The Missa Aurea or Golden Mass is sung in honour of the Virgin Mary. The mass focuses particularly on Mary’s assent to the Angel Gabriel’s message: he came to tell her that she had been chosen to bear the Son of God. Three different ensembles will proclaim the joyful news on three successive days, with works by Guillaume Du Fay (Cappella Pratensis), Johannes Ockeghem (Cappella Mariana) and Johannes Regis (Stile Antico).

These three leading ensembles will convert their academic research on this mass into three unique concerts. Cappella Pratensis will sing from the original source: the choirbook of the Burgundian court chapel (Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, ms. 5557). Cappella Mariana, the revelation from Eastern Europe when it comes to Late Mediaeval and Renaissance music, takes the only surviving source of Ockeghems mass as its starting point: the gorgeous Chigi Codex. Last but not least, Stile Antico has been commissioned by Laus Polyphoniae to tackle late 15th century music: Regis’ mass is a masterly tribute to both Du Fay and the Virgin Mary.

The three concerts will be introduced by the musicologist Jennifer Bloxam, who is a professor at Williams College in the US. She is no stranger to AMUZ, having given a highly popular lecture performance with Cappella Pratensis during the 2015 festival. This promises to be an exciting marathon event at which AMUZ once again reveals the value of academic research, turning it into resonant music.

19 August, 2019 20:00 -- st-andrieskerk

Oltremontano has drawn inspiration from Hans Memling’s monumental triptych, one of the masterpieces at the KMSKA: Christus met zingende en musicerende engelen. The painting shows a throng of angels singing and making music. The instruments they are playing provide an excellent overview of 15th century instrumentation: a psaltery, fiddle, shawm, trompette de menestrels, natural trumpet, lute, harp and tromba marina. But what did they sound like? Now you can hear the music of Memling’s contemporaries on meticulously built copies of the instruments. The female singers of Psallentes play the role of the singing angels.

19 August, 2019 22:15 -- st-pauluskerk

It soon became clear that Johannes Ockeghem was one of the greatest composers of the 15th century when none less than Josquin des Prez wrote an impressive and moving piece to commemorate his teacher’s death: Nymphes des bois. Ockeghem had previously paid tribute to his own teacher, Gilles Binchois, with the lament Mort tu as navré de ton dart. The Comet Musicke musicians are united in their quest for poetry and humour in music. Musical storytelling guaranteed!

20 August, 2019 13:00 -- amuz

A musical triptych about the life of Mary of Burgundy: the joy of her happy, but far too short political marriage to Maximilian of Austria, her equivocal character and the tensions between religion and politics. With vocal and instrumental works by Guillaume Du Fay, Hugo de Lantins, Johannes Brassart & Gilles Binchois in combination with contemporary arrangements.

20 August, 2019 20:00 -- amuz

The sensational Sollazzo Ensemble reconstructs Joanna of Castile’s life (1479-1555) with music by Loyset Compère, Antoine Brumel, Heinrich Isaac and Francisco de la Torre. Her love for her husband Philip the Fair (the son of Mary of Burgundy) was legendary. Moving, passionate emotion at the beginning of their marriage became obsessive, and witnesses at the time spoke of extravagant mood swings in which extreme joy gave way to tormented jealousy and heartbreak.

20 August, 2019 22:15 -- amuz

“This is the story of the Burgundian dukes who were born as princes, lived like monarchs and hoped to die as kings. But they never ascended to the throne.” With these words, Edward de Maesschalck immediately sets the tone for his beautifully illustrated standard reference work De Bourgondische vorsten (‘The Burgundian Dukes’). Plunge into Mary of Burgundy’s exciting story set in a wider political and social context of the plague, the Hundred Years’ War, crusades, weddings and funerals, tournaments and assassinations.

Dutch spoken

21 August, 2019 13:00 -- amuz