Christmas in the New World

Musica Antica Rotherhithe present a Christmas hard to find anywhere else this year, with a programme of 16th and 17th Century songs, carols, motets and dances written in the Americas, from some of the first indigenous songs transcribed by Europeans, to sacred music and dances written by composers of Mexica and Incan heritage in Nahuahtl and Quechua. The programme also features the work of Iberian composers, including Afro-Portuguese composer Vicente Lusitano - the first black man to have his music published - and staying true to the Musica Antica's passion for early Italian song, two lullabies by Kapsberger and Merula.

Programme

Cachua: Al Nacimiento de Christo Nuestro Señor
Gabriel Bataillé: El baxel esta en la playa
Hernando Franco: Sancta Maria, E
Anon, 15th Century: Rodrigo Martinez
Henri du Bailly: Yo soy la Locura
Tarquinio Merula: Or ch'è tempo di dormire
Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco: Desvelado Dueno Mio

Interval

Juan Pérez Bocanegra: Hanacpachap Cusicuinin
Vicente Lusitano: Heu me Domine
Mateo Flecha: San Sabeya Gugurumbe
Cachua: La Serranita (instrumental)
Hernando Franco: Dios itlaçonantzine
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger: Figlio Dormi
Anon, Bolivian: Dulce Jesus Mio
Anon, Peruvian: Cachua La Serranita

Musica Antica
Jessica Eucker soprano
Camilla Seale mezzo-soprano
Chris Jeanes countertenor
Oliver Doyle tenor & harpsichord
Joachim Sabbat bass

Flora Fontanelli baroque violin
Peter Martin theorbo