LIMERICK EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL
presents

PEREGRINATIO: Medieval Songs of Travel, Pilgrimage, and Spiritual Journeys

Vlad Smishkewych, artistic director
Limerick Youth Choir & Cantette Choir, directed by Máire Keary-Scanlon
Cantoral (female vocal ensemble), directed by Catherine Sergent
With: Óscar Mascareñas (voice), Leila Clarke-Carr (vielle), Kaito Rodrigues dos Santos (vielle), Sarah Groser (vielle)

In the Medieval period throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, pilgrimage was most often seen as a means to an end: reaching the holy relics or tomb of a saint or prophet, praying at a holy site, achieving absolution for sins, or attaining an elevated spiritual state. But along these same paths—filled with bandits, natural dangers, and all the associated risks of travel during this time—pilgrims must have undoubtedly expanded their horizons as they went far and wide outside of their home circles. This concert brings together songs of travel, songs expressing fear of the unknown, and songs of rejoicing at arrival—all of which bookend a medieval drama telling the story of the Three Marys and their journey to the Holy Sepulchre—the Visitatio Sepulchri—reconstructed from sources from Dublin and Santiago de Compostela.