Lisle concert to help start Renaissance instrument program

An upcoming concert aims to give aspiring musicians the chance to play a viol - a Renaissance instrument that looks like it would fit in with an orchestra's string section with a name that looks like a typo.

Musician Phillip Serna is working with Naperville North High School orchestra director Dana Green to start a viol program using a concert of viols, or enough viols of different sizes and sounds to create an ensemble. The instruments come on loan from the Viola da Gamba Society of America's Consort Loan Program.

In an effort to engage the community and raise awareness, a benefit concert will raise money to buy viols once the loan period is over. The concert will begins at 7 p.m. Friday, June 3, at the Grounds for Hope Cafe at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2701 Maple Ave., Lisle.

Presented by the Viola da Gamba Society Third Coast, New Comma Baroque's Phillip Serna, the Naperville North High School music department and Grounds for Hope Cafe, the concert will showcase viol players from across the Midwest and the country to perform Johannes Schenck's complete "The Nymphs of the Rhine."

Performers include Mary Anne Ballard of Baltimore Consort and Galileo's Daughters; Russell Bookout; James Lambert of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Catacoustic Consort; Eric Miller of the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble; Gail Ann Schroeder of Baroque and Beyond and Columbia Baroque; and Serna of New Comma Baroque and Black Tulip.

For information on viola da gamba activities in the Chicago area, visit vdgs3rdcoast.org. For information on the Grounds for Hope Café at Trinity Lutheran Church, visit groundsforhopecafe.org.