Singer, harpist and born storyteller Benjamin Bagby will enchant you from the very first note of the mediaeval story Beowulf. This Old English heroic poem is the earliest example of a European epic written in the vernacular. Bagby accompanies himself on a six-stringed Anglo-Saxon harp. The sound evokes the different atmospheres of the story with great finesse. He has taken this production around the world on a highly successful tour. “Bagby’s imaginative re-creation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem … is a double tour de force of scholarly excavation and artistic dynamism”, wrote the San Francisco Chronicle.

23 August, 2018 13:00 -- amuz

Led by Katarina Livljanic, Dialogos Ensemble delves into the very earliest polyphony, written down at the beginning of the 11th century in the Winchester Troper. This British manuscript is one of the oldest and richest collections of notated polyphonic music in western mediaeval music. It was long thought to be unreadable, but extensive musicological research has now turned it into rich source material for early music specialists. At the border between mystical Gregorian and the very beginnings of polyphony, this is extremely exciting and moving music, performed with verve by Livljanic: “She has an admirably wide singing range and even greater interpretive abilities. Her performance was nuanced and subtle and marvellously clear in tone”, the Chicago Hyde Park Herald reports.

World premiere

23 August, 2018 20:00 -- amuz

Trio Mediaeval has immersed itself in the manuscripts written by monks who lived at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary’s in Worcester in the 13th and 14th centuries. Complete manuscripts were bundled together with loose pieces of music that had fallen out of favour with the rise of Anglicanism. When it was discovered that all these loose fragments probably belonged together, they became known as the ‘Worcester Fragments’. Trio Mediaeval has been able to arrange these hymns to the Virgin Mary in the form of a mass, although it does not have a Credo. The contemporary composer Gavin Bryars has seamlessly integrated his own Credo: the entire mass sounds remarkably homogeneous. “Passion always glows from deep within the three singers’ famously clear sound,” De Volkskrant writes.

23 August, 2018 22:15 -- st-pauluskerk

The 16th century is considered Poland’s Golden Age. The Polish influence on European politics, in combination with economic prosperity at home, allowed a new dimension of culture to emerge. Enthusiasm for Polish songs and dances spread like wildfire throughout Europe long before Chopin appeared on the scene. Michal Gondko and Corina Marti of La Morra ensemble (IYAP selection in 2000) have immersed themselves in the tradition of music for the harpsichord and lute. The two stringed instruments are a delightful combination, and centuries ago many musicians played both. The duo explores the homogeneity of the two instruments’ sounds, treating you to music from the peak of the Polish Renaissance.

24 August, 2018 13:00 -- amuz

You know how it feels at the hairdresser’s? There’s always before… and after. Whether you go for a messy look, careful styling or a buzz cut. Just like hairstyles, music follows fads and fashions. In 1618, when St. Augustine’s Church in Antwerp was opened, musical fashions were very varied. All kinds of different music existed peacefully alongside each other. Things are no different now. Composers are still as much like trendy hairdressers as ever: whether they write music for voices or guitars, they love to mess about. Musical styles are given a quick trim and just like that they’re back in fashion. Other styles collapse or lose their appeal. Final presentation of the music camp for children aged 6 to 16.

24 August, 2018 16:00 -- st-andrieskerk

The music of the 17th century composer Duarte Lobo still exudes the atmosphere of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. The Portuguese Renaissance was later than in other European countries: it came when Italy was already well into the Baroque. It was thanks to the famous Antwerp publisher Plantijn that Lobo’s work was distributed all over Europe. He went down a storm in Lisbon, where he worked as Kapellmeister at the cathedral, one of the most important centres of music in the country at the time. Lobo’s music excels in its masterly command of traditional counterpoint and a refined expression of the text. His eight-part requiem mass, Missa Pro Defunctis, with two choirs in some sections, is one of the crown jewels of Portuguese music history.

24 August, 2018 20:00 -- st-jacobskerk