In 2011 I started my third madrigal singing group, which morphed through several names (including “Capitol Hill Madrigals” and “The Madrigalians”) before settling on “The QuasiModals.” Some of our songs are modal, and some are quasi-modal. (So are some verbs. I had better double check which ones.)
The pandemic kinda put a kink in our regular rehearsals. But our friend the inimitable Earle Peach is reviving the QuasiModals in Fall 2026, in East Vancouver. Would you like to join us? Please contact us!
We invented a democratic way of crowd-sourcing the job of choir director. In the fall, we read through any piece any member of the group brought in. (Everyone sings through every part, to improve our sight-singing and ability to hear the all the parts polyphonically.) In January, we had a big negotiating meeting: each singer adopted the two pieces they loved most and became the “Piece Monger” of those pieces. (Piece Monger, not War Monger.) A Piece Monger is the artistic director for their pieces, setting the tempo, dynamics, phrasing, and overall feel. All members can offer their two cents’ worth of opinions, but the Piece Monger makes the final decisions. In June, we performed a house concert of the chosen pieces.
Here, for your listening pleasure, are some low-tech recordings of us.
- Al Resplandor D’Un Estrella
- Lock Up Fair Lids/And Yet O Dream
- Ah dear heart
- Luci serena e chiare
- Mille Regretz
- Ach Lieb, ich tu dir klagen
- Al di, dolce ben mio
- Fyer Fyer
- Though Amaryllis Dance in Green
- Il est bel et bon
- Voices
- All is Green
- So trinken wir alle
- Alta Trinita Beata
- Al di, dolce ben mio
- Baciai per haver vita
- Come again, sweet love
- El grillo
- Fair Phyllis I saw
- Fine knacks for ladies
- Hallelujah [Psalm 146]
- Mirabile mysterium
- In te Domine speravi
- Matona mia cara
- See what a maze of error
- Una sañosa porfia
- What if I never speed
Videos of us from 2011-2014
Videos with audio from my second madrigals group in Seattle, “The Ultrasounds” (three of us were pregnant at once)