Sluis, 7 January 1430. Philip the Good is about to be married for the third time. His bride-tobe is 32-year-old Isabella of Portugal, whose Joyous Entry is celebrated with a week brimming with jousts and banquets. On the occasion of this prestigious wedding the Order of the Golden Fleece is founded, an exclusive society of knights that is devoted to the grandeur of festivities and banquets. In the 15th century the Burgundian empire was one of the most densely populated and thriving regions of Western Europe. The abundance at the court of Philip and the Portuguese Isabella therefore reached hallucinatory proportions, witness for example a royally equipped music band, the most modern of its era. Capilla Flamenca, More Maiorum and Mezzaluna join forces with a view to evoking the extravagant festivities of this epoch and to shape all this musical variety into a stylish festival opener of Laus Polyphoniae 2011! Couturier Tim Van Steenbergen will take care of a contemporary production design.

Performers
Tim Van Steenbergen, production design | Dirk Snellings & Peter Van Heyghen, artistic direction

20 August, 2011 19:00 -- AMUZ

Duarte Lobo straddled the 16th and the 17th century, acclaimed as one of the most famous Portuguese composers of his era. From his refined, expressive music transpires the rhetorical commitment of the 17th-century ‘stile nuovo’, but concurrently we can also discern the influences of the Franco-Flemish polyphonists from the second half of the 16th century. And not only in artistic terms is there a link with our region, for Lobo’s complete corpus of preserved works was printed by the Officina Plantiniana in Antwerp, with the exception of a hymn that has only come down to us in manuscript. Among the printed works there is also the music meant for Midnight Mass: both the expressive responsories and the Missa Natalitiae Noctis were published by Plantin in 1602. The Flemish Currende, famous for its clear ensemble sound, offers you a concert steeped in nocturnal atmosphere with vocal soloists, choir and instrumental ensemble. Duarte Lobo’s easygoing combination of textual interpretation and counterpoint will be reflected in the balanced group dynamics of these talented musicians!

Performers
Erik Van Nevel, artistic direction

20 August, 2011 21:00 -- O.L.V.-Kathedraal

At a conference with three sessions – interwoven with the diverse Sunday concerts – the following topics will successively be dealt with: the links between early music from Portugal and from the Low Countries, respectively; the specific nature or the distinct profile of the repertoire from both areas; and the vestiges preserved till today, the musical heritage. From a panel of experts, among them Oxford musicologist and performer Owen Rees and Flemish music heritage specialist Anne Mees, each speaker will in turn introduce a topic. Subsequently the discussion (or the argument!) with the colleagues will be entered into. Moreover, there will be room for interaction with the audience, which for that matter will not only consist of connoisseurs but also of aficionados. If you don’t want to miss the essence of the Portuguese-Flemish past or the best syntheses and the most clarifying pleadings of the festival, better be present here! English spoken.

9.00-10.30 SESSION 1: Is there such a thing as ‘Portuguese polyphony’? About musical identity. Keynote: Bernadette Nelson (CESEM – Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

11.00 CONCERT Coro Casa da Música Porto & Psallentes♀*

13.00-14.30 SESSION 2: Musical heritage: the future of our musical past.
Keynote: Fernando Miguel Jalôto (Ludovice Ensemble)

15.00 CONCERT Contrapunctus*

17.30-19.00 SESSION 3: Portugal – Flanders: musical intersections from the middle ages up to the early baroque era. Keynote: Owen Rees (University of Oxford | Contrapunctus)

20.00 CONCERT La Colombina*

With the cooperation of:
Bruno Bouckaert (Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen – Koninklijk Conservatorium) | Paulo Estudante (Universidade de Coimbra) | Paulo Lameiro (Musicalmente) | Anne Mees (Resonant) | Jan Nuchelmans (Conservatorium Amsterdam – Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten) | Sofie Taes (Alamire Foundation | K.U.Leuven | AMUZ) a.o.

* Concert tickets are not included

21 August, 2011 07:00 -- Elzenveld

At a conference with three sessions – interwoven with the diverse Sunday concerts – the following topics will successively be dealt with: the links between early music from Portugal and from the Low Countries, respectively; the specific nature or the distinct profile of the repertoire from both areas; and the vestiges preserved till today, the musical heritage. From a panel of experts, among them Oxford musicologist and performer Owen Rees and Flemish music heritage specialist Anne Mees, each speaker will in turn introduce a topic. Subsequently the discussion (or the argument!) with the colleagues will be entered into. Moreover, there will be room for interaction with the audience, which for that matter will not only consist of connoisseurs but also of aficionados. If you don’t want to miss the essence of the Portuguese-Flemish past or the best syntheses and the most clarifying pleadings of the festival, better be present here! English spoken.

9.00-10.30 SESSION 1: Is there such a thing as ‘Portuguese polyphony’? About musical identity. Keynote: Bernadette Nelson (CESEM – Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

11.00 CONCERT Coro Casa da Música Porto & Psallentes♀*

13.00-14.30 SESSION 2: Musical heritage: the future of our musical past.
Keynote: Fernando Miguel Jalôto (Ludovice Ensemble)

15.00 CONCERT Contrapunctus*

17.30-19.00 SESSION 3: Portugal – Flanders: musical intersections from the middle ages up to the early baroque era. Keynote: Owen Rees (University of Oxford | Contrapunctus)

20.00 CONCERT La Colombina*

With the cooperation of:
Bruno Bouckaert (Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen – Koninklijk Conservatorium) | Paulo Estudante (Universidade de Coimbra) | Paulo Lameiro (Musicalmente) | Anne Mees (Resonant) | Jan Nuchelmans (Conservatorium Amsterdam – Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten) | Sofie Taes (Alamire Foundation | K.U.Leuven | AMUZ) a.o.

* Concert tickets are not included

21 August, 2011 07:00 -- Elzenveld

Eight musicians assemble on a playing area at the center of the hall. Around them are cushions on which babies and toddlers await the concert anxiously. The music starts: sounds from 16th- and 17th-century Portugal reach the impressionable little ears, and a new world opens up. A first adventurous tot ventures among the musicians. Other toddlers follow or clap their hands! Perhaps one or the other will cry, classical music may not be up everybody’s alley after all, or is it nevertheless? While a little danseuse inspires the accordionist to a personal serenade, the saxophone player starts interactive playing with his infant spectators too. The Portuguese hit Concertos para Bebés has already been touring all over Europe and will pay a call on Antwerp for the first time this summer. Be sure to book your reservations early!

Uitvoerders
Isabel Catarino, soprano | Inesa Markava, soprano | Cristiana Francisco, alto  | Alberto Roque, baritone sax | José Lopes, alto sax | Nuno Gonçalves, clarinet | Pedro Santos, accordion | Paulo Lameiro, baritone & artistic direction

21 August, 2011 08:00 -- Theater 't Eilandje

Amazingly enough some private libraries still hold quite exceptional treasures. The manuscript of Alcobaça is a case in point. The 16th-century gradual contains colourfully illuminated initials, beautifully detailed ornamental borders and some folios richly decorated with gold leaf. However, the most conspicuous characteristic of the manuscript is its gigantic size: 1.80 by 1.20 metres! Such colossal graduals or ‘cantorales’ were most common in the 16th century in the south of Europe, but several copies also surfaced in the New World. Especially for Laus Polyphoniae the Flemish ensemble Psallentes♀ and the Portuguese choir of the Casa da Música Porto take up the challenge to perform the Gregorian plainsong from the privately preserved manuscript of Alcobaça on the festival stage: a world première!

Performers
Hendrik Vanden Abeele, artistic direction

21 August, 2011 09:00 -- Elzenveld