Category: Pennsic

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Pennsic Performances You Should Know About

Pennsic 45 begins this weekend. Before I head out, I wanted to mention that there are some wonderful friends of mine being showcased this year in the Performing Arts tent who don’t (or haven’t) regularly performed there. You should definitely check these folks out, if you’re wondering how to be profoundly entertained at War:

  • Monday August 8, 8-9 pm: Mar Yaakov HaMizrachi, Tales from “The Book of Delight”
    Tah Sh’ma! Come and hear! Storyteller Mar Yaakov HaMizrachi in performance of his reconstruction of the period work “The Book of Delight” by Yosef ben Meir Ibn Zabara. Zabara wrote this classic work of folk tales in about the year 1200 in Toledo, Spain. Hear how a clever fox seeks to trick a foolish leopard to his doom! Only the leopard’s wise wife stands between our Well Meaning but Foolish Hero and his certain death! In this contest of wit between a loving wife and a cunning foe, whose cleverness shall prevail?
    I wanted to mention this performance first because it’s a late addition to the schedule, and thus may not end up listed in the printed book.

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bardic Pennsic

Pennsic 45 Bardic Arts Exhibition

For those who yearn to get a broad sampling of the Bardic Arts in one place and time during the daytime, I invite you to check out the Bardic Arts Exhibition, which is returning to Pennsic for the fourth consecutive year. This year it will happen on Monday, August 8 (War Week) from 1 – 4 pm in the Performing Arts Tent.

Master Efenwealt Wystle who founded the original Bardic Arts Exhibition at Pennsic in years gone by, has taken over organizer responsibilities from The Honorable Lady Lorelei Skye, and my intention is to continue to assist in helping bring this about in whatever capacity I may. So for starters, here’s a reminder that we  want performers to sign up for the event. Efenwealt’s signup form is a little simpler than what we’ve used in the last few years, so please take a few minutes to sign up.

 

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Pennsic teaching

Teaching at Pennsic

With two weeks to go until Pennsic, I wanted to share that I will be teaching two brand-new University classes at War this year. One is more History than it is bardic, though it focuses on performance pieces. The classes are:

Thy Name Is Woman: Men on Women in Elizabethan England
(Sunday, August 7, 11am – 12 pm, in A&S tent #1)
An exploration, through songs and poetry of the period, of the complex and conflicted attitudes English culture held around women and their role during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. (Yes, this is the class that grew out of last spring’s reflections on women and power.)

The New Bard’s Road Map
(Wednesday, August 10, 1 – 2 pm, in A&S tent #9)
A how-to primer for new or aspiring bards. Developing a repertoire, finding performance opportunities, seeking mentors and patrons, gaining visibility, becoming part of the bardic community.

If you have interest in either of these topics, I look forward to seeing you there.

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concert Pennsic

Guest Performers Line Up

With a month to go until Pennsic, I’m excited to announce that we’ve lined up an awesome roster of guest performers for this year’s concert. The planned guests include: Sir Kenneth Macquarrie and Mistress Adelaide de Beaumont (aka Ken and Lisa Theriot), Master Efenwealt Wystle, THL Emer nic Aidan, Maistre Lucien de Pontivy, and Duchess Caoilfhionn inghean Fhaoláin.

Yes. It’s going to be kind of a crowded set. (So worth it.) Looking forward to seeing you there! Once again, the concert will be from 8-9 pm Tuesday August 9 (War Week) in the Performing Arts tent.

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concert Pennsic

Pennsic Concert-New Night and Time!

This year’s Pennsic concert is now on the schedule, at a new night at time (Facebook event here). This year, I’m opening for Ken and Lisa Theriot (Sir Kenneth MacQuarrie and Mistress Adelaide de Beaumont), from 8 to 9 pm on Tuesday of War Week (August 9). I have been talking with a number of performers about joining me onstage for some collaborative fun. If you’re around that evening, I hope to see you there!

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bardic concert Pennsic period studies teaching

Updates for April

Last month was a whirl of activity (and posts), so I thought I’d quiet things down for a while. There are some things worth updating you about:

  • I am developing a couple of new classes to teach this summer. The first one is based on my research into the way men wrote about women in the Elizabethan period. I will be teaching it at the Wars of the Roses and Pennsic.
  • The second is called “The New Bard’s Road Map”, and I’ll be teaching it at Pennsic.
  • I am learning four new Elizabethan lute pieces, and hope to have one of them ready by Roses, and most of the others by Pennsic.
  • I have signed up for an hour-long concert at Pennsic, which will hopefully be at a new night and time. I am in touch with a few cool friends I hope to have performing with me, because it’s so much more fun that way. More details as we get closer.
  • Master Arden was kind enough to provide me with pretty much all the sheet music he wrote for Hidden Gold in its recorded and live-performed incarnations, and I have added these instrumental arrangements to my bardic work page as well as the individual song pages. (Note that, even if his arrangements don’t have it noted, I do have copyrights registered for all the songs.)

There are other developments, but it’s too soon to share them just yet. Stay tuned.

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Pennsic

Top 10 Moments from Pennsic

I’m a month late sharing my top 10 Pennsic moments. My bad. Here they are now:

10. Hearing the Hidden Gold tracks playing at Camelot Treasures and McGuire’s.
9. Being an organizer for the Bardic Collegium and the Exhibition. It was a privilege to help make those things happen.
8. Sharing a stage with Marian of Heatherdale, Efenwealt Wystle, Kiersa Meise, Olivia Baker, Faye de Trees, and Gwendolyn the Graceful all in the same hour. Being lifted by the support of your comrades is indescribable.

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concert Pennsic

Video: Tam Lin of the Elves (with Heather Dale)

The video from this year’s Pennsic concert had some issues. The camera ran out of storage, so we only recorded a few songs, and the angle doesn’t pick up part of the stage. Nevertheless, I can share some of the experience of getting to perform “Tam Lin of the Elves” with Heather, which was a highlight for me:

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album Pennsic

Review in the Pennsic Independent!

It came a bit late (the last day of the war), but Hidden Gold has gotten (dare I say it?) a rave review in the Pennsic Independent from Maestra Sol la Cantor. Check it out!

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Pennsic

Pennsic Evening

Every year this place and these people sink a little deeper into me. Sat through an incredible feat of performance and an open bardic circle, walked through streets watching people connect and share and love each other, as the sky flickered and flashed with silent lightning and no rain fell for hours. 

Tonight was magic. But it’s always magic here.