When Lyrica Baroque performs in the auditorium of Lafayette Middle School this week, there will be a familiar voice in the ensemble.
Among the members of the chamber music ensemble will Sasha Massey, a soprano who is the cantor at Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist - and a former LMS student.
"It's going o be fun singing in a place where i went to school because everything is kid sized and I'm all grown up now!" Massey said.
She's performed once in the auditorium for the Femme project, but it is excited to sing there again.
"It's pretty fun, because it's going to be nice to see what it sounds like to sing everything in its pure form," Massey said. "Some of the history of the building is that it was built at a time when performers were unamplified, and we're singing music that's meant to be just complimented by a well-constructed space. So I'm looking forward to sharing that music with people, and I'm hoping that kids my youngest student's age, who is 10, will be able to see this and want to expose themselves to even more music."
Chamber music is a genre of classical music that is meant to be performed by a small group vs. a symphony.
"Most early ensembles were built of just a few instruments that complimented all the voicing that built both chord structure but also linear lines of music," Massey explains. "So you found and heard the melody, but you also heard the broad sound within a small group of musicians but also of a vocalist, which in this case includes me this time."
The program includes solos, trios and works for the full ensemble. The program will include Handel’s four-movement Trio Sonata No. 3 and Let the Bright Seraphim; In mezzo all'onde irate by L. Vinci and other pieces.
Massey said anyone would enjoy the performance, from kids who have just started to be exposed to classical music, to people who usually only listen to popular music on the radio, to seniors who have listened to classical music for years.
"I think this music affects everyone, of all ages, in a positive way," she said.
The chamber music ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. at LMS. Tickets are $20 each and available here or here.
The group performing will include Jaren Atherholt, oboe; Gaabrielle Fischler, violin; Robert Holm, piano and Sasha Massey, soprano.
