chosen by a panel of early music specialists from the metropolitan area.

Time: Thursdays, 1:15–2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.

Concerts are in person at St. Malachy's Church, 239 West 49th Street, Manhattan, AND live streamed.