We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, who are still here, and we honor with gratitude the land itself and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Beau Soir Concert, Oct 14, 2022 – a concert to remember!

The Friday night concert on Oct 14 featured picture perfect weather. Rain from the day before cleared in the morning leaving a pleasant fall day .

We had a wine and cheese reception at 6:15pm for the concert outside in our pavilion. About 35 came to the concert our first concert since 2019 due to the pandemic but was in a line of eight previous concerts since 2013.

You can hear more of the group from Soundcloud. Also we featured some of their works from Youtube.

There is also a promotional video

The Beau Soir Ensemble is a flute, viola, and harp trio dedicated to the performance of standard and contemporary repertoire spanning a variety of genres and formed in 2007 by Michelle Lundy. The viola in particular often gets lost in the harmonies of string quartets so it is welcome to hear its own voice here. Most of the pieces presented were modern.

How to describe their music ? Lyrical, rich in texture and harmonically, shifting rhythms with acknowledgment to folk and other forms of music. Totally engaging!

Our concert featured the World premiere of “Los Mensajeros do Otono” written in 2022 for this group by the Mexican composer Eduardo Angulo. Michelle, the harpist, has a story of chasing down this composer to get the music and finally came with the help of other musicians. The last composition “Bacanal”, also by Angulo, was a wild dance orignally written as a viola concerto and recast for these instruments It was also the USA premiere of “The Chasing Tale” (2021) by Martryn Adams, a British Composer.

The concert was noted for excellent introductions of the pieces by the members of the group. We knew what to listen for as a result.

The Program

Click here to view in a new window.