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From the world of the Crusades, an ancient conflict with many resonances for modern times: songs and readings of struggle and exhortation, lamentations for the distant beloved, meditations on life, death, the end of days, and the city on the hill. Authors include Peire Espanhol (12th c.), Gaucelm Faidit (...1150-1220...), Peire Cardenal (...1205-1272...), Jaufré Rudel (...1125-1148...), Thibault de Champagne (1201-1253), and Anonymous..

Performed by an ensemble of 2 to 4 musicians, depending on budgets.

Etoile du Nord: Mysteries and Miracles of Medieval France.

Miracles of the Virgin Mary as conceived and transmitted by the great musician poets of northern France in the thirteenth century, dances of the French jongleurs, story telling, and some surprising adaptations of the Northern legends from the Mediterranean world. This program, including several works presented in all likelihood for the first time since the Middle Ages, is the subject of a new recording scheduled for release in autumn 2002. Authors include Rogeret de Cambrai (13th c.), Gauthier de Coincy (1177/8-1236), Alfonso el Sabio (1221-1284), Thibault de Champagne (1201-1253).   Details

Performed in duo with Shira Kammen (bowed strings, harp)

La Cité des Fous: Temporal Power and Spiritual power in the Middle Ages

Songs in praise of kings and potentates, and songs of satire and derision against the power of fallible mortals. Excerpts from some of the major sources of the period: the Play of Daniel (13th century), Carmina Burana (ca. 1230), the Roman de Fauvel (ca 1310), and the the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise (1228), as well as as well as compelling works by individual authors: Peire Cardenal (c. 1215- c. 1240), Philippe le Chancelier (1165-1236), Bertran de Born (b. ca. 1140), Thibault de Champagne (1201-1253).

Performed by an ensemble of 2 to 4 musicians, depending on budgets.

Details

Le Jeu d'Amour: Courtly Songs and Dances of the French Middle Ages.

This program focuses on the lighter and lustier side of the Middle Ages, far from monastic cloisters and cathedral vaults. The songs and poems deal with springtime, youth, erotic intrigue, and passionate romance, as celebrated in village revels, courtly chambers, and illicit trysting-places.
Performed by an ensemble of three to five performers, depending on budget. Also available with a supporting womens' ensemble. Details

Amour Vainqueur: Courtly Airs in France circa 1600

From the court of King Louis XIII, airs and poems about love and the relation between the sexes, along with elegant fantasies and dances for the lute. Composers include Antoine de Boesset (1643) and Pierre Guédron (1608, 1613), with spoken texts by François Malherbe (before 1586), Arnauld d'Audilly (1642), and lute music by Jacques de Belleville, Gabriel Bataille, and Robert Ballard, lute teacher of the young Louis XIII.    Details

Performed in duo with Dutch lutenist Fred Jacobs.

• Provence Mystique (10 de Répertoire, Choc du Monde de la Musique, ffff Télérama, ***** LA Times, 5 Classica, YYYYY Diapason): Sacred songs of the Middle Ages. From three to eight musicians (Voice, harp, psaltery, flutes, and 5 womens' voices) Details
• L'Unicorne (10 de Répertoire, ****Le Monde de la Musique, Gramophone's Critic Choice, YYYYY Diapason): Medieval stories, fables, and legends. Two to four musicians. Details
• Les Donneurs de Sérénades: From the troubadours to the romantics, a recital of French mélodie. With Catherine Anderson (medieval harp, baroque harp, French concert harp)
  
  

Special projects:

Anne Azéma is also one of the rare contemporary performers to be interested in the ancient art of mélodrame. Her experience with medieval and baroque texts read to music has led her to give acclaimed performances of contemporary works in the same vein (Hindemith, etc.).