Laus Polyphoniae has been supporting young talent for a long time. This year again we provide a stage for an emergent ensemble. The young Belgian singers collective Aequalis sings, just like 500 years ago, in the choir of Our Ladys Cathedral selected Mass parts from the Mechelen Choir Book, one of the most precious works of art owned by the Flemish Community. This magnificent and voluminous manuscript contains Masses by Pierre de la Rue and Matthaeus Pipelare.Aequalis has chosen to perform the Missa pascale of de la Rue. After this mini concert you are welcome to admire the original manuscripts in the exhibition Petrus Alamire, Polyphony in the picture.

Each concert lasts around 25 minutes.

This concert is also programmed on: wednesday 19/08, thursday 20/08, saturday 22/08 and sunday 23/08.

21 August, 2015 15:00 -- o-l-v-kathedraal

Faithful to custom you can enjoy a well-assorted festival menu (entree + main course) before the evening concerts in AMUZ. Pop-up bistro t Hof van Petrus will serve regional delicacies from the Low Countries. Festival menu On Thursday 20, Friday 21, Monday 24, Wednesday 26 and Saturday 29 August at 18.00, before the evening concerts at AMUZ. Place: AMUZ foyer, Kammenstraat 81, 2000 Antwerp Choice of starters: Salad with baked goats cheese, apples and honey OR savoury pancake with chicken, cheese and mushroom filling Choice of main courses: Half a chicken roasted on a spit with fresh salad, baked potatoes and a sauce of your choice (pepper cream or provencal) or apple OR grilled fillet of salmon on a bed of rocket and tomato with baked potatoes OR grilled vegetables of yesteryear and melted Trappist cheese in puff pastry with fresh salad. Price: € 21 (starter + main course) Advance reservation required. Desserts available on the evening for € 6. Concert tickets are not included. Advance booking is required.

21 August, 2015 18:00 -- amuz

Petrus Alamire was always looking for the newest compositions with a view to including them in his manuscripts. Once in a while they were adapted to local taste. Thus Josquins Missa Hercules dux Ferrarie was retitled as the Missa Philippus rex Castilie on the occasion of the coronation of Philip the Fair. The American ensemble Cut Circle, in residence at the prestigious Stanford University, sings this Mass with special attention for its militarist qualities, alternating with the most innovative compositions of Marbrianus de Orto, Gaspar Van Weerbeke and Pierre de la Rue. For their Belgian debut the young virtuoso singers of this ensemble will show the most ingenious counterpoint of the Flemish polyphonists.

21 August, 2015 20:00 -- amuz

Of the more than sixty manuscripts of Petrus Alamire that we are aware of, only the Koorboek 215-216 at the Royal Library in Brussels contains plainchant in addition to polyphony. The manuscript is all the more unique because there is only one theme: Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. At the end of the 15th century this cult flourished intensely. Many fraternities were founded in several cities of the Low Countries, also supported by Philip the Fair. The ensemble Psallentes, specialized in plainchant and conducted by Hendrik Vanden Abeele, applies itself to the repertoire for this typical Flemish-Burgundian devotion.

21 August, 2015 22:15 -- st-andrieskerk

The International Young Artists Presentation held as part of Laus Polyphoniae 2015 has been rechristened the International Petrus Alamire Lab. The focus is on the musical oeuvre collected by Petrus Alamire in the countless manuscripts he created. What do Alamires five-hundred-year-old manuscripts mean to a 21st century audience? How can polyphonic Renaissance music be a source of inspiration to composers and musicians today, across genres and styles? Musica and AMUZ invited promising musicians and ensembles to come up with original concepts for engaging with Alamires work. You can expect historical performances, transcriptions, contemporary adaptations and multidisciplinary creations based on the work of Petrus Alamire. Discover the interpretations and reinterpretations of a young generation of artists, and listen to them at various locations in the centre of Antwerp. The walk, including five concerts in historic buildings in the city, begins at AMUZ.

In collaboration with Huis Happaert, Keizerskapel, De Tijd, Interim Vastgoedbeheer

22 August, 2015 10:00 -- amuz

The Basevi Codex provides an interesting overview of secular music in the repertoire of Alamires choir books, including a surprisingly large number of settings without text of favourites such as Fors seullement, De tous biens plaine and so on. The codex also includes three settings of Fortuna desperata, ascribed to Obrecht and based on his Missa fortuna desperata, showing how a composition could be given a new lease of life in later versions. This workshop will look at the sections of Obrechts mass as pieces without text that can be reworked, presenting a challenge to both composers and musicians.
Fabrice Fitch, a musicologist at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, will examine the composition techniques and performance practice of Alamires time with help from the musicians of Ensemble Leones.

English spoken

22 August, 2015 13:00 -- ku-leuven-campus-carolus-antwerpen