RenMen Laments

Renaissance Men is Boston’s acclaimed male vocal chamber ensemble; delivering impassioned interpretation of men’s modal music spanning the centuries.

In June of 2014, Renaissance Men, then a sextet, performed our inaugural concerts, which included Thomas Tallis’s monumental Lamentations of Jeremiah. Now in its second year as a bold TEN-strong, we are privileged to revive it for our newly realized ensemble and for our new national audience alike. No stone will we be left unturned as we reconnoitre every facet and fiber of this masterpiece, weaving seamlessly between select quintets in the work’s most delicate and vulnerable moments, and joining together en masse for the dramatic musical climaxes. As we have grown as artists and interpreters, it is with great honor we present this work again, and we hope those who heard it the first time will come reimagine this glorious music in our new identity. 

 Our first concert also introduced us to the music of nationally-renowned choral composer — and now one of our dearest friends — Daniel E. Gawthrop. In the 2014-15 season, we premiered his men’s arrangement of the omnipresent Close Now Thine Eyes, and this season we are so proud to give a world premiere of his brand new work –

The Promises of Isaiah the Prophet, a musical response to Tallis’s Lamentations. Gawthrop’s austere harmonic landscapes and transcendent vocal writing will complement, if not augment, his inspiration. 

A collection of musical psalm settings will help add to the ambience, including Darius Milhaud’s Psaume 121, Patricia Van Ness’s Psalm 3, and Pablo Casal’s 

O Vos Omnes will set the table for this deeply introspective program.