Officium Ensemble

Golden Days of Portuguese Polyphony The decades around 1600 represent a golden age for Portuguese polyphony. Although Spain often claims all the attention in music history, Portugal is home to its own tradition that is every bit as rich and refined. In cities such as Évora – a humanist center with cathedral and university – and the Alentejo region, a repertoire emerges that unites devotion, rhetoric and timbre in a unique way. Officium Ensemble – since 2000 the reference point for Iberian polyphony – tells the success story of Portuguese Renaissance with works by, among others, Manuel Cardoso and Estêvão Lopes Morago and some contemporaries from the region. The program moves between intimate passion music and grandly conceived multi-choir pieces, some of which remained unheard for centuries. With their agile voices and clear choral sound, the twelve singers reveal what makes Portuguese polyphony so special: concentrated expression and surprising vitality. Program: Motets by E.L. Morago, M. Cardoso, F. de Magalhães, A. Lobo