Piffaro spent a week teaching and performing at the Madison Early Music Festival, where the theme was Shakespeare. The opening concert of the festival featured New York Polyphony, the ensemble of four male singers who will be joining us for Don Quixote, in a program of the four-voice mass by William Byrd. Two members of the group, Christopher Herbert and Craig Phillips, remained to teach for the week, giving us the opportunity to get to know them personally – many a good conversation over beers at the University of Madison Student Union Terrace overlooking Lake Mendota, after a long day of teaching and rehearsing! Sacred polyphony is their main focus as an ensemble, and we will be including a couple such works on our program, but we will be asking much more of them. They will each have a solo or two, as well as dialogue to learn (in Spanish!), and some moving around on stage in the choreography that Christopher Williams is planning for all of us.
Have you heard New York Polyphony? A quick search of press highlights yields effusive praise: “rich, natural sound that’s larger and more complex than the sum of its parts,” (National Public Radio), “singers of superb musicianship and vocal allure,” (The New Yorker), “one of the finest small vocal groups performing today.” (Audiophile Audition) Whew! Maybe you should just listen. Here they are performing a gorgeous Regina caeli written by Cervantes’ contemporary (and fellow pirate-attack survivor!), Francisco Guerrero.
NEW YORK POLYPHONY is:
Geoffrey Williams, countertenor
Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor
Christopher Dylan Herbert, baritone
Craig Phillips, bass
