Not everyone was glued to the Superbowl LVI game happening at the SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California. On game day, the Hi-Desert Nature Center offered a Chamber Music concert by The Joshua Tree Early Music Society along with special guest, double bass instrumentalist Dave Leon. The 90 minutes concert offered a foray into the music of the long bygone eras with selections from the medieval through renaissance period and beyond.
With the aid of video screen in the backdrop, the audience was introduced to various early music composers. The quintet ensemble of musicians on stage took turns to offer interesting tidbits about the composer or the musical genre. For example, Caravaggio’s painting The Lute Player, features a musician with music sheet bearing composer’s name Jacques Arcadelt. The audience was also introduced to period instruments used then such as vielle, cornamuse and sackbut.
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| By Caravaggio, 1596. The Lute Player. The music (Plate 4a) shows the beginning of a madrigal, by the popular composer Jacob Arcadelt . |
From the lilting sounds of Ductia dance music of the 13th century to the sweet gentle melodies of Italian composer Jacopo da Bologna of the 14th century, the concert was a fast moving sweeping aural journey into the centuries of early music.
The featured musical guest Dave Leon presented 3 solo pieces on the double bass from well-known composers of early 20th century classical music: Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky. It was an interesting live presentation of late medieval or renaissance music by the Joshua Tree Early Music ensemble along with solo performance by Dave Leon. Though the event did not have the roar of the nearly 75,000 Superbowl spectators at the SoFi stadium, it was clear that the audience found the concert thoroughly engaging and enjoyable. Changing musical gears several centuries forward, we had time to catch the Superbowl's halftime real time broadcast featuring the popular 21st century rap music with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and the remaining second half of the Superbowl LVI game. The next chamber music concert is scheduled for June 12th and will feature baroque period music.