Striggio | "Mass for 40 Solo Voices"

Forty soloists enter the stage in a "procession" to the sound of a 12th-century conductus: this is how this program, which celebrates the grandeur of the Italian Renaissance, begins.

Sacred works by Monteverdi and Benevolo—choirmaster at the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome and described by his peers as the "Palestrina of our time"—blend with the sounds of the Missa sopra Ecco si beato giorno for forty independent voices by Alessandro Striggio, the true highlight of this program.

This mass, of incredible scale and sensuality, was composed by Striggio (the Elder, father of the librettist for Monteverdi’s Orfeo) at the Florentine court for the Medici dynasty. Performed in the greatest courts of Europe by the composer, who was famous in his day and envied by many, it then mysteriously vanished without a trace for over four centuries…

A challenge worthy of Hervé Niquet, whose passion for rediscovery regularly leads him to explore the rarest pieces in the repertoire with Le Concert Spirituel!

This program was the subject of a recording reference GCDSA 921623 and a DVD titled "Les Aventuriers de la Messe Perdue" (The Adventurers of the Lost Mass), reference GVD 921624, both released in 2012 for Glossa.

The concert on August 28, 2026, serves as the opening for the Oude Muziek Festival in Utrecht. It will be broadcast live on NPO Klassiek Radio and www.emtv.online

The concert at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome on June 17, 2025, was initiated by ROMA BAROCCA IN MUSICA, chaired by Régis Nacfaire de Saint Paulet.

The 2025 tour is supported by the National Music Center (CNM).

The 2025 tour for this program is supported by SPEDIDAM.

SPEDIDAM is a collective management organization that works to ensure that performers of all categories receive the rights they are entitled to.