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Cappella Pratensis

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Friday, March 10, 2017
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

"Cappella Pratensis sing with an organic appreciation of line and text that enfolds the ear in every phrase," marveled Classical Music Magazine. This Dutch ensemble summons the atmosphere of choral singing from five centuries ago: eight male voices, all reading from a single choir book. They recreate original practices without sacrificing the immediacy of these intricate masterworks.

Cappella Pratensis come to Duke Performances with a tribute to the best-known son of their native city, the phantasmagorical painter Hieronymus Bosch. To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the artist's death, the group brings to life the music of the astounding generation of Franco-Flemish choral composers he would have heard in his day. While Bosch filled his paintings with vivid and densely packed images, composers like Pierre de La Rue filled their works with musical variety and polyphonic innovation. The group contrasts a mass by de La Rue with two "triptych wings": simple Gregorian plainchant and the many-voiced motets of Mouton and Clemens non Papa.

Contact: Gloria Hunt