Vox Luminis
Monteverdi "Vespers of 1610"
June 10, 2021
Wednesday, November 11, 2026, 7:30 PM
Street and Davis Performance Hall, Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre
This performance will last approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.*
Category A $75 | Category B $50 | Category C $30
$10 students with ID and youth 18 and under
15%-25% subscription discounts available
"Is there a modern ‘early-music’ ensemble with quite so many rapt, ravishing and rhetorically convincing recordings of late? … Ecstatic listening."
— Gramophone
Lionel Meunier, artistic director
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.
Vespers of 1610
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.
Since its inception in 2004, the early music ensemble Vox Luminis has been internationally renowned for its distinctive timbre, both in its intimate productions with soloists and in its largest and most ambitious projects.
The ensemble specializes in English, Italian, and German music from the 16th to the early 18th centuries. Through approximately 70 concerts per year and numerous recordings, Vox Luminis aims to bring musical masterpieces to life and introduce previously undiscovered gems to the wider public through concerts, recordings, and workshops with audiences from different countries.
The ensemble has won a Gramophone Award on two occasions: in 2012, for Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien (Baroque Vocal and Gramophone Album of the Year), and in 2019 for Buxtehude’s Abendmusiken (Choral). It has also been awarded the Belgian Klara award for Ensemble of the Year 2018, the BBC Music Magazine award Choral Award Winner 2018, three Diapasons d’Or, and, on multiple occasions, the Preis der Deutschen Schalplattenkritik.
The ensemble has conquered the world’s greatest concert halls, including Bozar and Flagey in Brussels, deSingel in Antwerp, the Auditorio Nacional and the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Auditori and the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Salle Gaveau and the Auditorium de Radio France in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonies of Berlin and Cologne, the Laeiszhalle and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Konzerthaus in Dortmund, Lincoln Center in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston, and Zaryadye Hall in Moscow. It has also performed at prestigious festivals such as the Festival van Vlaanderen, Festivals de Wallonie, Festival de Saintes, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Musikfest Bremen, Bachfest Leipzig, Klangvokal Dortmund, Salzburger Festspiele, Aldeburgh Festival, and the Boston Early Music Festival.
Vox Luminis celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024, marking the occasion with the release of an anniversary CD box via Ricercar. The ensemble also collaborated with American composer Caroline Shaw, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music and multiple Grammys, to create a world premiere for the Thüringer Bachwochen.
In the past few years, Vox Luminis has built a solid, lasting partnership with the prestigious Freiburger Barokorchester and the Freiburger BarockConsort, working together on multiple projects per year. The ensemble is resident in the Concertgebouw Brugge and the Abbaye Musicale de Malonne (Namur). Vox Luminis counts on the precious support of the French Community of Belgium and Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI).
Internationally renowned as the founder and artistic director of Vox Luminis, French conductor and bass Lionel Meunier is widely regarded as one of the most dynamic and highly acclaimed artistic leaders in the fields of historical performance and choral music active today. Praised for his detailed yet spirited interpretative approach, he is now increasingly in demand as a guest conductor and artistic director with choirs, ensembles, and orchestras worldwide.
Under his leadership, Vox Luminis has since embarked on extensive concert tours throughout Europe, North America, and Asia; established multiseason artistic residencies at Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Utrecht Early Music Festival, and Concertgebouw Bruges; and recorded over a dozen critically acclaimed albums.
As a guest conductor, Meunier has worked with Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, Netherlands Bach Society, Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Netherlands Chamber Choir, Salzburg Bach Choir, and the Boston Early Music Festival Collegium, and has led projects with Vox Luminis in collaboration with Orchestra B’Rock, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and L’Achéron, among many others.
Meunier maintains a close relationship with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Consort, returning regularly to lead collaborative projects with Vox Luminis that cover a wide repertoire. He is a regular guest at the Juilliard School, where he leads projects with Juilliard 415 and students from Vocal Arts.
Born in France, Meunier was trained as a singer and recorder player and began his career as a bass in renowned ensembles such as Collegium Vocale Ghent, Amsterdam Baroque Choir, and Capella Pratensis. In 2013 he was awarded the title of Namurois de l’Année (Namur Citizen of the Year) for culture in the Belgian town of Namur, where he lives with his family.
Vox Luminis and Meunier previously performed at the center in 2023.
Photos by Leslie Artamonow and Johan Jacobs
* Run times listed here are based on information provided at this time and are subject to change.