Mission
Lyracle is a historical music ensemble whose mission is to explore the role that music has played in people’s lives and communities. We develop and perform concert programs that engage with history through music, tell the stories of people who partook in music for voice and viol, and illuminate our shared humanity.
About
Mezzo-soprano Ashley Mulcahy and viol player James Perretta founded Lyracle in 2018. Rather than seeking answers to the question “who composed for voices and viols?” Lyracle concert programs address the question “who throughout history made music with voices and viols, and in what way?” Within this paradigm, Lyracle programs use music as a vehicle to share histories of diverse groups and individuals from around the globe.
Lyracle launched its self-produced concert series in the 2022-2023 season and presents two new concert programs in Massachusetts annually. In the 2025-2026 season, in addition to self-produced performances in Quincy and Northampton, MA, Lyracle performs/presents on the Early Music Hawaii series, Historic Deerfield, and the Concerts at the Crane series.
Past presenters include the Howard M. Brown International Early Music Series, the Academy of Early Music Series, Early Music America, the Viola da Gamba Society of America, and Early Music Missouri.
Lyracle enjoys introducing young people to the viol and to historically informed performance and has presented and/or worked with students at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, Brandeis University, UMass Amherst, and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Lyracle also enjoys collaborating with other organizations with shared interests and missions and has toured their program “Musick’s Recreation” (about recreational music-making in colonial America) in partnership with historic house museums, libraries, and institutes throughout New England. Lyracle is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit and has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Iguana Music Fund.
Please visit lyraclemusic.com for more information about Lyracle. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok @lyraclemusic. We are proud to participate in Mass Cultural Council’s Card to Culture program, in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, (WIC), and the Massachusetts Health Connector, by broadening accessibility to cultural programming.