A Vocal Chamber Music Concert “Believing and Loving” by Candlelight

On December 11, as part of the Collegium Early Music Christmas Festival, the vocal chamber music concert “Believing and Loving” will be heard at the concert hall “Collegium Musicum Riga”. It will be an intimate evening by candlelight, where the human voice and the sound of the harpsichord will meet, creating an especially close and personal musical conversation.

Soprano Monta Martinsone and harpsichordist and conductor Māris Kupčs will perform in the concert. In the interplay of the two musicians, vocal music will reveal itself in all its emotional nuance - from quiet contemplation and fragility to light, hope, and joy.

The title of the concert, “Believing and Loving,” also defines the main feeling of the evening. Advent is a time of waiting, but at the same time it is a story of faith, hope, and love - values that have inspired composers for centuries and continue to speak to today’s listener. This evening, they will be sought in music - in the voice, in words, in the silence between sounds, and in the colors of the harpsichord’s timbre. The concert program will present 17th-century vocal chamber music in its many moods - from subtle love lyricism and melancholy to spiritual uplift and quiet, almost meditative contemplation. The French Baroque world will be represented by works by Michel Lambert and Marc-Antoine Charpentier, while the splendor of Italian music will be revealed through works by Claudio Monteverdi, Tarquinio Merula, Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, and Giulio Caccini.

A special atmosphere will be created by the candlelit concert. For one evening, the historic Old Town spaces of the concert hall will take on an even airier mood, allowing the listener to be very close to the musicians and experience the music without the usual distance between stage and hall.