Chamber Choir to stage rousing Renaissance composer tribute

THE discernable delights of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina will fill the gold-adorned interior of the Bendigo Town Hall tomorrow week when the Bendigo Chamber Choir takes pause to mark five hundred years since the renowned Italian composer’s birth.

Signor Palestrina is considered one of the leading composers of the late 16th century Renaissance period, with the choir to perform his four-voice polyphonic mass Missa Aeterna Christi Munera plus motets including Sicut Cervus and Tu es Petrus.

His contemporaries Tomas Luis de Victoria, Orlando de Lassus and Josquin des Prez will also be featured, as well as Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere.

As the choir’s music director Michael Bottomley explained, Palestrina worked mostly in Rome at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, and also St Peter’s Basilica.

“He’s part of that great Renaissance art movement of the time, with the great painted ceilings and decoration of the churches, and the music that floats around the wonderful spaces of those buildings,” he said.

“That’s why we’re performing at the Town Hall – it’s (also) a wonderful space for unaccompanied singing and it’s an amazing building, outside and inside.”

Mr Bottomley said the concert is suitable for all ages “who are interested in not just choral music, but interested in classical music, the history of music, and beautiful music in lovely spaces.”

“So, come along to enjoy a relaxing afternoon.”

Bendigo Chamber Choir’s tribute to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina takes place at the Bendigo Town Hall on Saturday 11 October from 3pm.

Tickets are available via Gotix.