Experience ensemble viii
2023 - 2024 Concert series
Please Join Us for Our 2023-2024 Season!
From Artistic Director Donald Meineke: “This season, Ensemble VIII continues to offer timeless music in three specially curated concerts throughout the program year. Entitled “From Age to Age,” the season focuses on three musical pillars in history that had broad-reaching and lasting influence on classical music: Palestrina’s Pope Marcelli Mass, The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge, and Mozart’s beloved Requiem in collaboration with Arts on Alexander. From the most intimate and ethereal sounds to full throttle vocal fireworks, this season will showcase Ensemble VIII’s expansive range of vocal capabilities and expertise in music spanning 500 years.”
Season tickets and tickets to individual concerts are now on sale!
All season tickets include a complimentary priority seating upgrade for the October concert.
CLICK HERE for season tickets with the May 3rd option for the last concert.
CLICK HERE for season tickets with the May 4th option for the last concert.
The upcoming season includes the following concerts:
Echos of Heaven – Music of 16th Century Rome – CLICK HERE for tickets
Friday, October 13, 2023, 7:30 p.m.
St. Louis Catholic Church Chapel, 7601 Burnet Rd., Austin
$35 regular seating, $45 priority seating, $5 students
(Senior tickets available, $5 discount per ticket)
For nearly 1,000 years, Rome was the largest and most politically significant city in the Western world. As the seat of the Bishop of Rome, better known as The Pope, here the finest music, art and architecture were cultivated in the region, leaving for us a treasure trove of vast riches still to be experienced today. While legends have been refuted regarding the myth that the Roman Catholic church nearly eliminated choral polyphony during the Counter-Reformation had it not been for Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass and its carefully set text, there is little doubt that the “Palestrina style” was and is the ultimate expression of this genre. Ensemble VIII opens our season with a signature “renaissance splendor” experience as we explore the music of Palestrina, Victoria, and others who sought to capture a glimpse of heaven through music.
Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols – CLICK HERE for tickets
Friday, December 8, 2023, 7:30 p.m.
St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, 606 W 15th St., Austin
$30 general, $25 seniors, $5 students
Co-sponsored by Arts on Alexander and Ensemble VIII
First offered at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, in 1918, the Christmas Eve Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols has become a mainstay of the Advent and Christmas season. In this re-enactment, Artistic Director Donald Meineke, organist Chris Oelkers, and 16-voice Ensemble VIII will join forces to offer this celebrated tradition to Greater Austin. The singers will read the traditional lessons interspersed by carols performed by the choir. The audience will be invited to sing along to some of the most beloved and familiar carols. Plan now to join Ensemble VIII for this memorable event.
Mozart Requiem and Symphony No. 39 – CLICK HERE for tickets
Friday, May 3, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 4, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2111 Alexander Ave., Austin
$30 general, $25 seniors, $5 students
Presented by Arts on Alexander
This concert features Mozart’s popular Symphony No. 39 and his great choral masterpiece, Requiem. Ensemble VIII will join forces with Philharmonie Austin, a resident period-instrument orchestra, under the baton of Mark Dupere. Grappling with the mystery of death, Mozart willed his last creation into life with his final breaths.
Ensemble VIII is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and by the Texas Commission on the Arts. This project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.