Eric Christopher Perry, of Swampscott, was a seasoned veteran “on the singing scene” in 2014 as a critically-acclaimed soloist for numerous local groups. The vocal tenor felt there was still a void in the market for small chamber groups that focus on a low-voice repertoire, and he was not alone in that sentiment. As a result, he soon became one of the founding members of the Renaissance Men, a vocal ensemble based in Boston.
Lynn-based Eduardo Ramos made his name as an operatic performer in Puerto Rico, and he has become one of the biggest stars the RenMen have to offer. Nine years, 15 concert programs, and two albums later, the ensemble’s members are about to premiere perhaps their biggest performance yet.
Perry and Ramos are collaborating with the Kairos Dance Theatre and the Sound Icon Orchestra for a cabaret-style performance titled “Folktales, Fables & Feasts.” The show takes 20th-century pieces and adds an original, modern element to them.
The feature act, an opera-ballet called “Foxy,” is inspired by Igor Stravinsky’s 1922 comic opera, “Renard.” The act has a cast of animal characters.
Perry had two main reasons he felt the Renaissance Men’s involvement in this performance was a natural fit. He recalled a time when he worked with Kairos Dance Theatre choreographer DeAnna Pellecchia before, and the two had mutual interest in joining forces again at some point in the future. Also, some major goals of the Renaissance Men align with the atmosphere of “Folktales, Fables & Feasts.”
“With some of us having an opera background, we’d love to get back into the small chamber opera game, if we can start incorporating that for pieces that have some selectively or strictly focused on low voices,” Perry said. “Then, we were doing a little bit of a look through repertoire, and we came across this piece ‘Renard.’”
Perry said the members thought the title of the opera would easily enable the Renaissance Men to incorporate the ensemble’s name in the program, as it shares a first syllable with “Renard.”
Having grown up on an animal farm in central New York, one theme of the upcoming collaboration piqued Perry’s interest personally.
“I’m a big animal enthusiast and so I love just being connected to my sort of agrarian roots through this repertoire. Of course, in Stravinsky, the four singers represent different animals,” Perry explained. “The whole story is based on a fox who’s trying to persuade a chicken off of its perch in order to eat it. And you have a cat and a ram also on the farm, coming up with different plots and schemes to try to save the chicken’s life and to trick the fox.”
Two other performances in the show, “Carmina Burana” and the “Magic Flute” overture, also have animal overtones.
Perry feels very strongly that dynamic shows with lots of variety such as “Folktales Fables, & Feasts” are not only unmatched in their entertainment ability, but also important for the growth of their participants.
“We feel very strongly that multidisciplinary and multifaceted performances are really important for a lot of reasons,” Perry said. “Not only is it an opportunity for each respective ensemble to learn and grow from watching each other and listening to each other work — I think there is a lot of influence that we all can gain from each other’s respective experience coming into a project — but also for audiences, it’s really great to offer a lot of different things that we hope will resonate and attract a wide audience base.”
“Folktales, Fables & Feasts” will have two shows at Boston University’s Tsai Performance Center on Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25 at 7:30 pm.
