Experience 400 years in 2 hours!
The history of sacred music is as old as the history of music itself, which in turn is as old as the history of belief in a higher power, however that belief has manifested itself through the ages.
According to Wikipedia, sacred music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. Since earliest Christian times, music, whether played on various instruments, or produced by human voices, or a combination of the two, has played a vital part in church worship and ceremony.
For the believer, there is immeasurable comfort, encouragement and reassurance in the lyrical content of sacred music. But more than this, much of the music written for, or used by the church was not only very spiritually moving, but also very beautiful, and it has come to be appreciated and loved for its own sake, and one need not be religiously inclined to enjoy it.
The music of Oriana’s upcoming concert and Italian tour repertoire, ’Lux Aeterna’ (Eternal Light), gives you a tantalising taste of the immense body of sacred choral music that has been composed between the Renaissance and the present day. Whether or not one is a believer, one cannot deny the beauty, and indeed the genius, of much of this wonderful music.
With choral works dating from the mid-sixteenth century, such as Thomas Tallis’s “If Ye Love Me”, and Ludovico da Viadana’s “Exsultate Justi” (Rejoice, you just ones), to Ola Gjeilo’s “Ubi Caritas” (Where Love Is), it is possible to see a continuity, stretching over hundreds of years. A continuity of not only an established and universally practised musical form and tradition, but an abiding need to express something that comes from deep within the human spirit; something so profound that music is the best, and sometimes the only way for it to be given expression. And whether one subscribes to the underlying belief system or not, the beauty of hearing this music through the medium of human voices in harmony is undeniable.
‘Lux Aeterna’ promises to be a unique listening experience. It will truly touch your soul.
St John's Cathedral: https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=521145
