Madregalia!!

...and the Pastyme Consort



Ave Maria

Renaissance Music in Praise of the Virgin Mary

Please come join Madregalia!! for our Twelfth Night concert "Ave Maria." The venue will be at All Saints Episcopal Church in Carmel. We will have both an evening concert on Friday, January 5 at 7:30 pm, and a matinee on Saturday, January 6 at 2:30 pm. Members of the Pastyme Consort will be featured as well on violins, viols and recorders.

Our program will consist of a variety of works in praise of the Virgin Mary over a 200-year period. Josquin's lovely four-part setting of Ave Maria was so well-loved that an anonymous composer added two florid parts 50 years later. It's a wonderful "cover" of this popular work. In addition, there will be settings of Spanish devotional texts as well as an arrangement of traditional Belorussian chant.

Francesca Caccini's heartfelt "Maria, dolce Maria" gives a flavor of 17th century Italy, in the new soloistic style of that era. Soprano Jody Lee's virtuosic performance is sure to please.

It's hard to imaging a Renaissance Christmas program without a nod to Michael Praetorius. We open with one of his Magnificats that interpolates traditional German Christmas songs between the Latin movements of the traditional Song of Mary. Praetorius's German Mass is one of his large scale works, with two vocal choirs and three instrumental choirs featuring spectacular solos for both singers and instrumentalists to bring the program to a rousing conclusion.

We look forward to seeing you in this send-off for this year's holiday season.


When: Friday, January 5 at 7:30pm & Saturday, January 6 at 2:30pm

Where: All Saints Episcopal Church, Dolores & 9th Ave in Carmel

Cost: Suggested donation $25. Students Free.

Featured Artists:

Elizabeth Gaver, violin

Elizabeth Gaver lives in Oslo, Norway and performs baroque, medieval, and traditional music in Scandinavia and Europe. Elizabeth moved to Germany to join the medieval ensemble, Sequentia, playing concerts throughout Europe and the US. After meeting her husband in the National Folk Music Archive in Oslo, she moved to Norway where she learned to play the Hardanger fiddle. They formed the band Feleboga, and together with their son, play both Norwegian traditional music and American old-time music. 


Elizabeth was born in Pittsburgh and her family moved to Carmel Valley when she started high school. She performed extensively with Katie Clare Mazzeo, forming the Cherry Trio together with Penny Hanna in 2010. Elizabeth, Penny Hanna and Francis Toldi play an annual New Year's Day concert at the Cherry Foundation as part of the Cherry Trio and Friends. 


She was in the same high school class as Madregalia director, Jeff DeMarco and has performed with the ensemble for three years.

Elizabeth holds degrees from Stanford University, San Francisco Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and the University of Oslo.

Penny Hanna, viola da gamba


Penny performs throughout the San Francisco Bay & Monterey Bay areas as a singer, bassist, and/or reed player. Ms Hanna began performing on the Viola da Gamba as music student with the University of Michigan Consort of Viols, later studying with Judith Davidoff in New York. Locally, she has performed in concerts at Colton Hall, UC Davis, UCSC, Cal Berkeley, 1750 Arch St., and with the Santa Cruz Chamber Players & Baroque Festival, Cantiamo! Cabrillo, WAVE, Musica Mundana and the Brandenburg Liberation Front. She has produced numerous  recordings of her own music and her arranging credits include works for Jazz Birds, California Gamba Consort, & Sex Chordae Consort of Viols. She is currently the Cabrillo College Stroke Center’s choir instructor, and serves on the boards of The Santa Cruz Chamber Players and The Santa Cruz Baroque Festival. Penny has participated in Madregalia!! concerts for several years.

Jody Lee, Soprano


Since moving to the Monterey Bay Area in 2014, Jody enjoys performing with Madregalia!!, Carmel Bach Festival, Central Coast Chamber Choir, Choral Artists of Carmel and Voices of Silicon Valley in the Bay Area. She holds a B. Mus. from Brock University (Canada) and was active a soloist, adjudicator, instructor and chorister throughout Southern Ontario, Canada through 2011. As Assistant Choirmaster/Soprano soloist at St. George's Anglican (St. Catharines), she worked extensively with composer John Butler, and appeared regularly with Niagara Vocal Ensemble and Opera Ontario - and with Carmina Inc. after emigrating to the US in 2009. She continues vocal studies with Robin McKee Williams and works in allied health services.

Francis Toldi, Dulcian

Francis Toldi is a native of Carmel, having recently returned after many years in the San Francisco Bay Area.  His current musical focus is on the dulcian (Renaissance bassoon) and voice.  He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from San Francisco State University, with further private study on clarinet with Alan Balter in San Francisco, and on Balinese gender wayang with John Badanes and Lisa Gold.  He continued with study and performance on various woodwinds, including clarinet, Hungarian tárogáto, quena, recorders, and dulcian.  His primary performing emphasis over many decades was singing and playing woodwinds in the Coro Hispano de San Francisco and Conjunto Nuevo Mundo.  

Our Program:


Prior Concerts

For the programs of our prior concerts, please take a look at our Repertory page