Critically acclaimed Anonymous 4, Early Music Vocal Ensemble, will perform selections from their award-winning repertoire on Saturday, January 31, at 8:00 p.m. in Garrison Theater, located in the new Scripps College Performing Arts Center on 10th and Dartmouth in Claremont. Tickets prices are $10.00 for general admission and $5.00 for seniors and will be available for purchase at the Garrison box office beginning at noon, the day of the performance. There will be no presale of tickets for this event. Doors will open at 7:00 p.m. and seating is festival style, no assigned seats. For additional program information or for directions to the theater, please call the Scripps College Music Department at (909) 621-8280.
Renowned for their unearthly vocal blend and virtuosic ensemble singing, the four women who comprise Anonymous 4 combine musical, literary, and historical scholarship with contemporary performance intuition as they create ingeniously designed programs, interweaving music with poetry and narrative.
Anonymous 4 performs in major cities throughout North America, including New York, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Seattle, and Toronto, among others. Celebrated regulars at major international festivals, Anonymous 4’s appearances include Tanglewood (MA), Wolf Trap (VA), BBC Proms (UK), Lucerne International Festival (Switzerland), Flanders Festival (Belgium), International Oude Muziek Festival (Holland), Brisbane Biennial (Australia), and the Bergen Festival (Norway).
Highlights of Anonymous 4’s 2003-2004 season will include two new recording releases: Wolcum Yule , a holiday season program of traditional and contemporary music from the British Isles, with harpist extraordinaire Andrew Lawrence-King; and American Angels , 18 th -20 th century folk psalmody, hymnody, and gospel songs from New England and the rural South. Anonymous 4 will also premiere The Origin of Fire , their long-awaited second program of music of the 12 th- century abbess, Hildegard of Bingen.
In the realm of contemporary music, Anonymous 4 tours as the voice of Joan of Arc in “Voices of Light,” an oratorio with silent film, composed by Richard Einhorn. Anonymous 4 has performed the work under Marin Alsop, with the Vienna Symphony, and at Lincoln Center with Concordia Orchestra, as well as with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Lucinda Carver. In 2000-2001, Anonymous 4 and the Chilingirian String Quartet premiered John Tavener’s newly-commissioned work, “The Bridegroom.” This piece, and other works by Tavener, are included in their recent release, Darkness into Light . Other new works include Steve Reich’s “Know What is Above You,” and Richard Einhorn’s “A Carnival of Miracles,” both commissioned by WNYC Radio.
Anonymous 4 has appeared on a wide range of radio and television programs, including NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Performance Today” and “Weekend Edition,” MPR’s “St. Paul Sunday,” WETA’s “Millennium of Music,” Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” ZDF’s “Ersteklassich!” (Germany). The ensemble has been featured on A&E’s “Breakfast With the Arts,” as well as on Discovery Health Channel and Fox News Channel.
Anonymous 4’s award-winning recordings for harmonia mundi usa have sold over one million copies worldwide. Their debut recording, An English Ladymass, was named 1992 Classical Disc of the Year by CD Review. On Yoolis Night, received France’s prestigious Diapason d’Or, and The Lily and the Lamb, was Classic CD’s Disc of the Year for 1996. Legends of St. Nicholas was Classic FM’s Early Music Recording of the Year for 1999, and 1000: A Mass for the End of Time , was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. The Second Circle , love songs of the 14th-century Italian composer, Francesco Landini, received Italy’s Antonio Vivaldi Award for 2001, and La bele marie , was given highest rating (10/10) by ClassicsToday.com and was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Their latest release, Darkness into Light, received Le Monde de la Musique’s Choc award.
For more information on Anonymous 4, including additional concert venues and dates, please visit online, www.anonymous4.com.