We are absolutely thrilled to present the following program of exquisite church music from the seventeenth century, most of which has never before been heard in America––truly the rarest of the rare. What makes this repertoire so extraordinary is that, unlike most music that was sent to be published and marketed to a wide audience, many of the following compositions were written for special occasions and were never meant to be heard again. We are elated to be able to bring them back to life.
On Thursday April 6, 2023 we have programmed some rather spectacular compositions from Counterreformation-era Poland, which was awash in cosmopolitan music-making due to the efforts of the refined and very devout King Sigismund III. Vasa, who created one of the most elite musical establishments in all of Europe.
On Friday April 7, 2023 we are excited to première two commissions composed for our ensemble by world-famous baroque music expert Elam Rotem, alongside the St. John Passion by Orlando di Lasso. Despite being written by the most widely-published composer of the Renaissance, the St. John Passion was intended for the private Good Friday observances of the ruling House of Wittelsbach in Bavaria, and as such, comes to us in a manuscript (and not printed) source.
On Saturday April 8, 2023 we are performing music by Venetian composers working at the Habsburg court. Since they were kept so busy with their royal duties, the Habsburg kapellmeisters seldom ever published their music, but we are inestimably fortunate that the Bishops of Olomouc in Moravia and the Benedictines at Kremsmünster Abbey in Austria tirelessly made copies of the priceless compositions that were being written for the Hofkapelle. The highlight of this programme is the first American performance of the Missa Sancti Spiritus by Antonio Bertali, written for the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. in 1659. We are also performing a Magnificat by Bertali’s predecessor, Giovanni Valentini (who was also a student of the famed Giovanni Gabrieli), and a grand Easter motet by Valentini’s predecessor, Giovanni Priuli.