Callipygian Players

Callipygian sounds like a Greek isle. In fact, it means “shapely buttocks.” As their name suggests, the Callipygian Players refuse to let stuffiness suck the life from the virile scores of the Baroque era. “Plus, who doesn’t like beautiful butts?” jokes ensemble founder and violinist Martin Davids.

Along with wife and fellow Callipygian-ist, singer Julia Davids, the 37-year-old Skokie resident discovered that, inexplicably, no local ensemble planned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of one of the pillars of Baroque repertoire, Claudio Monteverdi’s majestic “Vespro della Beata Vergine” (“The Vespers of 1610”). Davids took charge: “We shouldn’t be a cultural backwater.”

Frequently the subject of contentious scholarly debate, Monteverdi’s piece blends the sacred with the secular. In the opening “Domine ad adiuvandum,” the composer has no qualms pilfering almost verbatim from his decidedly nonliturgical opera Orfeo.

Given the virtuosity necessary to execute Monteverdi’s complicated, diverse writing, Davids called in local musical heavyweights: violinist Rachel Barton Pine and Chicago Symphony bass trombonist Charles Vernon on the sackbut (a predecessor to the modern trombone). Chicago’s velvet-throated Bella Voce navigates the ten-part harmonies. Expect exceptional, vibrant performances. And perhaps some sexy ass.

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