Piffaro to perform at Saint Paul's Church Chestnut Hill

The fourth concert in the FIVE FRIDAYS benefit concert series will take place at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill, on Friday March 9 at 7:30pm. A delightful program entitled Follow the Pipers will introduce Piffaro: The Renaissance Band and its many different instruments. This hour-long performance features secular and sacred pieces, dances and arrangements of popular tunes from 16th century Europe, interspersed with engaging commentary about the music, the time period and the instruments.
World-renowned for its highly polished performances as the pied-pipers of Early Music, Piffaro, The Renaissance Band has delighted audiences throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and South America. The ensemble, founded in 1980, recreates the elegant sounds of the official, professional wind bands of the late Medieval and Renaissance periods, as well as the rustic music of the peasantry. Piffaro’s ever-expanding collection of shawms, sackbuts, dulcians, recorders, krumhorns, bagpipes, lutes, guitars, harps, and a variety of percussion, are careful reconstructions of instruments from the period.
Under the direction of Joan Kimball and Bob Wiemken, Piffaro tours extensively in the United States and Europe, and has performed for all the major early music series and festivals, as well as many college and community series, in the US. The ensemble made its European debut at Tage Alter Musik in Regensburg, Germany in 1993, and has returned to Europe each season for numerous festival appearances. In addition, the Band produces its own concert series in Philadelphia, with four to five programs per year, bringing to their series some of the finest talents in early music performance as their guests. Excerpts from these concerts are regularly broadcast nationwide on National Public Radio’s Performance Today.
In addition to its concert and recording efforts, Piffaro is active in the field of education. Members of the ensemble perform regularly throughout the year for elementary, middle and high school students, and hold master classes and workshops for college students and adult amateurs.
The FIVE FRIDAYS concert series is planned as a community benefit to local organizations serving the hungry and the homeless. All proceeds from the series will be directed towards Face to Face Germantown, The Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the Chorister Program at Saint Paul’s. Each concert is followed by a reception at which guests may greet the artists.
Tickets $25 ($15 students and seniors). More information, directions, and online tickets at www.fivefridays.com or by calling 215-242-2055