Orpheus, I am (3rd Printing available!)

The Myth of Orpheus in Renaissance and early Baroque Song

EPM Productions 2003 / 3rd printing April 2021

A fascinating journey into the world of English, French and Italian music from the Renaissance to the early Baroque period. Songs that deal with the most important questions of life - with love and war to a rousing eulogy of tobacco!

This program brings the mythical Greek figure of Orpheus to vivid life. Orpheus, powerful singer and player of the lyre, charmed and transformed through the power of his song. As a singer and player of the lute, Joel Frederiksen, recreating ideals put forth in the Renaissance and reaching back to the Greeks, seeks to move the affections of the listeners, to reach the very soul, in concerts of unique intensity. Embodying the character and aesthetic of the Orpheus myth, he accompanies himself in a manner emphasizing sensitive text declamation united with the power of rhetorical principles. Renaissance and early Baroque composers often travelled internationally for study and the furtherance their careers. John Dowland (1563-1626), the "English Orpheus", sojourned to Italy, made important stops in Germany, and eventually procured a position as court lutenist in Denmark. As an American living abroad, Joel Frederiksen looks back to Renaissance and Early Baroque musicians such as Dowland for inspiration, and offers here a program, international in scope, of music from England, Italy and France. Newly reissued in April 2021!

Performers: Domen Marinčič – Viola da Gamba | Sven Schwannberger – Theorbe, Lute | Joel Frederiksen – Bass, Lute und Archlute