Huelgas Ensemble: Paris 1200

When Notre-Dame rose, so did a musical revolution.
Around 1200, Paris got a new cathedral, and a brand-new sound to go with it. The composers working inside Notre-Dame didn’t just write music; they invented a way of writing it down that changed everything. Think of it as the moment Western music learned to read. The Huelgas Ensemble bring these 800-year-old pieces to the Philharmonie’s Foyer, where voices ring between the iconic columns with no instruments in sight. Just singers, stone, and a mesmerising echo.

The music: Compositeur anonyme: Acclamation «Laudes Regiae»; Léonin: Organum «Haec dies»; Compositeur anonyme: Motet «O Maria maris stella», «O Maria dei cella», «O Maria virgo», «Veritate» · Conductus «Crucifigat omnes»; Pérotin: Organum «Viderunt omnes»; Compositeur anonyme: Motet isorythmique «Cum apertam sepulturam» · Agnus Dei et trope «Exultet hec concio» · Conductus «Belial vocatur» · Motet «Homo miserabilis», «Homo luge fuge», «Brumans est mors» · Motet isorythmique «Balaam de quo vaticinans» · Canon «Benedicamus Domino»
The artists: Huelgas Ensemble; Paul Van Nevel (conductor)