EAU CLAIRE — In the spirit of the holiday season, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Chamber Choir will present its ninth annual “Ye Olde Madrigale Dinner” at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 1 and 2, at the Great Hall of Christ Church Cathedral.
          “The Madrigale Dinner provides our students an opportunity to present and prepare an important event,” said Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, associate professor of music and theatre arts and producer of the dinner. “It’s another means for them to study music.”
          This special evening is presented in the atmosphere of Elizabethan times when the lord of the manor invited his friends into his home to celebrate a successful harvest and the beginning of the holiday season.
          “People would come together and celebrate the harvest and sing together,” Schwartzhoff said. “This dinner is carrying on that tradition.”
          Through each course of the meal, members of the Chamber Choir will perform entertainment and monologue, as well as interact with the audience. The meal, catered by Tom Schwechel of Chippewa Valley Technical College, includes period-appropriate wassail, beef vegetable soupe, skewered pork, oven-browned potatoes, glazed carrots, crusty dinner rolles and apple strudel.
          Along with two short one-act plays, the Royal Court Recorders and Royal Court Brass Choir will provide entertainment. Sophomore Laura Meyer, Cascade, will conduct the Recorders, and Derek Curless, a senior from Janesville, will conduct the Brass Choir. Other main players for the evening are the king, freshman George Cleary, River Falls; the queen, sophomore Kendra Sampson, Cottage Grove, Minn.; and the jester, senior Kelly Heyer, Detroit Lakes, Minn.
          The idea of a madrigal dinner came from the Renaissance period. All of the performers will be dressed in clothing of that time. Dr. Cheryl Starr, associate professor of music and theatre arts, will provide the costumes. People attending also are invited to dress in period costume for the dinner.
          “The mood is one of enchantment long ago,” said Schwartzhoff, adding even The Great Hall at Christ Church Cathedral looks as if it is of that period.
          Tickets, available at the University Service Center, (715) 836-3727, are $24. They will be on sale through Nov. 28 and will not be available at the door.
          Contact Gary Schwartzhoff, (715) 836-4056, for more information.
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[Administrative Offices] [News Bureau]

Updated: Nov. 21, 2000