Details

Few composers whose music has graced the Barbican stage can have boasted quite such a colourful existence as the medieval poet and sometime diplomat Oswald von Wolkenstein. Having grown up in a Tyrolean castle, in a world recently ripped apart by the Black Death and immersed in religious and territorial conflict, Wolkenstein became something of a wandering knight with a complicated private life. If his travels greatly embellished the subject matter of his works they also enriched the musical form, as he incorporated French songs into the German style. A singer of warm humanity, Andreas Scholl's creamy and communicative countertenor voice has greatly endeared him to critics and public alike. Tonight's programme, the result of new research into von Wolkenstein, will feature previously unrecorded songs and instrumental arrangements.

Cast/Performers

Bart Vanlaere (narrator), Andreas Scholl (counter tenor), Shield of Harmony, Crawford Young (lute), Kathleen Dineen (voice / harp), Margit Uebelacker (dulce melos), Marc Lewon (vielle / lute / chekker)