Stile Antico "Raises the Roof" and Easter continues!

I have been listening to Stile Antico's recordings on Harmoni Mundi for a few years now and have been thoroughly impressed.  The sound that they create as a group is so refined. Needless to say, their April 12, 2013 concert was circled in red and marked important on my Blackberry.  Fortunately, their concert was at the stunning Chan Centre for Performing Arts (which happens to be Stile Antico's favourite venue in which to sing!)  It was with great anticipation that I put on my Hunter boots (fitting for a British vocal group, yes?) and had umbrella in hand. I headed off to UBC for what I expected would be a fabulous concert.

It was, in fact, more than that. Stile Antico raised the roof. No, literally - they actually used the mechanical roof function in the Chan Centre to achieve maximum acoustics. Alright, fine - they also figuratively raised the roof.  I have heard many excellent vocal groups perform, including the Tallis Scholars. Nonetheless, Stile Antico's self-directed approach brought an element of freshness to the performance.  They presented their Passion and Resurrection program, which is fitting since Western Christianity continues to celebrate Easter for the forty days following the day of Christ's actual resurrection. 

Stile Antico's performance was inspiring musically. Their diction was impecable. Every detail in the text and the musical lines was discernible. The group's singing was, in a word, effortless!  (N.B. The music that they sang is actually extremely difficult so making it appear effortless was a challenging feat indeed!)  As a musician, what I appreciated most about their performance was the subtlety of dynamics.  For a group of twelve people to create such seamless crescendos and diminuendos takes incredible skill.  It is so rare in this day and age to hear this glorious polyphonic music performed with such control and in such a fabulous concert space.  Stile Antico's dedication to early music and renaissance performance practice is something that I truly admire about this group. They were wonderfully friendly and took time to meet the concertgoers in the lobby afterward even though they'd been up for many hours due to traveling. Their commitment to sharing this music is evident and we, the Vancouver audience, are grateful for that commitment!

Not only did Stile Antico's performance inspire me musically, but it was profoundly inspiring spiritually.  The entire program was sacred music revolving around Holy Week and the Resurrection.  Not everyone in the audience was of the Christian faith but what Stile Antico managed to communicate through the music was the ineffable love of a creator.  The particular music that they sang happens to be communicating through the Christian paradigm.  Regardless of one's faith affiliations, Stile Antico's performance was transcendant and all who were there to hear were certainly brought into a realm that is not of our cacophonic, bustling, distracted world.

Although all audience members were greatly appreciative of this stunning performance, as a Christian, it had an extra layer of meaning for me.  The singers infused certain pieces in second half of the concert with such joy that one's heart was moved to rejoice!  Their word painting was so clear that I could picture scenes from the Gospel wherein the women arrive at a tomb expecting to mourn but are instead greeted with the greatest news ever told in all of history.

"I am the Resurrection and the Life, says the Lord, he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live with his Redeemer." - John 11:25