(Credit: Kaupo Kikkas)

On April 13, British vocal ensemble Stile Antico will return to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin for a program entitled “A Divine Hope: Dante’s Journey from Inferno to Paradise.”

The program will tell the story of Dante Alighieri’s “La Comedia (Divine Comedy),” a masterpiece in the Western canon that has influenced our perception of the afterlife for centuries and inspired countless works of art, literature, philosophy, and music.

The program will include prayers and texts from the epic poem set to music. Among ther composers that will be performed are  Nicolas Gombert, Giovanni P. da Palestrina, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Francisco Guerrero, Tomás Luís de Victoria, Claudio Merulo, Cristóbal de Morales, Orlande de Lassus, Vicente Lusitano, and Tomás Luís de Victoria.

The concert will take listeners on a musical journey through the realms of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.