Twin Cities: Italy's Monteverdi's Spirit Lights Up Fez at Sacred Music Festival
Fez – The 28th Fez Festival of World Sacred Music began with a sense of reverence and celebration as Italy, this year's guest of honor, showed a musical gift to the Moroccan audience.
A night of sacred beauty
The highlight of the evening in Bab El Makina was a rare performance of Vespro della Beata Vergine by Claudio Monteverdi, a masterpiece of early sacred music.
Set in the heart of Fez, the performance unfolded like a spiritual journey. The Festival Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, under the direction of Italian conductor Antonio Greco, shared the stage with Morocco's Ensemble Briouel and the Orchestre Arabo-Andalou de Fes, led by maestro Mohammed Briouel.
Together, they created something deeply traditional and quietly moving.
Music melting pot
Monteverdi's Vespers , composed in 1610, stands at the meeting point of Renaissance purity and Baroque drama. The work is known for its grandeur, complexity, and expressive force. But what made this performance in Fez so unique was its fusion with the local musical heritage.
The inclusion of the Arabo-Andalusian orchestra did more than accompany the piece, it transformed it. Moroccan instruments and rhythms threaded through Monteverdi's European harmonies, adding warmth and texture. The result felt less like a reinterpretation and more like a conversation between two distant, yet kindred, traditions.
Briouel, a master of classical Arab-Andalusian music and a pupil of Hadj Abdelkrim Raïs, brought depth and authenticity to the performance. His presence was a reminder that sacred music, no matter its origin, draws from the same well of devotion and human longing.
Twin cities
Earlier in the day, Italy's Ambassador to Morocco, Armando Barucco, spoke about the historical and cultural ties between the two countries. 'Florence, the cradle of the European Renaissance, is twinned with only one city in the world,' he said. 'That city is Fez.'
Barucco's words noted the theme of this year's festival, a celebration not only of music but of shared ideals. 'We asked ourselves what we could offer in return for this invitation,' he said. 'We turned to our roots, to Monteverdi, a composer who helped shape the very concept of sacred music in Europe. By bringing his work here, we offer a gesture of cultural respect.'
As the final notes of the Vespers lingered in the night air, the audience rose to its feet in quiet awe. This was not just a performance, but a moment of grace. For those present, it felt as if the walls between past and present, between Florence and Fez, had briefly fallen away.
The night set the tone for a festival devoted to sacred sounds and spiritual connections. In a world often divided, the Fez Festival remains a place where music reminds us of what unites us. And last night, Monteverdi's voice, carried across centuries and cultures, spoke as clearly as ever. Tags: fes festivalFes Festival of World Sacred Musicitaly morocco
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