Dark Horse Consort: ‘The Sounds of St. Mark’s’

Early music ensemble Dark Horse Consort works to revive late-Renaissance and early-Baroque-era brass traditions. The group’s name was inspired by the bronze horse statues atop Venice, Italy’s famed St. Mark’s Basilica, which was known for its “rapturous kaleidoscope of sound.”

The ensemble’s concert Tuesday at Michigan State University will highlight 16th- and 17th-century Italian works, including canzoni by Giovanni Gabrieli and Giovanni Picchi and sonatas by Dario Castello.

Intended to recreate the splendor and innovation of sacred music-making in churches of the time, Dark Horse Consort bases its sound on, and often performs the work of, composers such as Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz.

Tickets are $10.50 for students and youth, $20.50 for adults and $18.50 for seniors.