Ruckus — Songs of Eternity: Early American Hymns of Hope in Times of Crisis

With John Taylor Ward Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque ensemble with a visceral and playful approach to early music. Described as “the world’s only period-instrument rock band” (San Francisco Classical Voice), the NYC-based ensemble fuses the early-music movement’s questing, creative spirit with the grit, groove, and jangle of American roots music. The New York Times’ Zachary Woolfe wrote: “Ruckus aptly describes itself as a band: it’s that tight, and that wild.” Their debut album Fly the Coop, a collaboration with flutist Emi Ferguson, was Billboard’s 2 Classical album upon release. The Boston Musical Intelligencer described their continuo playing as reaching “not simply a new level, but a revelatory new dimension of dynamism altogether — an eruption of pure, pulsing hoedown joy.” Songs of Eternity: Early American Hymns of Hope in Times of Crisis — Ruckus joins Tim Eriksen (acclaimed for his work on the Cold Mountain soundtrack), John Taylor Ward, Linnea Sablosky, and Lily Hammond to present this program in The Dome. Together, these leading singers and instrumentalists from the American early music and shape-note traditions explore the time-honored practice of making something new from the old, treating performance as both a ritual of remembrance and an exercise in moral resonance. The centerpiece is a new commission by Celeste Oram, whose work explores how these hymns evoke multiple visions of America’s past and future and the enduring spiritual desire to bring Heaven down to Earth.