Hearing the Convent

The sessions will focus on the performance of anonymous five-voice motets from RISM1543/2, Musica…motteta materna lingua vocata, which Stras's research has identified as the earliest printed source of music associated with nuns. Three days of score preparation by the group’s most experienced editors will be followed by four days of rehearsal with Musica Secreta performers, and a further two days of rehearsal with its associate amateur choir, Celestial Sirens. Some sessions will be opened to auditioned young professionals as a career development opportunity, and a selection of the repertoire will also form the basis of two workshops with the Brighton Festival Youth Chorus. The rehearsals will also feed into a concert at the Brighton Early Music Festival 2015, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the births of Suor Leonora d’Este (potentially the composer of the motets) and the most renowned composer of the sixteenth century, Cipriano de Rore.