Ensemble Vocal de Coeli et Terra (Vocal Ensemble)

Founded: 1987 - Lille, France

Anxious to enhance the Franco-Flemish heritage, which is very rich but still not sufficiently well-known, the Centre for Polyphonic Studies of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, embarked in 1985 on a regular collaboration with Maurice Bourbon, director of the Ensemble Métamorphoses de Paris. This ensemble was regularly invited to give concerts In the Nord -Pas-de-Calais, with musicians from the region. This led to the creation, at the end of 1987, of the regional vocal ensemble Coeli et Terra; the direction of which was entrusted to Maurice Bourbon.

Coeli et Terra… Earth and Heaven, sky and land… Two words, taken from the 'Sanctus', which irresistibly conjure up the Flemish landscape and symbolise the mystical world of sung masses, monumental masterpieces of Western vocal polyphony.

The Coeli et Terra Ensemble, composed of six to thirty singers, according to the works performed, took as its primary mission the restoration of the regional patrimony of Franco-Flemish polyphony of the Renaissance, in collaboration with a team of young musicologists from Domaine Musiques (Lille) working at the library in Cambrai. In 1990, it thus recorded Johannes Ockeghem's Mass 'L'homme armé’. It has now considerably broadened its repertoire 10 take in the baroque period and polyphony of the 20^th century. In 1994, the ensemble recorded Domenico Scarlatti's 'Madrid' Mass and Claudio Monteverdi's Missa 'In illo tempore'.

In 1993 Coeli et Terra was awarded Second Prize at the International 'Florilège Vocal in Tours.

Source: Liner notes to the CD ‘J.S. Bach: Motets’ conducted by Maurice Bourbon (Arion, 1994)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (April 2004)

Maurice Bourbon: Short Biography | Ensemble Vocal Coeli et Terra | Ensemble Métamorphoses de Paris | Recordings of Vocal Works

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