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The 20th Memorial Concert of La Voce Orfica
Claudio Monteverdi /《Vespro della Beata Virgine》(Vespers for the B.V.M.)

Vocal ensemble "La Voce Orfica" offers the concert of the "Vepro della Beata Virgine"  by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) .

Date: Monday, 22nd November 2004
Place: St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo (map)
With:  Yoshimichi Hamda ... Director, recorder and cornett
          Anthonello ... Instrumental ensemble
          La Voce Orfica ... Choir
Ticket: Yen 3,800 (all non-reserved sheets)
Vocal ensemble "La Voce Orfica" offers the concert of the "Vepro della Beata Virgine"  by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) .

It is our 20th concert since the foundation in 1987.  For the memorial year, we chose the Vespers of Monteverdi aiming at our best performance ever. 

Based on the "cantus firmus" of Gregorian chants, the Vesper develops like a musical experiment of all genres of Italian early baroque era, covering from sacred music to secular madrigales.  Each of sections of the Vespers is full of variety and always fresh to us as it shows us different charming aspects whenever we put it on stage.

By courtesy of St. Mary's Cathedral, we are able to sing the Vespers in the Cathedral.  With marble floor and  resonance of six seconds, this is one of the best places in Japan for the performance of Monteverdi's Vespers, which must be composed taking into account of the Italian church architecture.

Anthonello is a professional group which is actively performing not only in Japan but also in overseas countries. 
The most notable vocal soloist may be Mr. Nobuaki Hichijo who came from rock'n'roll world. 
His singing style suggests a new possibility in the performance of early music. 
Therefore we believe that we can present a quite different Vespers from other recordings and performances.

La Voce Orfica is non-professional vocal ensemble which aims at the proper perfomance  the  medieval, renessance and baroque music. 
For the purpose we vigoursly study the singing and performing style, tunings and other related subjects of the era. 
It plans to release its first CD in 2005 with "Monteverdi / Vespro della Beata Virgine".



For details, please contact us at the following address:



《Vespro della Beata Virgine》

Since the middle ages, European music has been developed upon the Gregorian chant; and no one can deny that Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) is a genius in the long history of music in terms of making most colourful and dynamic music from plainchant.

《Vespro della Beata Virgine》, published on 1610 in Venice, is music for Vespers (an evening prayer) which was regarded mostly important among the music for the Divine Office in catholic church. 
Monteverdi, who had been serving the court of Gonzaga family in Mantua, invited in 1612 to the post of Maestro di Cappella of St. Mark's Basilica, Venice.  It must have been the highest post for his contemporaries. 
As if to symbolise the city, where sacred rituals and the people's feasts were conbined in a unique way, each of 14 sections of the Vespers is full of variety. 
It seems like a musical experiment of all genres of early baroque era, covering from sacred music to secular madrigales.  The Vespers is not only an exhibition of Italian composition technique, which was most innovative among Europe,  but also shows taste of the oriental Muslim world and folk music of Eastern Europe natives.

Monteverdi developed the Vespers from cantus firmus of Gregorian chant into a large scale work. 
For La Voce Orfica, it is the fourth performance of the Vespers but its charm never fades, and it shows us different aspects every time like a kaleidscope.


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