Bella Voce will present “Star of the Sea: Music for Mary from Colonial Guatemala” on May 2 in Chicago and May 3 in Evanston.

The program, which is presented as part of the “Expanding the Canon” series, features Tomás Luis de Victoria’s “Missa Ave maris stella,” alongside “Marian motets” by Francisco Guerrero, Hernando Franco, and Pedro Bermúdez. Audiences will also hear selections of villancicos composed in colonial Guatemala, performed from a new scholarly edition by Paul Feller-Simmons. The Bella Voce Chorus will perform the entirely a cappella program under the ensemble’s historically informed approach to early music.

“Expanding the Canon” was introduced at the close of the ensemble’s 41st season in 2023–24, in collaboration with Dr. Liza Calisesi-Maidens of the University of Illinois Chicago. That project resulted in the recording Expanding the Choral Canon, released on Centaur Records in 2024.

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