Minnesota’s Twin Cities’ early music group, The Rose Ensemble, brings a new touring show to Cleveland on Sunday afternoon. ‘Il Poverello’ features music written in honor of Francis of Assisi. We chatted about the new production with founder and artistic director Jordan Sramek at the ensemble’s offices in St. Paul last Monday.
Daniel Hathaway: Jordan, The Rose Ensemble was just here last Spring on CWRU’s Chapel, Court & Countryside series. Might a stop in Cleveland become a yearly event for you?
Jordan Sramek: We have certain cities around the US where we perform regularly and Cleveland is becoming one of them — and that’s exciting. It’s good for a group like ours to take productions on the road. This one is in stark contrast to the last Cleveland program, which was largely middle eastern music. This show is very specific to the life of St. Francis.