Buckfast Abbey choir to bring Venetian sacred music to life in special summer concert
The Choir of Buckfast Abbey will join acclaimed period-instrument ensemble In Echo for a special summer performance celebrating the grandeur, innovation and rich musical heritage of Renaissance Venice
The Choir of Buckfast Abbey will join forces with period-instrument ensemble In Echo for a concert celebrating the splendour of Venice's golden age of sacred music.
Taking place on Saturday 20 June at 7.30pm, Venetian Splendour will feature works by some of the most influential composers of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods, including Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi and Giovanni Croce.
The performance will recreate the rich musical traditions of Venice's famed St Mark's Basilica, where composers developed the distinctive polychoral style that became one of the defining sounds of European sacred music.
Audiences can expect soaring choral works and dramatic musical exchanges as singers and instrumentalists perform in the style of the Venetian masters, who often positioned performers in different galleries of churches to create striking spatial effects and powerful sonorities.
Presented within the impressive surroundings of Buckfast Abbey, the concert promises an atmospheric evening showcasing music from one of the most creative periods in church music history.
The programme forms part of Buckfast Abbey's ongoing commitment to promoting choral and sacred music. The Abbey Choir is recognised as the only professional Roman Catholic choir in the South West and regularly performs at major liturgical celebrations within the Abbey Church.
Located on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, Buckfast Abbey is one of Devon's best-known religious and cultural landmarks. Founded in 1018 by King Cnut, the monastery was dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII in 1538 before being rebuilt stone by stone on its original medieval foundations by French and German Benedictine monks.
Today, the Benedictine monastery welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and is renowned for its architecture, gardens, hospitality, cultural events and musical programme.
Tickets and further information are available at www.buckfast.org.uk/events/venetian-splendour/