Love, passion, magic and death...The story that enchanted an Age

The long, dark nights of Medieval Europe were rich with stories. But one legend was told and beloved beyond all others, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult. Filled with love, passion, magic, and death, it captivated the listeners because it was the very mirror of their own hearts, minds and souls. And to raise the telling beyond the power of words there was music: the vielle, the harp, the drum, the psaltery, and the singing voice. All this made for evenings of brilliance and enchantment throughout the Dark Ages. In "The Flame of Love," Patrick Ball and The Medieval Beasts bring this same enchantment into our own time and place.

The Flame of Love had its

West Coast Premiere

in a three week theatrical production

presented by

The Spreckels Performing Arts Center

Rohnert Park, CA

Sound Clips of the Performance

Shira Kammen

Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Shira Kammen has spent well over half her life exploring the worlds of early and traditional music. A member for many years of the early music Ensembles Alcatraz and Project Ars Nova, and Medieval Strings, she has also worked with Sequentia, Hesperion XX, the Boston Camerata, the Balkan group Kitka, the Oregon, California and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals, and is the founder of Class V Music, an ensemble dedicated to performance on river rafting trips. She has performed and taught in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Morocco, and Japan, and on the Colorado, Rogue and Klamath Rivers. Shira happily collaborated with singer/storyteller John Fleagle for fifteen years, and performs now with several ensembles in addition to Fortune's Wheel: a new music group, Ephemeros; an eclectic ethnic band, Panacea; as well as frequent collaborations with performers such as storyteller/harpist Patrick Ball, medieval music expert Margriet Tindemans, and in many theatrical and dance productions. She has played on several television and movie soundtracks, including "O", a modern high school-setting of Othello. Some of her original music will be heard in an upcoming independent film about fans of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. The strangest place Shira has played is in the elephant pit of the Jerusalem Zoo. She hopes to spend more time playing music of all kinds in the wilderness.

www.shirakammen.com

Tim Rayborn

An internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, Tim has been active in the fields of world and early music for 18 years. He plays more than 80 musical instruments from medieval Europe, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Central Asia, including: lutes, plucked strings, flutes, and percussion, as well as being a singer.   He has recorded to date on 27 CDs for a number of labels, including Gaudeamus, Wild Boar, Magnatune, Osmosys, Diaphonica, and Eventide Music Productions, as well as on recordings distributed by Nimbus and Harmonia Mundi.

Tim lived in the UK for seven years, studying for his Ph.D. in medieval history and philosophy at the University of Leeds, and working as a musician. He has toured Europe extensively (from Ireland to Turkey), performing with the medieval group Tintagel and his own group, Ensemble Florata (including concerts at the York and Beverley Early Music Festivals, and the Spitalfields Festival in London), as well as in the U.S. He has given a number of performances for BBC, toured in Canada and Australia, and worked with musicians in Marrakech and Istanbul.

He has collaborated and performed with many early music groups and performers, including Ensemble Alcatraz; Anne Azema; Susan Rode Morris; Sinfonye; Kitka; Wyrewood; members of the Dufay Collective, Harp Consort, and Theater of Voices.

In addition to his solo work, he currently performs with Celtic harpist Patrick Ball, Swedish folk musicians DrÂm, Solace (Middle Eastern fusion), and collaborates regularly with Shira Kammen.

"Tim Rayborn's playing is quite extraordinary, with all the technique of a virtuoso."

~ Sacramento News and Review

"Tim Rayborn is an amazing singer."

~ Cardiff Early Music Series

"A world-class talent in the field of ancient music."

~ Magnatune

www.timrayborn.com

Twenty years ago I discovered a small, beautifully bound volume of The Romance of Tristan and Iseult. Ever since, I have wanted to tell this marvelous medieval story in performance. Its great themes of love, passion, magic, honor and death captivated me, just as they captivated the troubadours and minstrels of the Middle Ages. But, it's a deep, daunting tale, one which demanded more time and dedication than I was prepared to give. So, the years went by and I tended to other stories, other projects. Occasionally, though, I would take down the book and work on an adaptation that would fit this long tale into one night's telling. Finally, early last year, I found myself taking a deep breath and began to prepare the story for the stage.

The one element of the performance I was determined to have was layers of music underscoring the story and standing on its own in the natural pauses in the narration. I had little background in Early Music. But, whenever I listened to it, I found it every bit as bewitching as the story of Tristan and Iseult itself and the perfect atmosphere in which to tell this medieval tale. So, I proposed a collaboration with these three wonderful musicians whose work I have admired for a long time, hoping that they might be as drawn to the story as I. As it turned out, they all loved the idea and we set out on this adventure together.

A Note on the Performance...

In Medieval times a storyteller looked into the eyes of his audience and told a tale. He used no props or scenery. He used only words and music and the limitless imagination of his listeners to create a world of love, passion, magic and death, the world of Tristan and Iseult.

In The Flame of Love we tell this magnificent story much as a medieval storyteller would have done. The words are similar; the musical pieces were known and loved in the Middle Ages; the instruments - the harp, the vielle, the lute, the psaltery, and percussion - were all carried and played by this storyteller and those who accompanied him. And the imagination of the audience is called upon to play its part, just as it was all those centuries ago.

In our modern world we have an endless array of technologies that would have allowed us to present such a tale in a more modern way, perhaps on a television screen or the monitor of a computer. In fact, we do have the occasional microphone in this show and we wear modern dress. But, we tell this story in the old way. And we will be looking into your eyes while we do.

                                                                                       Patrick Ball