Artist profiles Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Odaiko New England Liber UnUsualis Julie Kaufmann Dancin' Trent Arterberry Tony V Janice Allen Airborne Comedians Opera UnMet William Tremblay and Rob Gonsalves Excelsior Artie Barsamian Weepin' Willie Karen Aqua and Jane Gillooly Harriet Casdin-Silver and Kevin Brown Through the Looking Glass Artists Mitch Ryerson Babaloo Angry Salad Leeny Del Seamonds and Gideon Freudmann Program guide Events by category Friday's schedule Saturday's schedule Sunday's schedule More information The basics; tips; highlights Last-minute ideas Return to the main feature Official First Night site Weekly Health | Science (Mon.) Food (Wed.) Calendar (Thu.) At Home (Thu.) Picture This (Fri.) Sunday Automotive Focus Learning Magazine New England Real Estate Travel City Weekly South Weekly West Weekly North Weekly NorthWest Weekly NH Weekly Features Archives Book Reviews Columns Comics Crossword Horoscopes Death Notices Lottery Movie Reviews Music Reviews Obituaries Special Reports Today's stories A-Z TV & Radio Weather Classifieds Autos Classifieds Help Wanted Real Estate Help Contact the Globe Send us feedback Alternative views Low-graphics version Acrobat version (.pdf)

COVER STORY First Night 2000: A sampler Apocalypse then     MORE INFORMATION Fri. 9-9:45 p.m., 10:15-11 p.m. First Lutheran Church Liber UnUsualis Many acts at First Night take the new millennium as their theme. Liber UnUsualis, a medieval and early Renaissance vocal trio, considers it in the context of the turn of the last millennium, and intones biblical warnings about the apocalypse. "We chose it all by the texts," says singer William Hudson of the program. "We wanted it all to have to do with apocalypse. We do have one text that goes 'In sweat the earth shall bathe at the sign of judgment.' There are various gnashings of teeth and threats of eternal flame." Much thought and research went into choosing the songs. "It's not just a wash of our favorite medieval tunes," Hudson points out. "Medieval music is sometimes difficult for the modern ear." The oldest work Liber UnUsualis will perform dates back a thousand years. It's from a 10th-century Spanish manuscript, and the group refers to it by the first words of its text, "Iudicii Signum." "It's a monophonic chant," Hudson says. "We'll take turns on the verses, and do the refrain together. There will be an octave switch." The group comprises Hudson and two women, Carolann Buff and Melanie Germond, who met at the Longy School of Music when they were all working on their master's degrees in early music. Hudson enjoys being part of Liber UnUsualis because of its academic slant, and because the work the group performs often hasn't been sung in centuries. "I enjoy digging around in libraries, finding someone to translate, and then performing a song that has never been heard by the audience before," Hudson says. Of course, there are a few new twists - like singing coed. "In the 10th or 11th century, women and men would never have sung together," Hudson observes. "I think we're beyond that in the 20th century." - Cate McQuaid Previous page | Next page

	© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company	Extending our newspaper services to the web	Return to the home page of The Globe Online