Seems every seven or eight years, the French-Canadian viol da gamba duo Les Voix humaines makes its way to Tucson.
But their concert here on Sunday, Oct. 27, to open Arizona Early Music's 43rd season comes a little out of that timeframe; their last concert here, also with AEM, was in 2015.
From the looks of the program, it will be worth the wait to see Susan Napper and Mélisande Corriveau perform works spanning the 16th and 17th centuries.
Les Voix humaines’ “The Virtuoso Viol” takes the audience on a European tour of virtuosic repertoire for the viol duo. We start in 17th-century England with Tobias Hume, then hopscotch to France with works by Marin Marais before ending up in Germany with the master, Bach.
Susan Napper, left, and Mélisande Corriveau have performed as the gamba duo Les Voix humaines out of Montreal for 20 years. They will open Arizona Early Music’s 2024-25 season on Sunday, Oct. 27.
For the uninitiated, the duo is playing viols, which look like cellos but have some pretty significant differences. The gamba, as it is known, has a flat back compared to the cello’s rounded back, c holes rather than f and five to seven strings compared to the cello’s four. It is, however, physically played like a cello, upright, with the instrument standing between the player’s legs.
Napper founded Les Voix humaines with Margaret Little in 1980. Napper and Corriveau are the group’s principal members and they also perform as the Les Voix humaines Viol Consort with Felix Deak and Jessy Dubé.
Sunday’s concert begins at 3 p.m. at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave. A pre-concert talk begins at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $30.90 through azearlymusic.org/tickets.
Arizona Early Music continues its season with Le Talens lyriques “The Sound of Music in Versailles” on Nov. 17 at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Other season highlights include the Tucson Baroque Music Festival Jan. 10-12, 2025, as part of the 13th annual Tucson Desert Song Festival.
