How did this precious manuscript find its way to Leuven? Who acquired it? How do you present such a discovery to a wider audience? What role does innovative technology play in studying such a source and making it accessible? These and other questions will be considered, alternating with chansons performed live by the vocal-instrumental Sollazzo Ensemble under the direction of Anna Danilevskaia. The lecture draws on the latest findings of the Strategic Basic Research project New Perspectives on Medieval and Renaissance Courtly Song, funded by the FWO.

The musicians of Sollazzo will also perform an evening concert featuring a selection of intimate works from the Leuven Chansonnier and other songbooks. With poetry on courtly love, longing, jealousy, solitude, and fate, the programme offers a glimpse into the emotional world of the late Middle Ages. The ensemble will bring anonymous and rediscovered treasures by Okeghem, Busnoys, Morton, and others back to life.

Flemish Diplomatic Representative to the Nordic countries, Geraldine Reymenants, will attend the lecture-performance and the concert during this anniversary edition of the festival. The Alamire Foundation is particularly pleased to strengthen diplomatic ties with Scandinavia in this way and to promote Franco-Flemish polyphony on an international stage.