A musical journey along the Camino of medieval France, Spain, and Portugal
Milford. Alkemie Ensemble performs at Kindred Spirits event at Grey Towers.
Milford /
| 14 Jul 2026 | 07:43
Alkemie Ensemble performers from left to right: Sian Ricketts, Allison Monroe, and Tracy Cowatt. (
)
Some of the medieval instruments of the era: Left to right; Spanish 13th century style Vielle, Rebec, 14th century Italian Vielle, Gittern. (
)
On June 27, Kindred Spirits transformed the outdoor pavilion at Grey Towers into a 13th century Camino as the early music ensemble, Alkemie (and Allison Monroe) filled the air with movement, music, and readings from the Codex Calixtinus Guidebook.
Tracy Cowart and Saian Ricketts are co-directors of the Alkemie Ensemble and they shared the stage with Allison Monroe who is the Artistic director of the Trobar early music Ensemble in Cleveland, Ohio. Monroe actually created the program for their performance.
One would not suspect that these three women, whose lyrical music style was so facile as they played their musical instruments, and sang in a foreign language as they walked among the audience at the same are actually medieval scholars with PhDs in historical performance practice. They met in the early music program at Case Western Reserve and have shared the stage many times since. They transitioned so easily from singing to playing and it was like they willed the audience to understand the Galician Portuguese language they were singing in.
Their program took the audience through a musical pilgrimage of four nights and five days. They sang about the days in Latin and the nights in Galician Portuguese. Some of the songs were religious and others were secular. They even had the audience do a “call and response” sing-along with them. Their interaction with the audience was very impressive.
It was common in early music performances for the musicians to play a variety of medieval instruments. Recorders are the most common flute-like instruments and come in various sizes and keys–Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass. Sian played all the recorders on the program. She also plays doucaines, bagpipes and lyre. Doucaines are an ancestor to the oboe and come in different sizes from soprano to bass. A lyre is a U-shaped stringed instrument featuring strings stretched a soundbox and attached to a crossbar. It is related to a modern harp.
Tracy Cowart plays harps and a variety of percussion instruments.
Allison Monroe plays vielles (the most common bowed instrument of the Middle Ages), the rebec (a three-stringed instrument played with a bow and similar to a violin), the gittern ( a pre-lute plucked/strummed instrument, and a psaltery (a triangular shaped, multi-stringed instrument which comes in soprano and alto and resembles a zither.
In the last 50 years the interest in early music has exploded. There are early music festivals in Boston, Allentown, the Finger Lakes, Kentucky, Colorado, just to name a few places and the demand for prizes has expanded.
Alkemie has own its share of prizes and have their own label as well. “The Bright Shiny Things.” Their website is www.alkemie.org.
Monroe can be reached at Trobarmedieval.org or a.monroe@mtholyoke.org where she is on the faculty.