Festive Cantatas: Christmas in Gabrieli’s Venice

Presented by Early Music Vancouver

Giovanni Gabrieli, who died in 1612, was without a doubt the greatest composer of the Venetian High Renaissance. We celebrate the holidays this year with music by this Venetian master, his uncle Andrea, and their contemporaries. This is music that would have echoed from the mosaic-covered vaults of Saint Mark’s Basilica as well as other Venetian churches. The program consists of motets of two to fifteen voices, as well as dazzling sonatas and canzonas for cornetti, trombones and strings – festive music worthy of the season but also of the pomp and brilliance of the Venetian state.

Bruce Dickey, director and cornetto; Arwen Myers, soprano; Danielle Sampson, soprano; Vicki St. Pierre, alto; Nicholas Burns, alto; Ross Hauck, tenor; Colin Balzer, tenor; Sumner Thompson, baritone; Martin Auclair, bass

Pre-concert talk at 2:15pm.