Janua, echoes of the last Schism

Show & Culture

The Irini Ensemble invites us to an extraordinary experience. The motet Nuper rosarum flores by Guillaume Dufay is extremely rare and majestic, composed for the completion of the famous dome of Florence Cathedral. With Janua, conductor Lila Hajosi reconciles the two churches of the fifteenth century: on one side, Catholic West with grand Franco-Flemish polyphonies; on the other, Orthodox East with the long lines of Byzantine chant. From Manuel Doukas Chrysaphes, O Theos, Ilthosan Ethni is a sublime lament written just after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453. Two magnificent sonic worlds, two visions of the sacred, united here in a unique dialogue. The nine voices of Irini, accompanied by trumpets and sackbuts, create an incomparable enchantment.