Vox Luminis XL
Closing Concert: Tallis' Spem in alium
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Livestream from TivoliVredenburg / Grote Zaal on 6 September 2026 at 20:00
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About this concert
How monumental can music become before it bursts at the seams? In the 16th century, composers sought out that breaking point with an almost reckless ambition. Thomas Tallis goes to the extreme in Spem in alium, a polyphonic cathedral of sound for forty voices, that slowly rises and then crumbles again. Like the Steven Spielberg of Renaissance polyphony, he puts the vocal interplay under high tension: to hear all forty parts, we must wait exactly forty bars.
Even in compactly orchestrated polyphony – such as that of Sheppard, Morley, and Striggio – there often lurks an intensity with crushing impact. Vox Luminis, pure world class, born at the Hague Conservatory, presents this repertoire with breathtaking precision, warmhearted emotion, and a sound that is both transparent and lush. Less is more? Not in this case!
With an introduction by Annelies Andries (19:15 hrs, in Dutch) in the Fentener van Vlissingen Foyer (limited capacity).
Also live on www.emtv.online.
Programme
-
Thomas Morley
Funeral Sentences
1557/58-1602 -
Thomas Tallis
Spem in Alium
c1505-1585 -
Alessandro Striggio
Ecce Beatam Lucem
c1536/37-1592 -
John Sheppard
Media vita in morte sumus
Programme subject to changec1515-1558
Musicians
- Vox Luminis XL
- Lionel Meunier musical direction, bass
About the performers
The vocal ensemble Vox Luminis was founded in 2004 by Lionel Meunier at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Its repertoire consists mainly of English, Italian and German works from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. For various projects, the core group of vocalists is regularly expanded to include a few (basso continuo) instruments or a full orchestra. Vox Luminis has now released over twenty CDs, for which they have won numerous awards. The ensemble was artist in residence at Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht 2015.
Lionel Meunier is a French conductor and bass, known as the founder and artistic director of the acclaimed vocal ensemble Vox Luminis. Praised for his powerful interpretations and dynamic leadership in historical performance practice, he led Vox Luminis to win Gramophone Awards in 2012 and 2019. Meunier collaborates worldwide with several ensembles and orchestras and has a close association with the Freiburger Barockorchester.