SMAM at the Abbey: Sweet Memories

Concert

Many composers have paid poignant tributes to their predecessors, often on the occasion of their deaths. The Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal offers you some of these moving works, from the Renaissance and our own time, which express grief as well as admiration and gratitude. The program also includes Missa Doulce Mémoire by Cipriano de Rore. It was named after the love song on which it is based, but the title could just as easily evoke, for each of us, the memory of those loved ones who have counted, in whatever way, throughout our lives…

PROGRAM

Repertoire Overview

JOSQUIN DES PREZ, Absolve quæsumus for 6 voices

JOHANNES OCKEGHEM, Miserere for 4 voices

JOSQUIN DES PREZ, Requiem æternam for 5 voices

JEAN RICHAFORT, Requiem in memoriam Josquin Desprez for 6 voices

BENEDICTUS APPENZELLER, Musæ Jovis for 4 voices

CIPRIANO DE RORE, Excerpts from Missa Doulce Mémoire for 5 and 6 voices

STEPHANIE MARTIN, Four Motets after Healey Willan

Artists

Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal
The mission of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM) is to convey the vitality, sensuality and conviction of all the dimensions of Renaissance and Baroque music. To this end, and since its founding, the Studio’s artistic approach has remained the same: to interpret early music by recreating, to the best of our knowledge, their numbers, their tempos, and their vocal and instrumental colors. For almost 50 years, SMAM has been guided by a concern for excellence and has carved out a place of choice in the world of early vocal music in Canada.

Founded in 1974 by Christopher Jackson, Réjean Poirier and Hélène Dugal, SMAM’s mission is to perform sacred and secular vocal music composed primarily before 1750, in order to share its vitality, sensuality and emotional depth. Under the musical direction of Andrew McAnerney since 2015, the SMAM consists of 12-18 professional singers chosen for the purity and clarity of their voices. Since its foundation, it has sung more than a thousand compositions from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, including both proven masterpieces and little-known or forgotten works, and has occasionally tackled a more contemporary repertoire. It regularly collaborates with renowned singers, instrumentalists and ensembles from North America and Europe.

SMAM has produced a remarkable discography over the past half-century. Their most recent recording with Andrew McAnerney, featuring a musical journey through the 15th century Court of Burgundy, entitled L’Homme armé, was nominated for a 2022 Juno Award.