{"id":11628,"date":"2019-05-04T07:50:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T11:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=11628"},"modified":"2019-05-04T07:50:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T11:50:59","slug":"metropolitan-chorale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2019\/05\/04\/metropolitan-chorale\/","title":{"rendered":"Unicorns! Gorgons! Manticores! In Metropolitan Chorale’s Collaboration With Puppet Showplace Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unicorns, gorgons and other fantastical creatures abound in the Metropolitan Chorale<\/a>\u2019s performance of Gian Carlo Menotti\u2019s \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and R. Murray Schafer\u2019s \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d<\/a> at First Church in Cambridge at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 4, 2019.<\/p>\n

What makes this performance stand out is that the 100-voice Boston chorus and small orchestra, led by Music Director Lisa Graham, are accompanied by masked performers, puppet unicorns, a giant gorgon and other medieval beasts brought to life by Brookline\u2019s Puppet Showplace Theater<\/a> featuring the Callithumpian Consort. <\/p>\n

\"Rehearsal<\/a>
Rehearsal for \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d performed by Metropolitan Chorale and Puppet Showplace Theater at First Church, Cambridge, May 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThese delightful, rarely-performed works showcase great stylistic range and comedic commentary on social convention,\u201d organizers write.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore,\u201d created by the Italian-born, American composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1956, takes the style of 16th-century madrigal comedy (a precursor to operas as we\u2019ve come to see them, but with no soloists) and uses it to recount the life of a poet who keeps mythical creatures as pets.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Medieval Bestiary,\u201d a 1996 piece by the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, paraphrases from a 12th-century Latin prose bestiary transcribed by T. H. White, the author of \u201cThe Once and Future King.\u201d The medieval attempt at scientific analysis can read as comedic to contemporary ears.<\/p>\n

The puppets from Puppet Showplace Theater, featuring the Callithumpian Consort, add magic\u2014as well as humor.<\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Rehearsal<\/a>
Rehearsal for \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d performed by Metropolitan Chorale and Puppet Showplace Theater at First Church, Cambridge, May 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rehearsal<\/a>
Rehearsal for \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d performed by Metropolitan Chorale and Puppet Showplace Theater at First Church, Cambridge, May 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rehearsal<\/a>
Rehearsal for \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d performed by Metropolitan Chorale and Puppet Showplace Theater at First Church, Cambridge, May 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rehearsal<\/a>
Rehearsal for \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d performed by Metropolitan Chorale and Puppet Showplace Theater at First Church, Cambridge, May 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rehearsal<\/a>
Rehearsal for \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d performed by Metropolitan Chorale and Puppet Showplace Theater at First Church, Cambridge, May 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rehearsal<\/a>
Rehearsal for \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d performed by Metropolitan Chorale and Puppet Showplace Theater at First Church, Cambridge, May 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rehearsal<\/a>
Rehearsal for \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d performed by Metropolitan Chorale and Puppet Showplace Theater at First Church, Cambridge, May 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unicorns, gorgons and other fantastical creatures abound in the Metropolitan Chorale\u2019s performance of Gian Carlo Menotti\u2019s \u201cThe Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore\u201d and R. Murray Schafer\u2019s \u201cA Medieval Bestiary\u201d at First Church in Cambridge at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 4, 2019. What makes this performance stand out is that the 100-voice Boston chorus and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,110],"tags":[562,316],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11628"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11635,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11628\/revisions\/11635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}