History of VeniDilecteMi

History of VeniDilecteMi - VeniDilecteMi

The idea of the VeniDilecteMi music ensemble originates in the cantoria (singers' gallery) of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.

"Come, my beloved!" is both the summons that the bride of the Song of Songs makes to her young bridegroom, and the prayer of the Church waiting for Christ, her Beloved, as in the maranathà which closes the Book of Revelations.

The ensemble focuses on exploring the moment of encounter between the great Franco-Flemish polyphony and the Italian tradition up to the early Baroque, through research on sound and the word, in awareness of the profound and indissoluble link between the musical mode of thinking of the Renaissance masters and the spirituality which is expressed therein. 

VeniDilecteMi, founded and directed by Jonathan Pradella, primarily adopts the configuration of a vocal and instrumental ensemble.

The Group made its debut (June 2007) in the Church of San Rocco in Venice with the Missa Pange lingua and motets by Josquin Desprez, and from 2008, on various events, they performed Venetian sacred music of the XVI and XVII centuries, with masses, motets, the Magnificat, psalms etc. by Monteverdi, the Gabrielis, Grandi, Cavalli, Rovetta and others. In addition to Venice, where VeniDilecteMi performs the majority of its activity (SS. Redentore, S. Salvador, S. Maria dei Miracoli, S. Maria della Pieta', San Nicolo' del Lido, etc.), the concerts have been taken to other Italian towns like Forli' (International Festival of Choral Music), Udine and Rovigo.
The Group took part in the 2nd International Festival of Polyphony and Sacred Music of Palestrina (Rome, 2007), together with the most important European choirs. In 2009 during Carnival in Palazzo Mocenigo (Venice) it performed a staged version of the Combattimento of Tancredi and Clorinda and madrigals of love and war by Monteverdi, directed by Marco Bellussi.