Folger Consort

01/11/2024

Starting January 19, Folger Consort performs the brilliantly layered music of the composers mentioned by French Renaissance satirist François Rabelais—including Josquin des Pres, Loyset Compère, and Pierre Sandrin—along with the irresistibly tuneful French dance music of the times. Get your tickets to Music and Satire: https://bit.ly/3tGnTVn

The musical world and comedic writings of French Renaissance satirist François Rabelais are brought to life by Folger Consort.

08/09/2023

The Folger is postponing its reopening until 2024. We are disappointed to not be able to share our new spaces with you this fall, but we are excited for the year ahead. Learn more:

Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Join us online, on the road, or in Washington, DC.

05/04/2023

What's your story? Announcing Folger Consort's 2023/24 season, which includes A Baroque Christmas Story, with German holiday music by Heinrich Schütz and Michael Praetorius; Music from the Life of Rabelais: Satire & Story-Telling; Music of Medieval Spain, featuring selections from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Sephardic songs, and music from Arab Andalusia; and Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Music and Mythology, featuring music by Rameau, Marais, Telemann, and more. Learn more and subscribe at https://bit.ly/4266vFo.

03/17/2023

"Shakespeare in Step and Song" begins this weekend! Check out some musical from Folger Shakespeare Library, then get your tickets at https://www.folger.edu/whats-on/shakespeare-in-step-and-song/.

Can you guess why this edition of "Mistress Mine" has music printed in different directions? From our collection: this song by Thomas Morley was published his book "The First Booke of Ayres" in 1600. The song shares a title (but not lyrics) with the one sung by Feste in "Twelfth Night."

This weekend, Folger Consort performs tunes by Morley and more—plus some favorite bluegrass tunes arranged for early modern instruments—in Shakespeare in Step and Song. Get your tickets at https://bit.ly/3JqhBya.

01/31/2023

Appropriate Consort snacks for troubadour/trouvère week: Brie from trouvere Etienne de Meaux's hometown, and a really nice w**e from troubadour Raimbaut de Vacqueyras' stomping grounds. Both composers are featured on our Sing My Story program Feb. 3 - 5. Come and hear and see these wonderful song/poems and more!

06/17/2022

Celebrating A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare at the Folger Shakespeare Library. In this ENCORES finale, images of items from the Folger Collection of art and manuscripts depicting A Midsummer Night’s Dream are exhibited alongside videos and photographs from Folger Theatre and Folger Consort performances of the play.

06/03/2022

In 2020, the Great Nave of the Washington National Cathedral provided the perfect setting for Folger Consort to perform the transcendent music of the late Italian Renaissance. These concerts, featuring British vocal ensemble Stile Antico, shone a light on the rich history of music by woman composers. With compositions by Raffaella Aleotti and purportedly, Leonora d’Este. the daughter of the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, these selections illustrate how music would have sounded in cloisters during the Renaissance.