Tickets on Sale Oct. 24 for WSU Madrigal Dinner

PULLMAN, Wash. – Tickets go on sale Monday (Oct. 24) for Washington State University’s 14^th annual Madrigal Dinner, set this year for Dec. 2 and 3 in the Compton Union Building’s Carey Ballroom.

Tickets are $39 each and include a four-course dinner with beverages and a full evening of music and entertainment. Tickets can be purchased at the CUB Information Desk or by calling (509) 335-9444. Audience members are invited to come in Renaissance costume or in modern dress. Seating will begin at 6 p.m. both evenings 

The Madrigal Dinner, under the direction of faculty member Lori Wiest since its inception in 1992, is presented by the WSU Madrigal Singers and the CUB as festive way to usher in the holiday season.

The setting of the 2005 Madrigal Dinner is the English Renaissance of Queen Elizabeth, and the music is primarily madrigals, secular “pop” music of its time. The poetry for the madrigals often spoke of love, politics, work and death, and the music was written to colorfully describe those feelings and words. The Madrigal Singers perform in costumes reminiscent of the Renaissance to help draw people in to the magic of this period.

The Madrigal Singers, comprised of 16 musicians from around the Pullman campus, audition every August to become members of the ensemble and begin working on the music from the onset of the semester. In addition to the madrigals the group will sing at the dinner, it will perform traditional ceremonial music such as “Wassail” as well as holiday-time carols.

The group also presents a comedy skit at each year’s dinner. The skits are spoofs of tales or Shakespeare plays and are often tied in with contemporary issues. Audience members will likely become participants in a number of elements of the Madrigal Dinner, including sing-a-longs and the skit. 

This year’s dinner, prepared by WSU Food Service, begins with a variety of appetizers, including smoked salmon paté, assorted Cougar cheeses, spicy Italian sausage and beef spears, and fresh vegetables. The second course will include butternut squash bisque with Oregon Bay shrimp (vegetarians should indicate the “no shrimp” option). The three main-course selections, one of which to be designated at ticket purchase, include roast loin of pork, pan-seared boneless chicken breast or a vegetarian entrée. Each will be served with roasted heirloom beets, Northwest hazelnut tomato chutney and wild rice blend with cranberries. Dessert will be gingerbread pudding served with sauce anglaise, garnished with fresh berries. Washington wines and coffee will also be served.

The Madrigal Dinner was created in 1992 as a partnership between Wiest and the WSU Madrigal Singers from the School of Music and Theatre Arts and the Hotel and Restaurant Management Program (now the Hospitality Business Management program). The first Madrigal Dinner, presented by the WSU Madrigal Singers, was a sold-out performance of 50 people in Todd Hall Dining Room.  Due to the need for a larger space, the event moved to the CUB Ballroom in 1993 and doubled the size of the audience that same year. In 1994, the number of audience members again doubled to around 200. It wasn’t long before they began to present the Madrigal Dinner in two evenings with the popularity of the event continuing to grow.