Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music is partnering with the Bloomington Early Music Festival to present a conference on the Franco-Flemish Renaissance composer Heinrich Isaac. Along with papers and discussions there will be concerts featuring the groups !Sachebuche! and Liber.
William Hudson is a founding member of the latter, the trio Liber (formerly known as Liber Unusualis). Read what he has to say about the project below:
Highlights From The Interview
"At this point, Liber is down to a duet, because our third member is pursuing a doctorate at Princeton. This has pretty much ruled out touring! But this concert is giving me some new opportunities and sounds to work with. "
Hudson describes how the group has changed over time. "Liber unusualis was me and two women. Although I'm a tenor I was always the lowest voice. For this weekend, I'm singing with three other men!"
There are other changes for Hudson, too: "Heinrich Isaac's music is about a century later than the pieces that I've been working with. I'm moving up to date with a work that's only five instead of six hundred or so years old."
Study Leads To Performance
"We're singing a Mass by Isaac that hasn't been recorded yet. It's a really interesting piece with some great sounding polyphony. Because of the male voices, I get to sing some of the featured parts. Professor Giovanni Zanovello studied the work and wrote his dissertation around the piece. He'll be presenting a talk about Isaac on the Friday evening of the weekend. Then there will be a concert of vocal and instrumental pieces sung and played by !Sachabuche! We're on for the Saturday evening."