Travel Pick: Classical Music in Netherlands
Oudemusik Festival

The year 1492 year was the fall of Granada, when Ferdinand and Isabella, Spain’s catholic rulers, ended the Islamic influence of 700 years. 1492 was also the year when, besides the Moors, the Jews were expelled from Spain: it was the start of a Diaspora that would continue to commemorate the country of origin in music and song. Yet Jews and Moors had played an important role in the culture of the Iberian Peninsula, both in science and in the arts. It was also the year Cristóbal Colon discovered America.

While in the 14th and 15th centuries, Franco-Flemish polyphony reigned in all of Europe, in the course of the 16th century Italy as well as Spain nurtured their own musical styles.

Some 50 concerts, a symposium and an exhibition bring to life Renaissance Polyphony of the Iberian Peninsula and the legacy of the Islamic-Spanish musical heritage in the 16th and 17th centuries. Although a music of great delicacy and depth, it is also music rich in the heritage of Arabo-andalusian tradition.

Al Ayre Español, Armoniosi Concerti, Orphénica Lyra, Xavier Díaz-Latorre, The Sixteen with Harry Christophers, Capilla Flamenca, Doulce Mémoire and the extraordinary lutenist and master of the vihuela, Hopkinson Smith, among others, interpret major scores by Morales, Guerrero and Victoria.