BEDLAM is Kayleen Sánchez, soprano, and Laudon Schuett, lute. Bedlam is a 15th and 16th century colloquial term for the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, England. At the time it was an infamous psychiatric facility and an inspiration for artists and writers living around it. The term Bedlam eventually entered “everyday speech to signify a state of madness, chaos, and the irrational nature of the world” (Andrews et al. 1997, p.1-2, p.130-131). Perhaps the most famous musical reference to Bedlam is Henry Purcell’s “From Silent Shades and the Elysian Groves,” also known as “Mad Bess of Bedlam” and is an early example of the “mad song” genre. Both Kayleen (BM, MM in Voice) and Laudon (MM,DMA in Early Music) studied at the Eastman School of Music and have decided, perhaps madly and against all good advice, to pursue careers in music! Bedlam is dedicated to exploring the rich repertoires of music for voice and lute in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is not our goal to simply recreate performance practices of early music for educational purposes but to use the knowledge of such practices to produce vivid, visceral, and above-all, entertaining music. We hope you enjoy!
Engineered, produced, and edited by Paul Sánchez, Athyr Productions. Recorded in Charleston, South Carolina, January 2-4, 2017. Cover photo by Paul Sánchez. Design by Paul Sánchez. Artwork taken from the Capirola Lutebook, ca. 1517.
The song texts are found in the menu under "Files" and may be downloaded as a pdf document.
Label: Soundset Recordings Item Number: SR1085 Format: CD Year Recorded: 2017