Seraphic Saturday Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Artistic Director Patrick Dupre Quigley interviews scholar Honey Meconi and guest conductor Amanda Quist about the music on Seraphic Fire's January 2025 concert, Renaissance: The Capilla Flamenca.
Honey Meconi is the inaugural Arthur Satz Professor at the University of Rochester, where she is also Professor of Musicology at the Eastman School of Music. She is the founding editor of the monograph series “Oxford Studies in Early Music” for Oxford University Press. She is a specialist in music before 1600, and her many publications include Hildegard of Bingen (the first English-language book on Hildegard as composer), Pierre de la Rue and Musical Life at the Habsburg-Burgundian Court, and a continually expanding series of performing editions of Hildegard’s music, freely available online. Her research has been supported by Fulbright, Mellon, and NEH Fellowships as well as numerous other grants. A lifelong performer, she is co-recipient of the American Musicological Society’s Noah Greenberg Award “for distinguished contribution to the study and performance of early music.” Her public musicology blog, The Choral Singer’s Companion: Music History with a Soupçon of Snark, is read worldwide.  
Dr. Amanda Quist joined Western Michigan University’s Irving S. Gilmore School of Music as Director of Choral Activities beginning Fall 2024. A WMU alum and Michigan native, Dr. Quist comes to Western from the University of Miami, where she has served as Director of Choral Studies for the Frost School of Music. Quist’s previous post was at Westminster Choir College, where she served as Associate Professor and Chair of the Conducting, Organ, and Sacred Music Department. She is the recipient of Westminster Choir College’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Mazzotti Award for Women’s Leadership. The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and New York Classical Review have described Amanda Quist’s work as “transformative, beautifully prepared, gripping,” “bridging the vocal and instrumental textures with perfect intonation,” and “leaving the audience breathless.” Dr. Quist has collaborated in choral preparations with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Palm Beach Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Seraphic Fire, and the Spoleto Festival.

Credits
Host
Patrick Dupre Quigley
Guests
Honey Meconi
Amanda Quist
Producer
Alexis Aimé

Watch on YouTube

Associate conductor James K. Bass interviews scholar Judah M. Cohen about the music on Seraphic Fire's November 2024 concert, "Contemporary: Jewish Voices."

Judah M. Cohen is associate dean for faculty affairs, research, and creative activity, and professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, as well as the Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture in the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program in the College. His research interests include music in Jewish life, American music, musical theater, popular culture, Caribbean Jewish history, diaspora, and medical ethnomusicology. His training as a musicologist and an anthropologist, and his professional activity within Jewish studies have allowed him to explore many aspects of Jewish culture and history. Over the course of four books and over 50 articles, Cohen has explored the idea of Jewish cultural expression as a dynamic and ever-changing process, created and recreated over time by artists, religious leaders, philosophers, and activists. He has aimed to understand this idea largely through the prism of sound and its relationship to ideas of Jewish identity.

Credits:

Host: James K. Bass

Guest: Judah M. Cohen

Producer: Alexis Aimé

Watch on YouTube

Welcome to the Seraphic Saturday Podcast Companion. Our eleventh episode is a deep dive interview with our host, Patrick Dupré Quigley, and one of our original Seraphic Fire members, Alvaro Bermudez. Though no longer singing with the group, Alvaro is an integral member as a composer and guitarist. Seraphic Fire will be premiering Alvaro’s newly commissioned “Danzas del Silencio” this May, sponsored by the Knight Foundation. Listen along as Patrick and Al recount his history with Seraphic, the Colombian musical style, and his composed pieces written specifically for Seraphic Fire.

Our tenth episode features Artistic Director Patrick Dupré Quigley doing an in-depth dive into Bach's incredible Cantata "O ewiges Feuer." This piece, which was recorded individually by our artists in their homes, will be featured on our next Season S production, “Eternal Fire.”

Our ninth episode features Associate Conductor James K. Bass taking us behind the scenes of Seraphic Fire’s Professional Choral Institute, a partnership with the Aspen Music Festival and School, for which Dr. Bass serves as Program Director. We'll journey through the history of PCI and all the wonderful music we've made during the program with alumni of the program.

Our eighth episode features Artistic Director Patrick Dupré Quigley leading us on a listening tour of two important American works: Samuel Barber’s Hermit Songs, and Steve Reich’s The Desert Music. Where we learn more about Barber's life and relationship with soprano Leontyne Price and Reich's minimalist approach to our theme "In Pursuit of Peace."

Our seventh episode features Associate Conductor James K. Bass as he leads our listeners through a few of his favorite Seraphic Fire Christmas pieces. It features well-loved favorites from our Grammy nominated CD, A Seraphic Fire Christmas, and a few pieces from our archives of live performances. Visit our website for more information on our CDs and how to buy your ticket for this year's "Home for the Holidays" performance. 

Welcome to the Seraphic Saturday Podcast. Our sixth episode goes behind the scenes of the making of Seraphic Fire’s Season S with guest host Rhett M. Del Campo featuring interviews with Sarah Moyer and John Buffett. Artistic Director Patrick Quigley will also drop by to discuss the process of making Season S and premiere a piece from our November concert, "Still.Here."

Our fifth episode explores historical music and the joys and challenges of its contemporary interpretations. Host Patrick Quigley welcomes conductor Nicholas McGegan, cellist Guy Fishman, and violinist Edson Scheid de Andrade to discuss their careers based in historical performance. Visit our website www.seraphicfire.org/blog to find the albums discussed on this podcast.

This month we introduce our new game show segment called Seraphic Inquire! Hosted by Jeopardy champ and alto extraordinaire, Doug Dodson with longtime Seraphic members, Brenna Wells and Steve Bradshaw. Doug tests them on their knowledge of Handel and his masterpiece Messiah.