<rleton alumna, Sylvia Rhyne ’78, returns to the Concert Hall with her musical collaborator, Eric Redlinger, to serenade Carls with 14th and 15th century French compositions. The musical duo, named Asteria, will perform a program entitled, “A Most Sweet Glance: The Blossoming of the Burgundian Spirit in Song, 1390-1440.”
Asteria plays medieval love songs, with Redlinger on the lute and tenor vocals while Rhyne sings soprano. In the world of early music, Asteria has earned national acclaim. In addition to garnering the plaudits of the New York Times, they have been awarded the Unicorn Prize for Medieval and Renaissance Music by Early Music America.
Surprisingly, Rhyne’s career did not follow a straight path from music major to medieval minstrel. Although she studied early music at Carleton, she also studied a more modern form of music, opera. She often sang leading roles during her undergraduate years. Upon graduation, she added an even more modern form to her resume, musical theater. Rhyne’s musical career has been so impressive that her classmates honored her at their 25th reunion with Distinguished Achievement.
Redlinger also comes from a liberal arts background. He earned his undergraduate degree from Middlebury College and then went on to enhance his academic education with graduate work and archival research in Europe.
The two musicians formed Asteria after they discovered a mutual love of medieval and Renaissance music. They approach the music with emotion and passion, an appropriate tack given the medieval troubadours’ obsession with ideal love.
Asteria comes to Carleton’s Concert Hall on Thursday, Feb. 11 for a 1:15 p.m. master class and will return the next day for an 8 p.m. performance of “A Most Sweet Glance.” Anyone with a love of romance, medieval history, vocal music, or all three, will find this evening of early music a must-hear.