O SIDERA Ensemble Irini & Lila Hajosi

• Roland de Lassus (1532 - 1594): Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060:
• 1Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Carmina Chromatico, LV 104801:02
• 2Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Persica, LV 104901:48
• 3Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Lybica, LV 105002:00
• 4Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Delphica, LV 105101:47
• Anonymous:
• 5Anonymous: Liturgie de Saint Jean Chrysostome: Cheruvikon, Hymne des Chérubins06:41
• Roland de Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060:
• 6Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Cimmeria, LV 105201:36
• 7Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Samia, LV 105301:26
• 8Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Cumana, LV 105401:39
• 9Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Hellespontiaca, LV 105501:30
• 10Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Phrygia, LV 105601:24
• Anonymous:
• 11Anonymous: Agni Parthene04:57
• Roland de Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060:
• 12Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Europea, LV 105701:34
• 13Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Tiburtina, LV 105801:38
• Anonymous:
• 14Anonymous: l'Acathiste à la Mère de Dieu: Gnosin agnoston gnonai05:11
• 15Anonymous: Liturgie de Constantinople: Polyeleos, Psaumes 134-13505:16
• Roland de Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060:
• 16Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Erythrea, LV 105901:28
• 17Lassus: Prophetiae Sibyllarum, LV 1048-1060: Sibylla Agrippa, LV 106002:04
• Total Runtime43:01

Info for O SIDERA

Twelve Sibyls, ancient psychics, became during the Middle-Ages the counterpoints of the Prophets, announcing since the beginning of time (2nd-7th centuries) the arrival of a child who will become the Savior of the World. The emergence of those characters and of these strange and mysterious texts resulted of the fascination the Renaissance resolutely showed towards Antiquity. The Sibyls were even portrayed by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And it is perhaps while he was in Rome as Chapel Master of St John in the Lateran that Roland de Lassus met them and drew from their figures -with names already so dreamlike and evocative of marvelous lands such as Sibylla Delphica, Persica, Erythrea, Cumana, Hellespontiaca, Libyca … – the inspiration for this collection. The Prophetiae were composed somewhere between Rome, Antwerp and Munich, within a short period of disappearance (1554-1555) of Lassus, during which no one knows with certainty what became of the composer.

From the litanic undulations of the Cheruvikon preparing the Communion and turning the assembly of the faithful into the living images of the choir of the six-winged angels, to the words of Gabriel in the Acathist, carrying the embryo of life which will change the face of the World, to the hypnotic trance of the flamboyant Polyeleos, Byzantine music tells the tale of the orthodox conception of the Mystery. The figure of the “unseizable” God shows an immense humility in devotion, comprehending the mystery beyond humanity’s reach, rejecting the temptation of simplification and explanation, and therefore the grave temptation of anthropomorphizing of the divine. The strength of orthodox faith translates into an acceptance, a welcoming of the inconceivable, of what necessarily escapes Mankind, thus acknowledging human life as simple creatures on the surface of the world. The liturgy is sung, never spoken, lectured.

Eulalia Fantova, mezzo-soprano
Julie Azoulay, contralto
Benoit-Joseph Meier, tenor
Guglielmo Buonsanti, bass
Alessandro Ravasio, bass
Ensemble Irini
Lila Hajosi, direction

The Irini ensemble
founded in 2015 by Lila Hajosi, is a polymorphic vocal ensemble favoring a capella work, resolved to create “links which set free” between time and musical areas. It’s journey goes from the European Middle Ages to Byzantine music, to contemporanean music (composer Zad Moultaka created Quel mystère que tu aies un corps for Irini in 2018 and Casus Ade in 2022), from the banks of the Fertile Crescent to the court of Bavaria via Constantinople. Laureate of the Cité de la Voix de Vézelay, the ensemble is invited to prestigious festivals such as the Festival de Radiofrance Montpellier, Sacred Arts of Perpignan and Evron, Voix et Routes Romanes, Sinfonia en Périgord, and those of the Abbey of Sylvanès or Mont St Michel. Its first female trio program "Maria Nostra" gave birth in 2018 to Irini’s first album recorded at the Cité de la Voix and was awarded by a "Choc" of Classica magazine. Committed in promoting early music and appropriating repertoires that are but little represented, it is towards Christian Mysticism that the Irini ensemble turns with “O Sidera”, through the figures of the Sibyls, the Cherubim, the Mystery of the Incarnation, around the divine “Great Beyond”, where reason is lost and where spirit and music take the paths of the dream. This mixed vocal quintet program puts the Prophecies of the Sibyls by Roland de Lassus into perspective with extracts from the Byzantine liturgy.

Booklet for O SIDERA