The music of Renaissance Europe comes to life in the voices of Zephyrus, the early music ensemble based in Charlottesville. Known throughout the region for its innovative programming and professional caliber, Zephyrus offers several major performances each year and appears locally in churches and at the University of Virginia.
Since its founding in 1991 by director Paul Walker, Zephyrus has devoted itself to bringing the treasures of of Medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque music to a wider audience. The ensemble's repertoire spans six centuries, from the polyphonic chants of Notre Dame Cathedral to the sacred motets of Tudor England, the madrigals of Renaissance Italy, and the masterworks of the early Baroque. The eighteen-member core group regularly divides into double chorus, quintets, and other smaller ensembles, offering a range of musical textures at every concert. Zephyrus strives for historical accuracy in performance and has enlisted the efforts of early music instrumentalists. The group has collaborated with Baroque flutist Robert Turner of Charlottesville, Medieval fiddle player Nancy Bren Nuzzo of Buffalo, NY, and theorist Scott Horton of Baltimore.
In the fall of 1997 Zephyrus presented a concert of the "Coronation Music of James II and Queen Mary of England" with anthems for voices and strings by Henry Purcell and John Blow. And in the spring of 1998 Zephyrus presented a pair of concerts titled "The Dawning of Sacred Music in Germany - Exalted Music for Voices and Brass" with sackbuts and cornetti at the Duke University Chapel in Durham, NC and at St. Paul's Memorial Church in Charlottesville. Other notable concerts have included the Taverner "Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas," presented both in Charlottesville and at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C., the Victoria Requiem and Schuetz Musikalishes Exequien, and the first American performance of the Christmas Oratorio "In Nativitatem Domini Canticum" by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
Also in the fall of 1997, Zephyrus released its first compact disc, Nativity, a collection of Renaissance motets for Christmas, recorded in the wonderful acoustical ambience of Holy Comforter Catholic Church in Charlottesville on the first weekend of May that year. The CD was produced by Sally Sanford, noted singer-scholar of early music, whom Dr. Walker has engaged to coach the group on several occasions in the past few years and with whom many of the members study voice on a regular basis.
As part of its educational mission, Zephyrus has presented lecture-recitals at area schools, including Piedmont Virginia Community College, the Tandem School, and Hereford College at the University of Virginia.
Zephyrus is led by Dr. Paul Walker, a musician and scholar who has led early music ensembles for the last sixteen years. Dr. Walker holds a Ph.D. in musicology from SUNY Buffalo and a Master's degree in organ performance from the University of Kansas. He has taught at Yale and the University of Chicago, and he now serves as director of the University of Virginia Collegium Musicum, and is on the music faculty of the University of Virginia.
The singers of Zephyrus come from a wide variety of academic and professional backgrounds, but share a love of chamber singing and a commitment to excellence in performance. Operated solely by its members, Zephyrus relies on tax-deductible contributions from area patrons to assist with its expenses.
