(Photo credit: Liz Linder)

Blue Heron, the Gramophone-award winning vocal ensemble, presents “Renaissance Portraits” at the First Church in Cambridge, Congregational on Jan 20.

“Renaissance Portraits” consists of musical portraits of personalities portrayed in music from Italian sources by Johannes Ciconia, Guillaume Du Fay, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Busnoys, Heinrich Isaac, and other composers. The program was originally conceived as a musical complement to the exhibition The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, December 21, 2011-March 18, 2012).

The cast includes five singers and three players.

Blue Heron has teamed with Boston University Professor Jodi Cranston, a noted scholar of Italian Renaissance art, in a special Spotlight Session titled, “Renaissance Portraits: paintings, sculpture & medallions” on January 10th, online.

Prof. Cranston will also speak prior to the concert.