In 1617, there was no future for a Catholic composer like Richard Dering in London. He sought a solution in the Low Countries, where English musicians had enjoyed an outstanding reputation for decades. Dering followed in the footsteps of his colleague Peter Philips, travelling from Antwerp to Brussels, where he found work at a Benedictine convent at the foot of the Coudenberg, right opposite the cathedral. Years later, Dering returned to his home country as a private organist to Queen Henrietta Maria, the consort of Charles I. Transports Publics follows Dering’s musical peregrinations with exquisite madrigals, elegant instrumental dances and intimate motets that even charmed Oliver Cromwell! Expect a programme about exile and return, Brussels as a cultural and political crossroads, and a composer who took the relative nature of national borders as a licence for artistic adventure.
Program
R. Dering: Motets, madrigals and instrumental works
Performers
Griet Degeyter, soprano | Kevin Skelton, tenor | Annelies Decock, violin | Manuela Bucher, viola | Clémence Schiltz, viola da gamba | Gesina Liedmeier, viola da gamba & violone | Jan Van Outryve, theorbo | Thomas Baeté, viola da gamba & artistic director