Cancionero: Music of Three Spains

Utopia finishes its season with Spanish flair! For eight centuries the blending of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish cultures left its mark on Spanish music. The musical influences that came together to produce flamenco and found their way into Latin American music were first expressed in pilgrim songs from Santiago da Compostella, the music of Sephardic Jews, and folk traditions of Muslim Spain.

For this concert, Utopia co-founders Emily Nelson (soprano) and Christopher LeCluyse (tenor) will be joined by local singers Gretchen Windt (mezzo-soprano) and Ricky Parkinson (bass) and Lisa Chaufty (recorder). Visiting artist Adam Cockerham (lute) joins us from New York. The program includes haunting Medieval chants from the Las Huelgas Codex and the Codex Calixtinus, songs of yearning from the lute song tradition, and lively rhythms including the chacona, a native of the New World. Songs gathered from Sephardic Jewish and Andalusian Muslim communities provide a glimpse of nearly eight centuries of peaceful coexistence among Muslims, Jews, and Christians prior to the Christian dominance of Spain in the fifteenth century. We also present the Christian view of that event in songs that depict the lament of the last Muslim ruler of Spain.