On June 4, Voices of Ascension returns to Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers for Voices Outdoors, an outdoor concert featuring some of our favorite chamber vocal pieces performed by the Voices of Ascension Singers. In honor of this year's installment of Voices Outdoors, we look back to last year's concert at Untermyer with Voices' performance of Palestrina's Sicut cervus.

Palestrina was considered one of the most famous composers in his day, and is one of the most influential composers in the Western canon. His style of composition would influence composer and theorist Johann Joseph Fux, who would codify the notion of counterpoint in his Gradas ad Parnassum based on Palestrina's compositions, which is still taught to burgeoning composers today. Modern music scholars believe Palestrina to be one of the more forward-thinking Renaissance composers, as many of his compositions consider qualities like color and sonority. Some pieces, including Sicut cervus, employ "tone painting," where the music reflects the literal definition of the text. For instance, when the chorus sings "descendit," or "descend," in Sicut cervus, the motion of the music descends as well.

Regarded as a model for Renaissance polyphony, and one of Palestrina's most popular pieces, Sicut cervus is a joy to listen to outside on a breezy, spring day! Take a listen to Voices' performance of Sicut cervus here.

PALESTRINA Sicut Cervus

Voices of Ascension
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director and Conductor
Daniel Beckwith, Piano
Recorded live at the Garden Amphitheater at Untermyer Gardens, June 19, 2021

The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.