2026-11-11
Time: to
Location:
Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech
190 Alumni Mall
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
Tickets: $10 - $75
Contact:
Avery Eliades
artscenter@vt.edu
540-231-5300
Accessibility Contact:
Jonathan Boulter
artscenter@vt.edu
540-231-5300
About the Event
Founder Lionel Meunier composed the Belgian early music ensemble Vox Luminis in such a way that each voice can shine alone as well as merge into one luminous fabric of sound. The singers return to the Center for the Arts to perform one of the great masterpieces of sacred music.
Joined by a full orchestra, the ensemble presents Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, a monumental work that bridges the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Sweeping choruses, virtuosic solos, and expressive call-and-response sections reveal a composer boldly expanding sacred music into something theatrical, intimate, and profoundly moving.
Published while Monteverdi was working in Mantua, Vespers of 1610 combines traditional Gregorian chant with innovative compositional techniques of the emerging Baroque style. The work sets traditional Latin texts for the evening service of Vespers, including several psalms and the Magnificat. Monteverdi's creative treatment of these texts — employing multiple choirs, instrumental accompaniment, and the new dramatic style of the early Baroque while also using techniques such as echo effects, virtuosic solo passages, and contrasting textures between sections — is what makes Vespers of 1610 remarkable.
The Vespers demonstrates Monteverdi's mastery of both the older polyphonic style (prima prattica) and the newer, more expressive approach (seconda prattica). It's considered one of the first great masterpieces of Baroque sacred music, showing how traditional church music could be combined with the emotional expressiveness and dramatic flair of opera, which was just emerging at the time.
