Bowerbird is very excited to present Trefoil, a trio of singer-instrumentalists that specialize in European Medieval music, performing works by Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, and others from their new CD Fleur de Valeur: A Medieval Bouquet. Like poets of all ages, medieval songwriters invoked the imagery and natural magic of flowers in the service of ideal, feminine beauty. In many poems, the most revered flower was the Rose, or fleur de valeur. As a symbol of Mary the Virgin this flower stood for virtue, but also for the more sensual desires of the flesh, where it became an object of masculine desire.

TREFOIL

Drew Minter, countertenor, harp and percussion
Mark Rimple, countertenor, lute, gittern, and citole
Marcia Young, soprano and harp

Trefoil is a trio long active in early music, with experience in such ensembles as Concert Royal, Les Arts Florissants, New York’s Ensemble for Early Music, Pomerium, Clarion Music society, Piffaro, My Lord Chamberlain’s Consort, and other groups. The trio debuted in New York and Philadelphia early in 2000 with a program of 14th-century French ars subtilior song. The Philadelphia Inquirer tagged the performers as “a hearty trio of medieval music specialists” and their work as “an intricate, enigmatic vocal art.”