Victoria Musicae, an ensemble specialising in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque periods

Josep Ramón Gil-Tàrrega was the founding conductor of Victoria Musicae in 1992. Since then, he has been its musical director and the ensemble has developed its mission to broaden interest in the vocal music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque periods. Its main activity has focused on projects for the recovery of unpublished music by Valencian and Spanish composers.

Victoria Musicae has a permanent core of twelve to eighteen members, depending on the needs of the programme. Players of period instrument participate in projects as and when required. Some of its members have performed with Capella de Ministrers, an early music instrumental group, and with the Baroque orchestra Estil Concertant in projects for the recovery of Spanish Baroque music. Many of them are professional singers in other choirs such as the Generalitat Valenciana choir.

The ensemble features regularly in early music festivals, including the one organised by the Early Music Association of Spain or the Festival of Ancient and Baroque Music of Peníscola (Spain). It also features in choral music festivals, such as those taking place in Segorb (Spain) and in the Valencia Cathedral. It has also taken part in concerts organised by Albacete Provincial Council and La Llum de les Imatges project. It has been involved in outreach projects promoted by the Provincial Council of Albacete and the Generalitat Valenciana (the autonomous government of the Valencia Community). It has also collaborated with the University of Valencia and the Polytechnic University of Valencia in several musical projects.

Victoria Musicae has offered monographic concerts at the Palau de la Música (Valencia) on different themes to mark several commemorations such as the anniversary of Henry Purcell’s death, Tomás Luis de Victoria’ Officium Defunctorum and musical compositions based on the poetry of Medieval poet in Catalan Ausiàs March on his 600th anniversary (1997). Among its recent projects, it is worth highlighting the recovery of the 17th century masters of the Royal College of Corpus Christi’s Chapel in Valencia.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, in 2023 the ensemble performed Victoria’s Officium Defunctorum at the University of Valencia, a programme they had already sung at the Palau de la Música back in 1996. Coinciding with their three decades as a specialist choir, they were commissioned to perform Handel’s Carmelite Psalms with conductor Paul Goodwin, renowned for his historically informed interpretations of Baroque music, and the Orchestra of the Murcia Region.

Victoria Musicae has been the choir-in-residence at the University of Valencia for more than 20 years, and its rehearsal venue is the well-known Capella de la Sapiència, a space especially suited to the choir’s sound and type of repertoire.

Recovering unpublished music: Archive – edition – concert – recording

Since 1999, Victoria Musicae has focused on recovering unpublished music by Valencian and Spanish composers and bringing to life true musical treasures found in dusty archives where they had not seen the light of day for centuries. Thus, the ensemble has worked on the study and historically informed interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque vocal music through recording projects, including works by José de Nebra (1702 – 1768), Ginés Pérez (¿1548? – 1600), Joan Baptista Comes (¿1582? – 1643) and Ambrosio Cotes (ca. 1550 – 1603).

Over the years, Victoria Musicae’s mission to recover unpublished and unedited music by ancient Valencian composers has received the support of different institutions such as the Valencian Music Institute, the Valencia City Council, the Provincial Council of Valencia and the University of Valencia.