BRUISED PEACH FESTIVAL

Mainstage

Freelance Nun performs "Into the Garden" -- a concert of new music composed by members of the ensemble and centered around the medieval visionaries Hildegard of Bingen and Herrad of Hohenbourg. Tracy Cowart (voice, electric harps, percussion), Sian Ricketts (voice, recorders, and douçaines), Jim Hopkins (synths), Charles Mueller (electric bass), and Cameron LeCrone (percussion) form a bridge between the past and present, allowing us to marvel at the brilliance of these two women and take hope in exploring the human expression of the divine feminine.

This performance is part of the 2024 BRUISED PEACH FESTIVAL mainstage, which  exists to "encourage us all to embrace life's bruises a little more within the warmth of a collective space." This one-of-a-kind event invites the audience to discover new music, delve into tarot and astrology readings, and  connect with people who share a passion for creativity and self-expression.

The event is open to the public, but the hosting organization (Rubulad) requests that attendees register for tickets in advance to be notified of the location. Tickets are $15-$18.

Uncle Nun

FN with Weird Uncle

Weird Uncle & Freelance Nun come together to explore early American sacred and secular music traditions like Jug Band, Sacred Harp, Mining Songs, and Old-time Fiddle Tunes while incorporating recently restored New England viols and dulcimers from the 1800s, medieval bray harps and recorders, Chinese spike fiddles and Moroccan bass banjos, percussion, jaw harp, and harmonica. This collaboration brings historically regional musical communities into conversation with the larger modern pantheon of music around the world, finding similarities across cultures while examining them through different lenses. Reflecting America's rich syncretic past, "Weird Nuncle" keeps you guessing where one tradition begins and another ends. 

Part of the Kindred Spirits Arts Program 2024 Summer Concert Series

A FINE COMPANION

album release concert

FINE COMPANION is an album of newly composed settings of troubadour songs and texts, written in a dream-pop /shoegaze/ psychedelic rock style for an amplified combination of medieval and new instruments. The texts of this project were chosen by Charles Mueller (composer) and the ensemble, with a focus on troubadour lyrics that expand or refute the standard tropes of chivalrous love by choosing poems from a feminine perspective, and by delving into the metaphysical and spiritual subsets of the genre. The unbridled sensuality of the arrangements creates space for a raw experience that inspires a visceral reaction in the listener. Mueller has used pre-existing troubadour music as a melodic and modal prompt on a number of pieces, with direct quotations organically morphing as if in an inspired game of telephone.

HILDEGARD REFRACTED

Music from 12th Century nun Hildegard von Bingen's visionary ecstasies seed a synth-rock odyssey. these experimental arrangements are sung & played on old and new instruments - including medieval winds, synthesizers & electric harp.

BLOOD, BOOZE, AND BETRAYAL

album release concert

Long Echo Records release party for: *** Blood, Booze & Betrayal *** by Freelance Nun + Chivalrous Crickets

“Blood, Booze & Betrayal” features features Freelance Nun’s forays into the delightful macabre with our likewise off-kilter Celtic friends from the band the Chivalrous Crickets. Hear traditional tunes about dark choices ("Three Ravens/Twa Corbies" and "Cruel Mother"), drinking songs (the American "Three Nights Drunk" and its much earlier Scottish predecessor "Ham Came Our Gudeman at E’en"), and a newly-composed cantata about the travels of the relic hand of Saint James...from the point of view of the hand. It's a neo-baroque/folk/old time/new music album with early instruments like recorders and viols rubbing frequencies with accordions, Irish whistle, and harmonica.This album

Blood, Booze & Betrayal is opened by SIBYL, a newly formed sister duo that performs original compositions and newly imagined arrangements of folk songs by setting intricate vocal harmonies over sparse string lines. Their sound is both intimate and intense, hopeful and haunting…BOO!

Doors at 7:30

Sybil at 8pm

Freelance Nun + Chivalrous Crickets at 8:30

Event location will be texted to all RSVP'd guests the day before the show. It is ~3 blocks from the Halsey L train.

HILDEGARD REFRACTED

Featuring experimental arrangements of the music of 12th-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen sung & played on old and new instruments - including medieval winds, synthesizers & electric harp. Pieces are juxtaposed with lighthearted video content created by the performers that explore Hildegard’s medical and mystical writings.

Other artists on the program include:

Aron Zelkowicz and Christina Wright-Ivanova
Todd Reynolds, violin
Aizuri String Quartet