Sollazzo Ensemble © Elam Rotem
In 2025, KU Leuven will celebrate its 600th anniversary. As part of the festivities, Voices of Passion is looking back at the sound world of the early fifteenth century. At that time, polyphony was no longer in its infancy and had developed throughout the Middle Ages into a complex, almost mathematically sophisticated texture of voices.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century, composers faced a new era in which innovative compositional techniques, surprising sound constructions and a sense of euphony would gradually come to the fore.
The ingenuity of the Franco-Flemish polyphonists was admired throughout Europe. When their polyphonic music came into contact with French, Italian, and English composition, for example during international tours, a mutual cross-fertilisation took place. With well-known names such as Guillaume Du Fay and Gilles Binchois, but also completely unknown composers such as Johannes de Lymburgia, Voices of Passion is a musical evocation of the first decades of the fifteenth century.
Leuven and polyphony have long been intertwined. Together with 30CC, we highlight this tradition and current knowledge and performance practice during the Voices of Passion festival.