HESPERUS
Hesperus Early Music Ensemble is one of the nation's first and most important performers of "chamber folk" music. While its globetrotting members have impressive credentials as early music performers, the ensemble steps beyond any single genre into a visionary synthesis of living and historic traditions. Its programs embrace eight centuries of music from four continents. Hesperus consists of six musicians who perform, in different combinations, three kinds of programs: crossover programs fusing European early music with American traditional styles such as blues, Old-time, and Cajun; cultural portraits combining early and traditional music such as Early Music from Eastern Europe and Celtic Roots; and single-genre programs of medieval, renaissance, British and Spanish Colonial, and baroque music. Hesperus honors multi-cultural ism by tracing the musical traditions of various cultures back to their origins, and then bringing those roots alive in performances wholly its own. Hesperus has toured the United States, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe, and records for Maggie's Music, Koch International, and the Dorian Group. A frequent performer at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the ensemble can be heard regularly on National Public Radio and CNN. Early American Roots is the first of a series of "Roots" recordings by Hesperus on the Maggie's Music label. Their second release in this series is Celtic Roots, Scottish and Irish music from the earliest traditional sources. Both are available from Maggie's Music. Hesperus also has eleven other CDs on the Dorian and Koch International Classics labels. For information, see the Hesperus contact information at the beginning of this book.