This year we celebrate the 450th anniversary of the death of the Flemish composer Adriaen Willaert, who had been maestro di cappella of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice long before Monteverdi occupied the post; Willaert was also the inventor of the Venetian polychoral technique, with choral groups placed in the various galleries of the church.

CAPILLA FLAMENCA has chosen the various Psalms and the Magnificat that form his Marian Vespers from his extensive body of sacred music. The organ also plays between the various choral interventions, in keeping with musical practice of the time; Joris Verdin recorded these pieces on the Lorenzo da Prato organ (ca. 1475) in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna.