Cappella Mariana https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/ Vokální ansámbl specializující se na renesanční polyfonii a díla raného baroka. Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:43:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 New CD La Nobilità di Milano https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/new-cd-la-nobilita-di-milano/ Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:43:09 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/new-cd-la-nobilita-di-milano/ The post New CD La Nobilità di Milano appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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New CD La Nobilità di Milano

The release of our CD Nobiltà di Milano is fast approaching. The digital launch will be on June 12, with the physical release following one week later. Listen to the previews and join us in celebrating this new recording.

This new project by Cappella Mariana and the Breathtaking collective focuses on the music of Habsburg Milan in the first decades of the 17th century. After the Sforza family lost the Duchy of Milan in 1532, the territory fell under the rule of the Spanish Habsburgs. In a period of relative calm between two devastating plagues (1576 and 1630), the city enjoyed an extraordinary flowering of cultural life under the patronage of Archbishop Federico Boromeo.

On this recording, we present a series of madrigals by Francesco Rognoni that stand out for their intense expressive power and virtuosity. Given Rognoni's pathfinding role as an early violin virtuoso, we have experimented with the use of instruments in some of these compositions.

The heart of the recording is a uniquely Milanese genre, the “canon motto,” which pits an ensemble of four or five singers against a group of instruments. The singers begin with a polyphonic motet, to which the instruments respond with a lively canzona, until both choirs gradually converge into a magnificent dialogue.

Immerse yourself with us in the world of the Milanese nobility and enjoy this fascinating blend of voices and instruments. Digital release on June 12, physical copies available one week later!

La-nobilta_1172_front_cover

THE BREATHTAKING COLLECTIVE
CAPPELLA MARIANA

Bruce DICKEY | cornetto and artistic leader

Hana BLAŽÍKOVÁ | soprano
Barbora KABÁTKOVÁ | soprano
Vojtěch SEMERÁD | tenor
Tomáš LAJTKEP | tenor
Martin SCHICKETANZ | bass

Lambert COLSON | cornetto
Simen VAN MECHELEN | trombone
Joost SWINKELS | trombone
Veronika SKUPLIK | Baroque violin
Csenge ORGOVÁN | Baroque viola
Mieneke VAN DER VELDEN | viola da gamba
Matthias MÜLLER | viola da gamba and violon
Jan KREJČA | theorbo
Kris VERHELST | organ and harpsichord

The recording will be released by
PASSACAILLE RECORDS
Independent label for historically informed interpretation

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]]> Review: A Concert That Opened the Door to Another World https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/review-a-concert-that-opened-the-door-to-another-world/ Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:30:03 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/review-a-concert-that-opened-the-door-to-another-world/ The post Review: A Concert That Opened the Door to Another World appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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Machaut at the St Wenceslas Music Festival sounded in a tone that was not persuasive, but transformative.

Blanka Hrubá, Operaplus.cz

The concert was an exceptional encounter with music that is not merely a historical curiosity but a living language of human feeling.

On the evening of 10 September 2025, the St Wenceslas Music Festival offered its audience a remarkable encounter with music that is seldom heard. In the imaginative programme Dvorská lyrika (Courtly Lyric), works by Guillaume de Machaut, the master of medieval poetry and music, resounded in the refectory of the Piarist Monastery in Příbor. The performers were Hana Blažíková, Vojtěch Semerád, Jakub Kydlíček, and Jaromír Meduna.

The programme was conceived as a carefully crafted literary-musical tapestry, interweaving recited excerpts from Machaut’s texts with the song forms ballade, lai, and virelai, as well as the instrumental form hoquetus (hocket).

The first notes seemed to open a gateway to another world, leading listeners through a kaleidoscope of melodic subtleties. Hana Blažíková, with her crystalline soprano, drew out a fragile tension between word and music. Her playing on the Gothic harp possessed a natural grace, providing an intimate underpinning to Machaut’s sound world.

Vojtěch Semerád, tenor and vielle player, brought to the songs the touch of an original storyteller. His voice combined medieval diction with human immediacy, flowing naturally between the musical forms in which Machaut unfolds the stories and symbols of love.

The sonic palette was further enriched by Jakub Kydlíček, who animated the recorders with ornamental precision and a vivid aural imagination.

Full review (in Czech)

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]]> See concert online: The Choirbook of Margaret of Austria VI https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/see-concert-online-the-choirbook-of-margaret-of-austria-vi/ Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:07:21 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/see-concert-online-the-choirbook-of-margaret-of-austria-vi/ The post See concert online: The Choirbook of Margaret of Austria VI appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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The recording of Cappella Mariana’s concert from Utrecht’s Domkerk (4 Sep 2025) is available on Early Music Television (EMTV), the streaming platform of the Festival Oude Muziek. The programme features Pierre de la Rue’s Missa de Sancta Cruce alongside works by Josquin and Agricola.

Create an EMTV account and purchase as pay-per-concert to watch.

The Choirbook of Margaret of Austria VI

Duchess Margaret of Austria collected not only art but also sound. Vojtěch Semerád and Cappella Mariana bring to life two unique manuscripts from her collection: the Choirbook and her personal Songbook. A rare glimpse into the musical diary of a royal.

Hana BLAŽÍKOVÁ, Barbora KABÁTKOVÁ | soprano
Ondřej HOLUB, Matúš ŠIMKO, Filip DÁMEC | tenor
Jaromír NOSEK, Pieter STAS | bass
Vojtěch SEMERÁD | artistic director, tenor

Watch on EMTV

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]]> Cappella Mariana won Anděl Award 2024 Classics category https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/cappella-mariana-won-andel-award-2024/ Sun, 06 Apr 2025 20:37:06 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/cappella-mariana-won-andel-award-2024/ The post Cappella Mariana won Anděl Award 2024 Classics category appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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Cappella Mariana won this year's Anděl Award of Classics category with their album, which was created in collaboration with the ensemble Constantinople.

The Anděl Awards have been presented annually since 1991 by the Academy of Music. Since 1995, they have been held under the auspices of the IFPI and since 1997 they have been symbolised by the sculptor Jaroslav Róna's sculpture of an Angel with a scepter. "The winners this year were decided by 500 academics under the supervision of a notary," said Petra Žikovská, director of the ČNS IFPI, which announces the Angel Awards.

 

„Our project strove to bring together our ensembles from the opposite sides of the Bosporus, integrating their respective qualities into a joint work. Our geographic, historical and cultural pilgrimage has ultimately transformed into an inner journey, connected with discovering distant horizons.“

Vojtěch Semerád, Cappella Mariana

 

„Nowadays, we feel it is more important than ever to build and recreate bbridges between civilizations, cultures and peoples. Bridges that encourage us to come together and to reconcile, bridges that call for dialogue and conversation, for a synergy of ideas and actions that help us to live a more peaceful present and to prepare a better future together. This is not just an ideal or a utopian vision of humanity, but a real and urgent need for the healing of our society.“

Kiya Tabassian, Constantinople

Further information on the recording PILGRIMAGE
20250406_Andel
Play Video

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]]> Cappella Mariana was awarded prestigious Diapason d’Or award https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/cappella-mariana-was-awarded-prestigious-diapason-dor-award/ Mon, 17 Mar 2025 11:57:40 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/cappella-mariana-was-awarded-prestigious-diapason-dor-award/ The post Cappella Mariana was awarded prestigious Diapason d’Or award appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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Jean Richafort | Missa O Genitrix – Missa Veni Sponsa Christi

„…les phrases, amples, sont parfaitement dirigées, la diction impeccable, restitue le texte avec exactitude, les moindres détails de la texture contrapunctique sont la, l’homogeneite des chanteurs est totale et la palette de nuances élargies au maximum.“

Anne Ibos-Augé, Diapason

 

„Leur parole est d'or."

Benoît Fauchet

 

We are very pleased to announce that our CD Jean Richafort with Missa O Genetrix and Missa Veni Sponsa Christi has won the prestigious Diapason d'Or award. We thank RicercarLab (Philippe Vendrix & Agostino Magro) for their collaboration in the conception of the project and the Musique en Wallonie label for their trust.

 

Jean Richafort rose to prominence thanks to the fame of his works and his meetings with personalities such as Louis XII, Anne de Bretagne and François I. Richafort’s work was well known in his time, and his compositions spread quite rapidly throughout Europe: more than 200 sources have been discovered so far, both printed and manuscript. His compositions were so popular that they inspired other famous composers, including J. Mouton or G. P. da Palestrina. Jean Richafort’s output includes three masses, approximately thirty motets and fifteen songs. The Cappella Mariana recording brings together two of his masses: Missa O Genetrix and Missa Veni Sponsa Christi.

CAPPELLA MARIANA
Hana BLAŽÍKOVÁ | soprano
Barbora KABÁTKOVÁ | soprano
Daniela ČERMÁKOVÁ | alto
Vojtěch SEMERÁD | tenor, artistic director
Filip DÁMEC | tenor
Ondřej HOLUB | tenor
Tomáš KRÁL | baritone
Jaromír NOSEK | bass

Published by Musique en Wallonie.
You can buy the recording at Amazon or eBay.

2025_Diapason Richafort
Diapason-Parole
Play Video

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]]> Wandering through the Year of Czech Music with Kryštof Harant and the ensembles Cappella Mariana and Constantinople https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/wandering-through-the-year-of-czech-music-with-krystof-harant-and-the-ensembles-cappella-mariana-and-constantinople/ Thu, 16 Jan 2025 16:15:45 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/wandering-through-the-year-of-czech-music-with-krystof-harant-and-the-ensembles-cappella-mariana-and-constantinople/ The post Wandering through the Year of Czech Music with Kryštof Harant and the ensembles Cappella Mariana and Constantinople appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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Musical Journey of Kryštof Harant to Jerusalem

Years ending in a four have a similar significance in Czech music as the years ending in eight for the whole nation and the country. Strangely enough, they often coincide with the anniversaries of the birth death, or creation of key works of the most prominent Czech composers. During the celebration of the year 2024, a series of interviews entitled Wandering through the Year of Czech Music was created.

Vojtěch Semerád and Kiya Tabassian accepted an invitation to record an interview about their joint program Odysées of Kryštof Harant.

Answers to the questions of why they decided to focus on the music of Kryštof Harant, how the performers dealt with fragments of Harant's works, what was the initial impulse to collaborate in the first place, can be found in the recently published video.

The interview was recorded on the occasion of the concert of Cappella Mariana and Constantinople in the Church of St. James the Elder in Česká Kamenice on 21 September 2024.

Play Video

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]]> Cappella Mariana & Constantinople in Prague | Tickets on sale now https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/cappella-mariana-constantinople-in-prague-tickets-on-sale-now/ Thu, 12 Dec 2024 13:17:44 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/cappella-mariana-constantinople-in-prague-tickets-on-sale-now/ The post Cappella Mariana & Constantinople in Prague | Tickets on sale now appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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Kryštof Harant: Journey to the Holy Land

The congenial interconnection of Kryštof Harant’s Renaissance polyphony with the musical world of the Middle East can be heard live in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum on 31 March 2025.

Harant’s travelogue runs through the programme like a unifying thread and his compositions are interwoven with the music he might have heard on his journey to the Holy Land. The result is a unique musical language – in many of the pieces you will hear microtones originating from Middle Eastern modal traditions enriched by European vocal polyphony, and vice versa. This inspiring encounter of seemingly distant musical worlds highlights, among other things, the very timely theme of the intermingling of different cultures and the search for a common language in today’s globalised world.

Tickets are already available online.
The concert is organised by the Czech Chamber Music Society.

Tickets online

CAPPELLA MARIANA
Hana BLAŽÍKOVÁ, Barbora KABÁTKOVÁ | soprano
Tomáš LAJTKEP, Ondrej HOLUB | tenor
Jaromír NOSEK | bass
Vojtěch SEMERÁD | tenor, artistic director
Saša RAŠILOV | narrator

CONSTANTINOPLE
Didem BAŞAR | kanun
Patrick GRAHAM | percussion
Neva ÖZGEN | kemençe
Kiya TABASSIAN | voice, setar, artistic director

Play Video

There are spiritual and secular programs, but there are also fusions of both that have the potential to reach everyone. Sometimes these fusions are artificial and there is not the same intensity of intermingling. However, the fusion of Cappella Mariana and Constantinople was exceptional, yielded rich fruit and experience, and was truly worldly.

Tomáš Cidlina, Klasikaplus.cz, 22. 9. 2024

Cappella Mariana & Constantinople
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople
Vojtěch Semerád & Kiya Tabassian
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople © MHF Pražské jaro
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople © MHF Pražské jaro
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople © MHF Pražské jaro
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople
Cappella Mariana & Constantinople

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]]> New release: After six years, a dream becomes a reality https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/new-release-after-six-years-a-dream-becomes-a-reality/ Thu, 24 Oct 2024 09:59:46 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/new-release-after-six-years-a-dream-becomes-a-reality/ The post New release: After six years, a dream becomes a reality appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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THE UNIQUE MUSICAL PILGRIMAGE OF KRYŠTOF HARANT TO JERUSALEM WITH CAPPELLA MARIANA AND ENSEMBLE CONSTANTINOPLE

NOWADAYS, we feel it is more important than ever to build and recreate bridges between civilisations, cultures and peoples. Bridges that encourage us to come together and to reconcile, bridges that call for dialogue and conversation, for a synergy of ideas and actions that help us to live a more peaceful present and to prepare a better future together. This is not just an ideal or a utopian vision of humanity, but a real and urgent need for the healing of our society.

Accordingly, the present album is sung in seven languages. Harant’s liturgical works were intended to be performed in churches; hence on the recording they are acoustically different from the instrumentally more colourful Middle Eastern music. The album’s final piece, Otce Buoha nebeského (Our Father, God in Heaven), concludes our pilgrimage in an intimate conjunction, combining a Czech sacred song from the milieu of literary brotherhoods, so typical of Bohemian Renaissance music, with a prayer to a text by the Persian poet Hafez.

2024_Pilgrimage_titulka-cd

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]]> The mystique of the coronation in Hvězda Summer Palace https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/the-mystique-of-the-coronation-in-hvezda-summer-palace/ Thu, 28 Mar 2024 16:55:08 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/the-mystique-of-the-coronation-in-hvezda-summer-palace/ The post The mystique of the coronation in Hvězda Summer Palace appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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The mystique of the coronation

Celebration of Czech saints at the Hvězda Summer Palace

12 April 2024, 7.00 pm
Hvězda Summer Palace, Prague 6

 

CAPPELLA MARIANA
Hana BLAŽÍKOVÁ | soprano, gothic harp
Barbora KABÁTKOVÁ | soprano, psalterium
Vojtěch SEMERÁD | tenor, artistic director
Ondřej HOLUB | tenor
Jaromír NOSEK | bass
Jakub KYDLÍČEK | recorders

Tickets online

The concert is organised by Hudební festival Znojmo.

Play Video

ANOTATION

The concert programme presents saints of medieval Bohemia, St. Wenceslas, St. Ludmila and St. Vojtech, the country's patrons and symbols of the nation as well as its royal insignia. It contains choral movements, songs and motets from Czech sources of the same period. The last piece, Ave coronata, is the only known isorhythmic motet of Central European provenance and is attributed to the court of Charles IV.

It should be noted that in the 14th century Prague was the seat of the Roman Emperor and, together with Paris, it was the largest city north of the Alps. It thus became an important cultural centre from where the so-called Beautiful style of Gothic art emerged.

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]]> We will present the new CD on February 20, 2024 https://www.cappellamariana.com/en/we-will-present-the-new-cd-on-february-20-2024/ Tue, 06 Feb 2024 20:50:15 +0000 https://www.cappellamariana.com/we-will-present-the-new-cd-on-february-20-2024/ The post We will present the new CD on February 20, 2024 appeared first on Cappella Mariana.

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New CD: Flemish polyphony in Central Europe

On the occassion of the concert 20th February, held in Prague, Sts. Simon and Jude Church, Cappella Mariana will V rámci koncertu 20. února 2024 soubor Cappella Mariana will present their new CD, Tourout, Isaac & Weerbeke: Flemish polyphony in Central Europe, under the patronage of Belgian Ambassador HE Jurgen van Meirvenne.

Click for more information about the concert
20240206_Flemish-polyphony-in-Central-Europe_CD-cover

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