LYCABETTUS ENSEMBLE: THE CASTLES OF THE MOREA

Inspired by the fascinating history of the Peloponnese, the Lycabettus ensemble presents a tribute to the music of the European Middle Ages from the 11th to the 14th century. This concert combines traditional Greek, Sephardic, and Kurdish songs with monophonic music from Western European monasteries, songs from the crusades, music of the troubadours and trouvères associated with the Latin states of the Peloponnese after the Fourth Crusade (1201–1204), and songs from the 14th century France and Italy in an effort to recreate the musical imprint of the civilizations that passed through the castles of the Peloponnese.

Performers:

Irini Bilini-Moraiti — voice, medieval fiddle, saz & percussion 

Athanasia Teliou — medieval fiddle, viola da gamba

Works from Codex Buranus, Llibre Vermell, Manuscrit du Roi and by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras and Guillaume de Machaut, among others. 

Programme:

Music of the monasteries (11th – 14th centuries) 

Codex Buranus: Ave nobilis venerabilis Maria, CB11 

Llibre Vermell: Stella splendens in monte 

Hildegard von Bingen (c. 1098–1179): Karitas habudant in omnia (antiphon)

Music of the crusades / troubadours and trouvères (13th century)

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (fl. 1180–1207): No m’agrad iverns

Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170 – c. 1230): Palästinalied

Manuscrit du Roi: Au novel tans

France (14th century)

Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300–1377):

Je ne cui pas qu’onques a creature (ballade)

Tels rit au main, complaint 

Douce dame jolie, virelai

Italy (13th – 14th century)

Saltarello I

Codex Rossi: Che ti giova nascondere

Voi ch’amante lo Criatore, Laudario dei Cortona 

Oral traditions

Tres hermanikas (Sephardic)

Haylo dilo (Turkish) 

Laloudi tis Monemvasias (Greek)

Agia Marina (Cypriot lullaby)

© Sahihi

Lycabettus ensemble was founded in 2021 in Athens, Greece, by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Irini Bilini Moraiti and the cellist and gambist Athanasia Teliou. They interpret European medieval and Renaissance music. They focus on secular music from the 11th to the 17th century and music passed on in oral traditions of the expanded Mediterranean region. Researching the thematic and linguistic bonds between documented and orally transmitted music, Lycabettus brings the music to life. The musicians seek what connects this repertoire with today’s aesthetics, with their musical background and the way it converses with the broader “early” music of the European continent. lycabettusensemble.com

As we ponder this, we hope for and desire encounters;

On our collective place,

where we walk, dance and sing throughout the centuries.