Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

St. Peter in Chains Cathedral Basilica (@cathedral_basilica_cincinnati), one of the most beautiful and impressive spaces for the performance of sacred music in Cincinnati, opened its newest Great Music in a Great Space concert series this evening with an absolutely magical program of chants by perhaps the most famous name in early medieval sacred music, Hildegard von Bingen. Titled St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, the early music group Heri et Hodie, under the direction of Krista Cornish Scott (@crunchy.kj) presented an amalgamation of antiphons, hymns and sequence chants inspired by the medieval legend of St. Ursula. In the story, she and 11,000 handmaidens set sail on a pan-European pilgrimage which led them to Rome and Cologne, where all were supposedly killed by Huns which had besieged the city.
Soprano Jackie Stevens as Ursula brought an otherworldly aura to Hildegard’s music. Mezzo soprano @lauren.mcallistermzo possessed a warm, translucent and ethereal tone as the Narrator of this sequence of music. Kaylyn Baldwin as the Voice of Martyrdom brought amazing contributions as well. Singers representing the Heavenly Chorus and Virgin Companions were drawn from a group of local solo singers as well as from the Cathedral Basilica’s professional choir and students from St. Ursula and Ursuline Academies. Their vocal contributions were heavenly throughout. Organist Matthew Geerlings provided meditative interludes between each set of chants which perfectly fit the overall flow of the music.
It is such a treat to hear music of Hildegard von Bingen in Cincinnati, since concert audiences today get so few opportunities to experience it.
Heri et Hodie is definitely one of the best new groups devoted to Medieval and early sacred music, and I am very much looking forward to what they have in store the rest of this year and into 2024.