- Agenda
2021 | |||
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July 24, 19:30
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France
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Festival de Saintes, Abbaye aux Dames J.S. Bach, B minor Mass BWV 232 + 50th edition of the Festival!
Written over a period of twenty years and based on earlier scores, the Mass in B bears witness to J.S. Bach’s profound devotion. A summit of sacred music that introduces a luminous galant style within a great contrapuntal complexity. Vox Luminis approaches this mass with absolute legibility of the text and essential musical energy. |
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August 6, 20:00
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Belgium
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MA Festival, Bruges Cavalieri, Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo + In 1600, the composer Emilio de’ Cavalieri wrote bitterly that he and not Jacopo Peri had invented opera. Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo would therefore seem to have been the very first opera. Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione, with its mix of dance, drama and music has since become a key work in our art history.
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August 19, 11:00
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France
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Académie Bach, Eglise Saint-Rémy de Dieppe Couperin, Leçon de Ténèbres à deux voix du Mercredy et Extraits de la messe des Paroisses. + Concert for Holy Wednesday with soloists of Vox Luminis et Bart Jacobs (organ).
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August 20, 11:00
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France
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Académie Bach, Eglise d’Arques-la-Bataille Bach Dynasty + Notre vie est une ombre. With music from C. Othmayer and the Bach family.
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August 21, 19:00
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France
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Académie Bach, Eglise d’Arques-la-Bataille J.S.Bach, La Passion selon Saint-Jean + Johann Sebastian Bach sounds the first large-scale musical sermon by presenting St John Passion in Leipzig: forty movements lasting about two hours. Having achieved the monumental task of providing every sacred festival with a cantata, Bach had to think big for the key ritual event that is Easter. The service for Good Friday on April 7, 1724 was focused on music, except for the homily which had to be inserted between the two parts of St John Passion. “He who sings prays twice”, as Saint Augustin and Luther used to say.
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August 25, 20:00
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Belgium
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Laus Polyphoniae, AMUZ Antwerp Josquin Deprez, Missa l’homme armé sexti toni + The melody L’homme armé was a popular one at the time, and countless composers used it as a basis for the composition of a new mass. In his Missa L’homme armé sexti toni, Josquin demonstrates the range of techniques you can use to transform the melody into a complex, polyphonic work. Vox Luminis, masters of the interpretation of Baroque repertoire, explore the world of Franco-Flemish polyphony with their artistic leader Lionel Meunier. Their interpretation of Renaissance music promises to be every bit as good. “The refinement of Vox Luminis is never anything less than sublime”, enthuses Gramophone (UK). We entirely agree.
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August 28, 22:30
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The Netherlands
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Festival Oude Muziek, Utrecht Schütz, Musikalische Exequien + Vox Luminis‘ recording of Heinrich Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien was a direct hit. The 2011 album received a Diapason d’Or and an International Classical Music Award, and was declared recording of the year by British music magazine Gramophone. Tonight the vocal ensemble will be revisiting this brilliant funeral music that Schütz composed for the funeral of Prince Heinrich von Reuss.
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August 31, 17:00
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The Netherlands
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Festival Oude Muziek, Utrecht Passions of Joachim a Burck and Thomas Selle + Even before Bach, the Passion of Christ was set to music by numerous German composers. Vox Luminis takes time to examine two pioneering composers in the development of the early passion repertoire: Joachim a Burck, who composed a four-part St John Passion in 1568, and Thomas Selle, who lived in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, where he composed the earliest passions with instrumental accompaniment.
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September 2, 20:00
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The Netherlands
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Festival Oude Muziek, Utrecht Cavalieri, Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo + In 1600, the composer Emilio de’ Cavalieri wrote bitterly that he and not Jacopo Peri had invented opera. Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo would therefore seem to have been the very first opera. Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione, with its mix of dance, drama and music has since become a key work in our art history.
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September 5, 19:00
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Germany
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Musikfest Bremen, St. Cyprian- und Corneliuskirche Ganderkesee J.S.Bach, Johannespassion + When Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion was premiered in the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig in 1724, it eclipsed all other Passions by predecessors and contemporaries: such an opulent oratorio with a tendency towards the operatic was an absolute novelty! With an immense Baroque musical splendour, Bach tells the story of Jesus’ imprisonment, condemnation, scourging and crucifixion, following the account of St John the Evangelist – still one of the pinnacle works of sacred music today. However, since the Thomaskantor repeatedly made changes, there is no “final version”. Lionel Meunier follows the version of the New Bach Edition (Arthur Mendel, 1973), which includes elements of all four existing versions. But this one is closest to the first version in terms of structure and scoring. Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis have already been completely convincing with their Bach interpretations in previous years thanks to impeccable intonation, text articulation, homogeneity and indulgent, beautiful sound. So one can be very excited when the Belgian ensemble dedicates itself to this solemn Passion oratorio – of course with the magnificent Schnitger organ as continuo instrument
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September 17, 19:30
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Belgium
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Abdijenweekend – musica divina, Tongerlo Josquin Deprez, de princeps musicae + 2021 is the 500th anniversary of the death of the Flemish Polyphonist Josquin des Prez. We will be honouring this small eternity with Vox Luminis. Along with the famous Missa L’Homme Armé, there are also several motets by this great 16th century master on the programme. It is music that still appeals to us after all these centuries. Martin Luther rightly called des Prez der noten meister, he who rules over the notes.
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September 20, 20:00
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Belgium
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Les Festivals de Wallonie, Arsonic Mons Josquin Deprez + Born in Soignies, Josquin Desprez was probably the most talented, universal and influential European composer of his time. The appeal of his music is partly due to its variety and the extraordinary richness of its ideas. He composed 18 masses, nearly 100 motets, about 70 secular pieces and was considered the great master of vocal polyphony in the early Renaissance. Vox Luminis invokes the light through a series of motets before beginning Missa L’Homme Armé sexti toni, a fantasy on the famous theme of the Armed Man.
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September 24, 19:00
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Germany
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Waldkirch Royals + This is a private concert.
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September 25, 20:00
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Belgium
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Concertgebouw, Bruges Royals + London, Versailles, Vienna… three capital cities, three monarchs, three works with a grand tradition. Handel’s Coronation Anthems for George II’s 1727 coronation, for instance, still resound in Westminster Abbey today. Equally enduring is the custom of gracing any royal celebrations with a Te Deum, such as the ones Lalande composed for Louis XIV and Caldara composed for Emperor Charles VI. A magnificent programme by resident ensemble Vox Luminis reinforced by the Freiburger Barockorchester.
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September 26, 19:00
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Belgium
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Henri Le Boeuf Hall, Bozar Brussels Royals + Long live the king! In 1727, Handel finally became an Englishman. To thank his new country, he composed an impressive hymn in honour of King George II. Following its premiere, this composition would go on to be played at every coronation of a new monarch thereafter. In France, at the court of Versailles, de Lalande’s Te Deum was the favoured soundtrack for important royal celebrations. Having composed it in 1684, the piece remained very popular at court throughout the Baroque period. The same honour was bestowed on Caldara’s Te Deum, albeit at the Habsburg Imperial Court. Vox Luminis joins forces with the acclaimed Freiburger Baroque Orchestra to make this festive music resonate in the perfect acoustics of Horta’s palace.
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September 28, 20:00
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Germany
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Liederhalle, Stuttgart Royals + Even though we are all happy to live in a democracy, it is sometimes allowed to be royal, because without absolutist rulers of the 17th and 18th centuries, the history of music would have been different. The most famous composers of that time were in the service of art-loving rulers and, thanks to the financial support of kings and emperors, had the opportunity to write magnificent works for all kinds of representative occasions. Particularly magnificent works were performed at coronation ceremonies, especially in the context of the liturgy. The best-known coronation compositions are undoubtedly Handel’s Coronation Anthems, which have been performed in Westminster Abbey for the installation of the British monarch for almost 300 years. But Georg Muffat and Antonio Caldara also contributed solemn music for these sprawling celebrations.
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September 29, 20:00
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Germany
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Konzerthaus, Freiburg Royals + Even though we are all happy to live in a democracy, it is sometimes allowed to be royal, because without absolutist rulers of the 17th and 18th centuries, the history of music would have been different. The most famous composers of that time were in the service of art-loving rulers and, thanks to the financial support of kings and emperors, had the opportunity to write magnificent works for all kinds of representative occasions. Particularly magnificent works were performed at coronation ceremonies, especially in the context of the liturgy. The best-known coronation compositions are undoubtedly Handel’s Coronation Anthems, which have been performed in Westminster Abbey for the installation of the British monarch for almost 300 years. But Georg Muffat and Antonio Caldara also contributed solemn music for these sprawling celebrations.
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October 1, 20:00
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Germany
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Jesuitenkirche, Heidelberg Royals + Even though we are all happy to live in a democracy, it is sometimes allowed to be royal, because without absolutist rulers of the 17th and 18th centuries, the history of music would have been different. The most famous composers of that time were in the service of art-loving rulers and, thanks to the financial support of kings and emperors, had the opportunity to write magnificent works for all kinds of representative occasions. Particularly magnificent works were performed at coronation ceremonies, especially in the context of the liturgy. The best-known coronation compositions are undoubtedly Handel’s Coronation Anthems, which have been performed in Westminster Abbey for the installation of the British monarch for almost 300 years. But Georg Muffat and Antonio Caldara also contributed solemn music for these sprawling celebrations.
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October 2, 20:00
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Germany
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Philharmonie, Berlin Royals + Even though we are all happy to live in a democracy, it is sometimes allowed to be royal, because without absolutist rulers of the 17th and 18th centuries, the history of music would have been different. The most famous composers of that time were in the service of art-loving rulers and, thanks to the financial support of kings and emperors, had the opportunity to write magnificent works for all kinds of representative occasions. Particularly magnificent works were performed at coronation ceremonies, especially in the context of the liturgy. The best-known coronation compositions are undoubtedly Handel’s Coronation Anthems, which have been performed in Westminster Abbey for the installation of the British monarch for almost 300 years. But Georg Muffat and Antonio Caldara also contributed solemn music for these sprawling celebrations.
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November 6, 19:00
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Belgium
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Théâtre de Namur, Abbaye musicale de Malonne Lux Perpetua + The programme focuses on Henry Purcell, a major English composer of the second half of the 17th century, together with his predecessors Thomas Morley, a composer of the late Renaissance, and Thomas Tomkins, who lived through the pivotal period leading to the English Baroque, as well as his contemporaries John Blow and Matthew Locke.
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November 7, 17:00
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Germany
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Klangvokal Musikfestival, Dortmund Lux Perpetua + The programme focuses on Henry Purcell, a major English composer of the second half of the 17th century, together with his predecessors Thomas Morley, a composer of the late Renaissance, and Thomas Tomkins, who lived through the pivotal period leading to the English Baroque, as well as his contemporaries John Blow and Matthew Locke.
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November 14, 20:00
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Belgium
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deSingel, Antwerp Kaiserrequiem + This programme looks death straight in the eye. Purcell’s Funeral Sentences and the rarely performed Kaiserrequiem by Johann Joseph Fux are in good hands with Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis. Purcell originally composed this music for the funerals of Queen Mary II and his own tutor Matthew Locke. The Kaiserrequiem was intended for the funeral of Empress Eleonora, but was ultimately reused frequently. The otherworldly beauty of the choral sound leaves you speechless. This concert brings together the work of these two baroque masters in a unique way. In this repertoire, Lionel Meunier is unsurpassed.
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December 15, 20:15
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The Netherlands
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Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam Christmas concert + Because there is so much brilliant Baroque music to lighten the dark days of December besides Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Vox Luminis delved into the song repertoire for this masterpiece for this Christmas programme. Two cousins of Bach’s father, members of the musical elite of the time, sound alongside early Baroque masters such as Praetorius, Schein, Scheidt and Schütz. German composers who brilliantly combined musical persuasion and the art of counterpoint almost a hundred years before Bach.
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December 16, 20:00
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The Netherlands
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Pieterskerk, Utrecht Christmas concert + Because there is, in addition to the Christmas Oratorio, so much other brilliant Baroque music to brighten up December days, Vox Luminis is basing this Christmas programme around song repertoire from before Johann Sebastian Bach. Two cousins of Bach’s father who also belonged to the upper echelons of musical life form an immediate link. But Praetorius, Schein, Scheidt and Schütz are also represented: German music icons who brilliantly brought together rhetoric, power of expression and contrapuntal mastery almost a hundred years earlier.
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December 17, 20:15
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The Netherlands
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Penninckshuis, Deventer Christmas concert + Because there is, in addition to the Christmas Oratorio, so much other brilliant Baroque music to brighten up December days, Vox Luminis is basing this Christmas programme around song repertoire from before Johann Sebastian Bach. Two cousins of Bach’s father who also belonged to the upper echelons of musical life form an immediate link. But Praetorius, Schein, Scheidt and Schütz are also represented: German music icons who brilliantly brought together rhetoric, power of expression and contrapuntal mastery almost a hundred years earlier.
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December 18, 20:30
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The Netherlands
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Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek, Maastricht Christmas concert + Because there is, in addition to the Christmas Oratorio, so much other brilliant Baroque music to brighten up December days, Vox Luminis is basing this Christmas programme around song repertoire from before Johann Sebastian Bach. Two cousins of Bach’s father who also belonged to the upper echelons of musical life form an immediate link. But Praetorius, Schein, Scheidt and Schütz are also represented: German music icons who brilliantly brought together rhetoric, power of expression and contrapuntal mastery almost a hundred years earlier.
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December 19, 14:00
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The Netherlands
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Stadsschouwburg, Nijmegen Christmas concert + Because there is, in addition to the Christmas Oratorio, so much other brilliant Baroque music to brighten up December days, Vox Luminis is basing this Christmas programme around song repertoire from before Johann Sebastian Bach. Two cousins of Bach’s father who also belonged to the upper echelons of musical life form an immediate link. But Praetorius, Schein, Scheidt and Schütz are also represented: German music icons who brilliantly brought together rhetoric, power of expression and contrapuntal mastery almost a hundred years earlier.
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December 21, 20:00
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Belgium
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AMUZ, Antwerp Christmas concert + In this Christmas concert, Vox Luminis opens the treasure chest of German baroque music dating from before J.S. Bach. Two of Bach’s father’s cousins, who were also among the most talented members of the music scene, provide a direct link. As well as the familiar In dulce jubilo by Michael Praetorius, Lionel Meunier has selected many 17th century musical gems by Scheidt, H. Praetorius, Schütz and others: icons of German music who combined rhetoric, the power of expression and masterly counterpoint in brilliant ways at the beginning of the Baroque. Each of them is more than worth rediscovering and will get you straight into the Christmas spirit. Vox Luminis is unrivalled in this repertoire. The magnificent polyphonic chorales and hymns are guaranteed to move you.
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2022 | |||
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January 29, 20:00
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Belgium
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Bijloke, Ghent King Arthur + After the Tudor composers and before Handel, it was Henry Purcell who gave the English baroque its soul. With its brilliant mix of tradition and innovation, the Orpheus Britannicus also conquered the heart of Vox Luminis: one of the most celebrated Belgian formations of the moment. With ‘King Arthur’, it serves up a dramatic opera in which the swords of the Saxons clash, Roman and Germanic gods bicker and an epic soundtrack swings from climax to climax.
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February 11, 19:30
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Austria
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Mittlerer Saal, Brucknerhaus Linz Bach Family + In their debut at the Brucknerhaus Linz, Lionel Meunier and his vocal ensemble Vox Luminis, which specialises in the music of the 17th and 18th centuries and is celebrated throughout Europe, trace the unjustly little-known family and musical sources of Johann Sebastian Bach and bring to life the rich and stylistically complex tradition of this unique family dynasty, from his great-uncle Johann Bach to his second uncles Johann Christoph Bach and Johann Michael Bach to his distant cousin Johann Ludwig Bach.
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March 14, 19:00
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Spain
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Palau de la música, Barcelona Kind Arthur + H. PURCELL: King Arthuror The British Worthy(opera in five acts). Booklet by John Dryden[/showhide]
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March 16, 19:00
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Spain
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Palau de la música, Barcelona Fairy Queen + H. PURCELL: The Fairy Queen (opera in five acts). Booklet by Thomas Betterton, based on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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March 20, 20:00
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Belgium
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Concertgebouw, Bruges Fairy Queen + Purcell’s Midsummer Night’s Dream freshly staged
Shakespeare, but not Shakespeare. In his Fairy Queen Purcell didn’t set any of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to music. But he did compose sung interludes. The result is a grotesque piece that pulls out all the stops and leaves the listener pleasantly confused. With the help of Emilie Lauwers, resident artist Vox Luminis bring this beautiful music to visual life. |
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March 27, 18:00
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Spain
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Teatro Real, Madrid King Arthur + During the 17th century the British stage was influenced by the most diverse political ups and downs, from the closing of all of these during the Puritan government of Cromwell to the flourishing of an intense world of theatre during The Restoration. These factors contributed to the configuration of an original dramatic – musical- independent genre based on Italian and French models; the English semi-opera, also known as dramatick opera. The main difficulty of this genre today is the strong dissociation between the musical and spoken parts. In King Arthur, the dramatic aspect (spoken roles of the principals) narrates the conflict between Arthur –Christian king of the Britons– and Oswald –pagan king of the Saxons– rivals for the hand of Princess Emmeline and, with that, for the kingdom of England. The musical part plays the role of highlighting the multiple rituals, visions and divertimentos that are strategically interwoven throughout the drama. The disproportionate length and relative interest of the spoken parts with respect to the music makes a concert version of the opera an ideal option to enjoy Henry Purcell at his most fanciful and directed to audiences at large. [/showhide]
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