The phenomenon of music in South American Jesuit missions

Adrián Rodríguez Van der Spoel, conductor of the ensemble Música Temprana, offers a musical lecture, with a visual presentation, sound clips and a live performance of the music composed by the indigenous people and the Jesuits in the missions in Bolivia and Paraguay during the reigns of Charles II and Charles IV. The reforms of the Bourbons, the conflicts between Portugal and Spain and the power of the Jesuit Order left powerful traces in indigenous villages of South America at the end of the colonial era. The music from the isolated missions in the forests and jungles of South America is clear evidence of this.

Música Temprana is a music ensemble founded in 2001 in the Netherlands. The ensemble seeks to explore repertoires from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, not only in Latin America, but also from sources of the then Spanish empire.
The repertoire of the ensemble is mostly the result of the research of the conductor and founder, Adrián Rodríguez Van der Spoel.

Since the first concert in 2001, the ensemble has released six CD recordings and has performed at important festivals, such as the Early Music Festival in Utrecht, the Trigonale in Austria, the Early Music Festival in Stockholm, Laus Polyphoniae and the Festival van Vlaanderen in Belgium, the Mozart Festival in Rovereto (Italy) and Musica Sacra in Maastricht. Furthermore, Música Temprana has done several concert tours in Latin America, such as in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Argentina and Ecuador.

The ensemble also distinguished itself through important projects such as the complete recording of the ‘Codex Trujillo del Perú’, the reconstruction of baroque violins from the Chiquitos in Bolivia (including concerts) and the staged versions of Mateo Flecha’s ‘Ensaladas’ and of the madrigal comedy ‘Il festino’ by Adriano Banchieri.

The event is free, but please reserve a place by emailing: adutr@cervantes.es or http://utrecht.cervantes.es .