In association with AC/E, the group Ars Combinatoria recorded Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) at Bolzano's Antiqua early music festival in Italy to mark the 4th Centenary of his death. The group performed two concerts reflecting the rich influence of the Italian music of that period on the Avila-born composer.
With 21 voices assembled for the occasion, the group, conducted by Canco López, performed on 5 August at Bolzano's Castel Mareccio 'De puntto por lettra' a selection of magnificent motets, responds and lamentations by the Spanish composer, together with a number of compositions by Antonio de Cabezón (1510-1566). 'Office of Vespers' was the title of the second concert, which alternated Gregorian and polyphonic music, along with the psalms composed by Victoria during his time at the St Philip Neri Oratory in Rome.
Ars Combinatoria was set up in 1991 with the aim of singing polyphonic 16th century Spanish music, performing mediaeval cantigas, playing the figured bass… or gathering to perform the music of J. S. Bach. With this aim in mind the group worked on its various musical needs with the luthiers Germán Arias and Antonio Franco, making copies of mediaeval instruments in 1992; with musicologists J.C. Asensio and Alfonso de Vicente, who were given the task of transcribing and providing consultancy on the mediaeval performance repertoire, and with the phoniatrist Lourdes Querol, who was initially responsible for technical voice training. The group now has more than 70 performers, allowing it to perform its full range of programmes. It comprises both choral and instrumental sections, which may appear either individually or jointly.
