Memory Lane

Artistic Director Patrick Dupre Quigley interviews scholar Craig A. Monson about the music on Seraphic Fire's April 2025 concert, Baroque: Angels Behind the Walls.Craig A. Monson is Paul Tietjens Professor Emeritus of Music at Washington University in St.Louis, where he taught for three decades. His publications on convent music include Disembodied Voices: Music and Culture in an Early Modern Italian Convent (1995), Nuns Behaving Badly: Tales of Music, Magic, Art, & Arson in the Convents of Italy (2010), and Divas in the Convent: Nuns, Music, & Defiance in 17 th -century Italy (2012). More recent writings include Habitual Offenders: A True Tale of Nuns, Prostitutes, and Murderers in 17 th -century Italy (2016) and The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most Notorious Poisoners (2020). In addition to musicological venues, he has spoken at the Kimball Art Center (Fort Worth), the Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), and on NPR’s Fresh Air and BBC3’s The Early Music Show. His next book, Identity Theft in Renaissance Italy: The Case of Andrea Casali, should appear in 2025.CreditsHostPatrick Dupre QuigleyGuestsCraig A. MonsonProducer⁠Alexis Aimé⁠⁠Watch on YouTube

Artistic Director Patrick Dupre Quigley interviews scholar Honey Meconi and guest conductor Amanda Quist about the music on Seraphic Fire's January 2025 concert, Renaissance: The Capilla Flamenca.Honey Meconi is the inaugural Arthur Satz Professor at the University of Rochester, where she is also Professor of Musicology at the Eastman School of Music. She is the founding editor of the monograph series “Oxford Studies in Early Music” for Oxford University Press. She is a specialist in music before 1600, and her many publications include Hildegard of Bingen (the first English-language book on Hildegard as composer), Pierre de la Rue and Musical Life at the Habsburg-Burgundian Court, and a continually expanding series of performing editions of Hildegard’s music, freely available online. Her research has been supported by Fulbright, Mellon, and NEH Fellowships as well as numerous other grants. A lifelong performer, she is co-recipient of the American Musicological Society’s Noah Greenberg Award “for distinguished contribution to the study and performance of early music.” Her public musicology blog, The Choral Singer’s Companion: Music History with a Soupçon of Snark, is read worldwide.  Dr. Amanda Quist joined Western Michigan University’s Irving S. Gilmore School of Music as Director of Choral Activities beginning Fall 2024. A WMU alum and Michigan native, Dr. Quist comes to Western from the University of Miami, where she has served as Director of Choral Studies for the Frost School of Music. Quist’s previous post was at Westminster Choir College, where she served as Associate Professor and Chair of the Conducting, Organ, and Sacred Music Department. She is the recipient of Westminster Choir College’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Mazzotti Award for Women’s Leadership. The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and New York Classical Review have described Amanda Quist’s work as “transformative, beautifully prepared, gripping,” “bridging the vocal and instrumental textures with perfect intonation,” and “leaving the audience breathless.” Dr. Quist has collaborated in choral preparations with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Palm Beach Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Seraphic Fire, and the Spoleto Festival. CreditsHostPatrick Dupre QuigleyGuestsHoney MeconiAmanda QuistProducerAlexis Aimé Watch on YouTube

Associate conductor James K. Bass interviews scholar Judah M. Cohen about the music on Seraphic Fire's November 2024 concert, "Contemporary: Jewish Voices." Judah M. Cohen is associate dean for faculty affairs, research, and creative activity, and professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, as well as the Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture in the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program in the College. His research interests include music in Jewish life, American music, musical theater, popular culture, Caribbean Jewish history, diaspora, and medical ethnomusicology. His training as a musicologist and an anthropologist, and his professional activity within Jewish studies have allowed him to explore many aspects of Jewish culture and history. Over the course of four books and over 50 articles, Cohen has explored the idea of Jewish cultural expression as a dynamic and ever-changing process, created and recreated over time by artists, religious leaders, philosophers, and activists. He has aimed to understand this idea largely through the prism of sound and its relationship to ideas of Jewish identity. Credits: Host: James K. Bass Guest: Judah M. Cohen Producer: Alexis Aimé Watch on YouTube

Artistic Director Patrick Dupre Quigley interviews scholar Honey Meconi about the music on Seraphic Fire's October 2024 concert, "A Brief History of Western Music." Honey Meconi is the inaugural Arthur Satz Professor at the University of Rochester, where she is also Professor of Musicology at the Eastman School of Music. She is the founding editor of the monograph series “Oxford Studies in Early Music” for Oxford University Press. She is a specialist in music before 1600, and her many publications include Hildegard of Bingen (the first English-language book on Hildegard as composer), Pierre de la Rue and Musical Life at the Habsburg-Burgundian Court, and a continually expanding series of performing editions of Hildegard’s music, freely available online. Her research has been supported by Fulbright, Mellon, and NEH Fellowships as well as numerous other grants. A lifelong performer, she is co-recipient of the American Musicological Society’s Noah Greenberg Award “for distinguished contribution to the study and performance of early music.” Her public musicology blog, The Choral Singer’s Companion: Music History with a Soupçon of Snark, is read worldwide. Credits HostPatrick Dupre QuigleyGuestHoney Meconi Production Credits Alexis Aimé, producer Watch on YouTube

On the occasion of the ensemble's 20th anniversary season, Artistic Director Patrick Dupre Quigley takes listeners on a stroll down memory lane. Enjoy never-before-released archival recordings and hear Quigley's recollections on standout concerts of the past 20 years. The show begins with excerpts from a 2008 performance of Handel's Israel in Egypt followed by a selection from Seraphic Fire's 2011 collaboration with Jewish cantor George Mordecai. Later on, you'll hear a medley of spirituals featuring countertenor Reginald Mobley from the 2008 concert When the Saints Go Marching In – an imagined jazz funeral for Quigley's native city of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The podcast closes with a lively encore from the 2007 program SWAY!

Welcome to the Seraphic Saturday Podcast Companion. In this episode, Dr. James K. Bass leads us through the recent history of professional American choral ensembles with the help of Bass Eric Alatorre, and conductor Craig Hella Johnson. With Eric’s decades-long tenure at Chanticleer, he takes us through the ensemble’s beginnings to its award winning present, while Craig reminisces about Conspirare’s impressive path forging the way for professional choral ensembles throughout the country.

Our second episode this season will delve into the tradition of choral music in America with our host Dr. James K Bass. Dr. Bass takes us through the years of tradition with music of the Shakers, Fisk Jubilee Singers, and Robert Shaw.

Welcome to the Seraphic Saturday Podcast. Our twelfth episode is a compendium of information about Hiledgard von Bingen to accompany the release of Seraphic Fire's newest recording Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo virtutum. In this podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. Honey Meconi, noted Hildegard scholar and artistic advisor, to discuss Hildegard's life and work. We also hear from several of the recording artists of this disc, as they discuss the challenges and joys of the music and the recording process. You can purchase Hildegard von Bingen: Ordo virtutum by visiting SeraphicFire.org/Recordings or calling our Box Office at 305.285.9060. Tickets also are available to see this historical masterpiece come to life onstage in January 2022 with the women of Seraphic Fire, led by internationally lauded opera and Broadway stage director, Francesca Zambello. Visit SeraphicFire.org for more information.

Welcome to the Seraphic Saturday Podcast Companion. Our eleventh episode is a deep dive interview with our host, Patrick Dupré Quigley, and one of our original Seraphic Fire members, Alvaro Bermudez. Though no longer singing with the group, Alvaro is an integral member as a composer and guitarist. Seraphic Fire will be premiering Alvaro’s newly commissioned “Danzas del Silencio” this May, sponsored by the Knight Foundation. Listen along as Patrick and Al recount his history with Seraphic, the Colombian musical style, and his composed pieces written specifically for Seraphic Fire.

Our tenth episode features Artistic Director Patrick Dupré Quigley doing an in-depth dive into Bach's incredible Cantata "O ewiges Feuer." This piece, which was recorded individually by our artists in their homes, will be featured on our next Season S production, “Eternal Fire.”