The Birds and The Bees draws its inspiration from Renaissance madrigals and chansons. Representing the very beginnings of a notated secular choral tradition, these pieces introduced novel compositional devices and ideas about the relationship between poetry and music. The impact of these innovations on choral and operatic music extends to the present day.

Though there are few “modern madrigals” in this program, each selection features some element of madrigalism; text painting, onomatopoeia, imitation, chromaticism, irregular phrasing, and thinly veiled eroticism. Largely a cappella, the resulting program alternates between expressions of yearning lyricism and cheeky rhythmic vitality.

Including works by Norman Dello Joio, Morton Lauridsen, Georgiann Toole, Hyo-Won Woo, Carol Nicholeris, Joshua Shank, and Christopher Hoh, The Birds and The Bees is sure to delight and move listeners with its beauty and wit, and to serve as a reminder that what is old is still new.