MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2019
7:30 PM

Voices of Ascension: Renaissance Concert: Works of Lassus and Byrd
The Church of the Ascension
Fifth Avenue at 10th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan

$10-$85
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3513374

The splendid Voices of Ascension sing two of the peak composers of the late Renaissance.  Orlande de Lassus culminated the Franco-Flemish school by combining stunning polychoral effects with a striking (and highly appealing to us Moderns) terseness of utterance.  William Byrd, caught up in England's 16th-Century conflict between Catholics and Protestants, wrote on both sides of that fence, creating epic elaborations of the kind of English melodies that really stick to your ribs.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  A lot of water has gone under the bridge since Alta stood out as one of the first modernized tapas(ish) places in the City.  But you know what?  It's still good.