Cañada Blanch Foundation celebrates Christmas for the first time with a concert open to the public by the Cor de Cambra Sant Esteve, in one of the most emblematic spaces in Valencia: the Patriarch Church, Renaissance jewel.
This enclave not only preserves a valuable iconographic and architectural heritage, but also represents a relevant space for the study of liturgical musical practices and their evolution., positioning itself as an essential reference in interdisciplinary research into cultural and artistic heritage.
Under the title of Pilgrimage, which in Latin refers to the act of pilgrimage, the meeting propose a symbolic journey guided by music, from the spiritual introspection until the shared celebration. A journey that invites us to stop, listen and reconnect with what is essential at this time of year.
Under the direction of Carla Sanmartín, The Cor de Cambra Sant Esteve offers us a program with a selection that crosses centuries and styles, but that maintains the same intention: illuminate the Christmas spirit with music that touches the deepest.
The first part places us in a space of stillness and introspection. With short works, but intensely expressive—from the sacred polyphony of the English composer Thomas Tallis, You light before the end, to Christmas carols from the Spanish Renaissance such as “Dadme albricias” or “Sus, their, their, no more sleeping”—we will revive the spirituality of the Golden Age with pieces where light and words merge in delicate and festive harmonies. This block will culminate with a fragment of James MacMillan's Miserere, a moment of depth and reflection from a contemporary perspective that dialogues with the ancient from today's sensitivity.
The second part will make way for tradition and shared joy. From the evocative Epiphany Carol to popular Christmas carols like The Old Lady is Coming, Bell on bell or San Jose is old, music will become a bridge to collective memory, where the sacred and the festive will come together and where the public will be an active part in this common song.
Pilgrimage, It's not just a concert, It is an invocation towards the essential, a return to silence, a journey into our interior, through music as a consolation against the noise of the world.
