Several Deer Park educators – including Dr. Jeff Dailey, the district’s director of fine and performing arts, as well as teachers Gregory Gullotti of JFK and JQA, and Gregg Romano of JFK – will perform a free program of early polyphonic music on Friday, April 10 as part of the Collectio Musicorum ensemble. The concert will take place at 8 p.m. at Christ and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church at 122 W. 69 Street, New York, N.Y. 10023.

Polyphony, the combining of multiple musical lines, can be traced back to the early Middle Ages and has been called the major contribution of Western culture to music. This concert, also featuring musicians Patrick Fennig, Tim Keeler and Richard Lippold, will present pieces that are often mentioned in textbooks but rarely performed, including selections by Leoninus and Chypre, the latter accompanied by a trio of gemshorns; instrumental dances from 13th century England; three “Robin” motets from the Bamberg Codex; and a complete performance of the Tournai Mass, the first complete surviving setting of the mass ordinary.

Led by Dailey, the president of the Greater New York Chapter of the American Musicological Society, Collectio Musicorum (which means “Collection of Music”) is an ensemble devoted to achieving a reasonable reproduction of the sounds and performance practice of the Middle Ages. This musicological approach is combined with the highest possible level of musicianship to present historically informed concerts that are both scholarly and entertaining.  

For more details, visit the group’s website.