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player ready...The holidays may be over — but the caroling hasn’t quite ended.
At least not at the Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake where the Marion Consort presents hymns and carols related to the epiphany on Jan. 12.
Amy Bearden founded the consort, an a cappella vocal ensemble that sings music from the Renaissance, medieval and other early historical periods.
“In the church calendar, the word epiphany refers to the 12 days after Christmas, which is how long it took the three wise men to get to where Jesus was born,” Bearden said.
“Most of the Christmas carols we sing during the holidays are about Jesus being born and the shepherds and angels coming to see him,” she said. “I wanted to pull out the specific ones that talk about the epiphany.
“The concert will be a mixture of Renaissance music, which won’t sound Christmas-y at all but has the text of the epiphany, and a couple of carols that are familiar like ‘We Three Kings,'” Bearden said.
The group will also perform a Gregorian chant, a traditional Irish carol and hand bell music, along with a style of hymn singing popular in the 1800s.
Bearden, a music teacher at Horizons Science Academy in Chicago, said the male vocalists will sing a Gregorian chant called “Puer natus est.”
“It has a beautiful melody. It’s one of my favorites,” she said. The consort will also sing polyphonic music from the Renaissance. Polyphony refers to a style of singing in which multiple vocal lines can act independently or in harmony during the piece.
“This kind of music makes me very happy. You have all these things happening on their own and all of a sudden they come together. That will perk up the audience’s ears,” said Bearden, who holds a master’s degree in early music voice from the Early Music Institute of Indiana University in Bloomington.
Since the consort was founded 10 years ago, she recently added a new voice — a counter tenor, which is a male who sings in the female alto and soprano range.
“It was common to have a counter tenor during the Renaissance,” Bearden said. “Women often wouldn’t be singing. The boys would be singing the soprano lines or the men who could sing higher were singing alto lines,” she said.
The group will also sing American hymns in the shape note genre from the 1800s. The notes were written in different shapes.
“It was a teaching tool to get more people to sing hymns in church,” Bearden said. “It’s very loud. It’s very bombastic. It’s very raw. It’s very fun to sing…Shape note singing has this cool little world. There are local shape note meetups.
“Think of it of as real salt of the earth people singing,” Bearden said. “I love it. I think it’s fun to sing loud and proud.”
The consort will also perform an old Irish carol with many verses, some of which mention the three kings, she said.
“The Irish have been performing this carol for 600 plus years,” Bearden said.
She’s also writing an arrangement for soloist and hand bell choir of “The First Noel,” focusing on the verses that relate to the three kings.
The audience is invited to bring snacks and beverages including wine and beer to the concert.
Marion Consort: Music for the Epiphany
When: 4 p.m. Jan. 12
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Location: Byron Colby Barn, 1561 Jones Point Road, Grayslake
Tickets: $20 cash or check
Information: 847-543-1202; byroncolbybarn.com/early-music-series
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.