Fieri Consort

The London-based vocal ensemble Fieri Consort explores Renaissance ideals of beauty from a female perspective in its first concert at Bozar. In solo music and five-part madrigals by Maddalena Casulana, Raphaella Aleotti and Francesca Caccini, the musicians show that 17th century women were more than just the muses of male artists. Freeing the Muse is the apt title of their project. The composers chosen were influential artists who made their creative voices heard in spite of social disadvantages. Female musicians of the period are also brought into the spotlight. How did Tarquinia Molza and the Concerto delle Donne use their virtuosity to send the musical style of the time in a new direction? Fieri Consort reveals the answers.  

As part of Bellezza e Bruttezza, Bozar, together with three leading ensembles, explores the fascinating tension between beauty and ugliness in 16th- and 17th-century music. Graindelavoix investigates the concept of “ugliness” through the work of Cipriano de Rore, the innovative composer who, according to artistic director Björn Schmelzer, introduced a new, raw force into music through his bold chromaticism. For can ugliness not itself be a source of beauty Schmelzer wonders. The Italian ensemble La Fonte Musica focuses on Anchor che col partire, one of the most influential madrigals of the Renaissance and a timeless symbol of beauty. Conductor Michele Pasotti weaves De Rore’s masterpiece together with adaptations by contemporaries into a continuous suite in which beauty takes on ever richer forms. With Fieri Consort, artistic director Hannah Ely brings a female perspective to the theme of beauty. Her programme unites works by, among others, Maddalena Casulana, Raphaella Aleotti and Francesca Caccini – three exceptional composers who made their voices heard in a musical world still largely dominated by men.