Literature and music have long been intertwined through storytelling and the exploration of the human experience. In this spirit, Repast presents Literary Circles, a series of concerts inspired by the literary genres of Myth, Science Fiction, the Classics, and Adventure.

Myth: Stories from Oral Traditions

September 19, 20, & 21, 2025

Fairy tales, myths, and legends provide inspiration for musical retellings based on oral traditions. Joined by narrator Erin Hall, Repast recounts stories from English folklore, Greek mythology, Irish seanchaí, Ethiopian oduu durii, and French opéra féerie told through music from the 17th and 18th centuries by Bach, Bernier, Mascitti, Arne, Lampe, and Riddell.

Science Fiction: The New Music of the Spheres

November 22 & 23, 2025

Commencing with a love-sick cry to the stars in Monteverdi’s madrigal Sfogava con stelle, this collaborative program with new music Ensemble Ipse explores themes of novelty and innovation spanning from the 16th-century philosophy of music of the spheres to Science Fiction and technology of our modern age alongside new works by Molly Herron, Judith Berkson, Joseph Di Ponio, Stephanie Griffin, and Max Duykers.

Classics: King Arthur and Robin Hood

March 27, 28, & 29, 2026

Profiling two English folk heroes, King Arthur and Robin Hood, Repast is joined by the chivalrous bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton. Legendary King Arthur and his circle of gallant knights hold court with Dibdin’s The institution of the Garter, or Arthur's Round Table restored (1745) and Purcell’s King Arthur (1691). Robin Hood, a rebel hero of broadside ballads and Shield’s comic opera Robin Hood (1784), comes through as the people’s champion.

Adventure: The Iron Mask

May 29, 30, & 31, 2026

Repast creates a new live score for the film The Iron Mask (1929), based on Alexandre Dumas’s The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. The final chapter in the D’artangian trilogy, the film follows the Three Musketeers as they return from retirement to save Louis XIV from his illegitimate twin who attempts to usurp the French throne. Music by Lully, Jacquet de La Guerre, Marais, Charpentier, Couperin, Praetorius, DuCaurroy, Boesset, and Caroubel.