Capella Pratensis is a Dutch early music ensemble which for nearly 40 years has combined vocal excellence with informed historical performance. The group performs directly from the contemporary musical notation used by the composers whose works they program, although this system was replaced more than 300 years ago.
The ensemble offered this season’s opening performance of University of Chicago Presents’ Howard Mayer Brown International Early Music Series on Sunday afternoon. The Oct. 26 show at the Logan Center drew a large and appreciative crowd for a concert centered on the music of Guillaume Dufay.
The group took the stage with all of them dressed from tip to toe in black. Capella Pratensis is made up of eight male singers: Tim Braithwaite, Andrew Hallock, Lior Leibovici, Korneel van Neste, Peter de Laurentiis, Pieter de Moor, Marc Busnel and Grantley Mcdonald, who each sing one of four voices: soprano, alto, tenor or bass. Their concert centered on Dufay’s mass “Missa Ecce ancilla Domini,” with the insertions of plainchant and concluding with Antoine Busnoys’ “Regina celi.”
Their adherence to historical practice means that the members of the octet huddle around a single choir book placed on what appears to be an antique music stand. This enables them to hear each other closely and generate a truly intimate performance. But it also means that from a purely audience perspective, the view of many of the singers is consistently obscured. Both the music stand as well as other singers blocked your view throughout the entire performance.
Nonetheless, the performance was memorable for its staggering beauty and quiet intensity. The music ranged from a single chanting voice to the complete ensemble at full volume, with charming duets and trios between them, each element expressing the spiritual meaning of the mass.
More than once I felt transported hundreds of years in the past to a great European cathedral, where cold stones were warmed by the fidelity of faith as expressed by this vocal performance.
From the beginning, I was drawn into the music, feeling its power over the singers as well as imagining the effect on listeners hundreds of years ago. The singing was enchanting and the music itself varied and engaging. The range of the men’s voices was large and their blend was admirable creating a creamy effect. They had crisp unisons, strong bass anchors and soaring soprano pleas.
Dufay’s Kyrie was gorgeous, the final words slowly pulled apart in something resembling a 15th century deconstruction. The Gloria was offered with the humility of modest monks or parishioners pure of heart. Dufay’s polyphony is complex and fascinating with the singers creating a vocal weave of substance.
One of the most interesting aspects of the concert was near the middle of the event, when instead of a small choir singing, we had a semi-staged performance. This section of the performance was concerned with the Annunciation, where the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear the son of God.
For this, three singers peeled off from the rest, one representing Mary, one Gabriel and the third a narrator, perhaps Luke from the Bible, since this section was based on Luke’s account. They each moved with a certain deliberation and offered gestures of acceptance and supplication. My religious knowledge is scant, so it took me a bit of time to realize what this scene was about but when I did I found it not only attractive, but it put me in mind of the paintings from this era, with the gestures and expressions great artists used to express this religious moment in pictorial art.
Capella Pratensis created luminous music, effective whether it was built on a single voice with a single layer, or constructed with complex polyphony featuring all the voices.
The program notes make clear that certain aspects of the performance are improvisatory and what speaks to the effectiveness of this element is that you don’t have that sense at all. The singers are so adept at capturing the essence of what the composer was attempting, that their own contributions nestled into the whole in a completely organic and natural way.
The performance also was infused with the joy of simplicity. The singers performed with humility and a serene calm that seemed to repose in a complete devotion to God. You contemplated a time when people in a religious order had nothing to give God but their voices, so they ensured that they gave that part of themselves with complete honesty and steadfastness, a gleaming gift.
You could tell how much the audience was gripped by this performance by the nearly complete silence in the seats. There was no fussing, no coughing, no murmurs, no fidgets. Capella Pratensis had the rapt attention of everyone in the Logan Performance Hall right up until Tim Braithwaite, the conductor and artistic director of the group, put his hands down at the very end of the performance, signaling its conclusion.
And it was only then that you got a good look at the performers, as they lined up in single file facing the audience. The obscuring huddle and music stand no longer an obstacle to viewing their faces and the big applause ringing through the hall.
The next concert in the International Early Music Series features the return of Trio Mediaeval to Hyde Park. The Norwegian ensemble will perform in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on January 23, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit ChicagoPresents.UChicago.edu.
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