PIFFARO AT ST. PHILIP'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, JANUARY 27, 2002

   The Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music presented Piffaro, The Renaissance
Band, in a concert entitled A Florentine Festival, Music from the Golden Age
(1450-1550). The ensemble members were Adam Gilbert, Rotem Gilbert, Greg
Ingles, Joan Kimball, Robert Wiemken and Tom Zajac. They played a variety of
period instruments including shawms, recorders, bagpipes, sackbut, dulcian,
guitar and percussion. The compositions they performed were written by
foreign composers such as Antoine Busnois, Alexander Agricola, Heinrich Isaac
and Jacques Arcadelt, who were employed in Florence during this period.

   Some of these pieces were vocal compositions transcribed for instruments,
while others were pure instrumental dance pieces. The textures ranged from
very complex polyphonic selections to relatively simple ones, and the moods
ranged from sombre to rowdy. Piffaro handled all the selections on the program
with clarity, sensitivity, virtuosity and an enthusiasm that was contagious.
This was a performance that any music lover would have enjoyed, and those in
attendance were treated to a veritable musical banquet! We hope to see them
in Jackson again sometime soon.

                                                             -Frank T. Laney