Memorable performances and collaborations

Musica Orbium celebrated its 30th anniversary over the course of the 2022-2023 season. The Fall concert was devoted to a repertoire of works dedicated to Sainte-Cécile, patron saint of musicians and a great inspiration to choirmaster Roseline Blain. This included Charles Gounod's Messe solennelle de Sainte-Cécile, a sober yet luminous work rarely performed.

In the spring of 2023, Musica Orbium treated its audience to a concert of South American music, with the Misa Criolla (Creole Mass) by Argentinian composer Ariel Ramirez as its centerpiece, a vibrant, warm and rhythmic work drawn from folklore and sung in Spanish. On the stage of the Saint-Pierre-Apôtre church, under dazzling lighting, the ensemble was accompanied by a group of musicians and percussionists of South American origin, as well as the dazzling tenor Antonio Figueroa. Selected pieces from the Andean folk vocal repertoire rounded off the 30th anniversary celebrations in a lively, festive atmosphere..

While recognized especially for its a cappella repertoire, the choir also performs with various instrumental ensembles, such as Ensemble Caprice. Past collaborations with them include J.S. Bach’s exquisite Mass in B Minor , which garnered the recognition of the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 and Handel's grandiose Coronation Anthems .

Audiences who attend a Musica Orbium concert are always in for a treat. In 2016, the choir mesmerized the public in two sold-out performances of Tallis’s Spem in alium and Striggio’s Ecce beatam lucem , in which listeners were invited to leave their seats and circulate among the singers. In Spring 2018, the ensemble celebrated its 25th anniversary by offering Montreal two thrilling performances of J.S. Bach’s intensely dramatic St Matthew Passion , as it had never been seen before in this city: with two organs, two complete choirs with soloists and two orchestras divided at either end of the church, as per the first performance of this masterwork in 1736, in the Thomaskirche in Lieipzig.

From the quality of execution to the chance to hear all-too-infrequently performed jewels of the choral repertoire, Musica Orbium’s concerts offer audiences rare and memorable emotional moments that bring heaven a little closer to Earth.

The choir benefits from the support of the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications and the Conseil des arts de Montréal.