La Grande Chapelle

(Spain)

Tomás Luis de Victoria – Mass „Vidi speciosam“ and motets dedicated to the Virgin Mary
Conductor Albert Recasens

La Grande Chapelle is a vocal-instrumental ensemble that aims to breathe new life into the vocal masterpieces of 16th-18th century Europe, with special emphasis on the polychoral music of the period. At the same time the ensemble contributes to reviving forgotten works from the Spanish musical repertoire.

Founded in 2005, La Grande Chapelle immediately launched their own record label Lauda with an aim to record and hence preserve significant works of European music culture. Lauda has focused on two principal areas: an exploration of the relationship between the music and literature of the Spanish Golden Age and the revival of works by the most outstanding Spanish renaissance and baroque composers through first-time recordings, presenting a particular work or a composer within a specific context.

La Grande Chapelle’s recordings have been awarded with numerous prestigious domestic and international awards and acknowledgements, including two Orphées d’Or (Académie du Disque Lyrique, Paris, in 2007 and 2009), Label of the Year in the Prelude Classical Music Awards 2007 (The Netherlands), ‘5-stars’ by Diapason, ‘CD Excepcional’ in the magazine Scherzo, Choc de Classica, ‘4 stars’ by the BBC Music Magazine, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (PdSK) and the ‘Critic’s Choice’ in the celebrated British magazine Gramophone. In 2010 La Grande Chapelle received the inaugural FestClásica (the Spanish Classical Music Association Awards) Prize for its contribution to the performance and recovery of previously unrecorded Spanish music.

In addition to their native country Spain, La Grande Chapelle performs regularly at prestigious festivals in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria etc. Its most distant destination has been México.