Music in Bogota's Cathedral

Festival de Música Renacentista & Barroca

Misiones de Chiquitos - Bolivia

The Academia de Música Antigua continues to strengthen its international presence through partnerships that foster the circulation of Latin American historical repertoire. On this occasion, its collaboration with La Esfera Armoniosa—under the direction of flutist and cultural manager Claudia Liliana Gantívar—made possible the Academy’s participation in the Renaissance and Baroque Music Festival Misiones de Chiquitos (Bolivia), one of the most important early music gatherings on the continent.

The program Music from the Archive of the Cathedral of Bogotá and its Iberian Context offers a journey that interweaves works preserved in the Cathedral of Bogotá Archive with contemporary Iberian repertoire, revealing the cultural connections between Europe and the Americas during the colonial period.

The first half of the concert opens with Jácaras by Francisco Guerau, in an arrangement for two alto recorders and continuo by Julián Navarro and Claudia Liliana Gantívar, and continues into the Bogotá archive with works by José de Cascante, Juan de Herrera, and Manuel Blasco, in critical editions developed by scholars and ensembles such as Música Ficta. Instrumental works such as L’Eroica by Andrea Falconieri and sonatas from the Chiquitos Archive further expand the program’s stylistic scope.

The second half explores the liturgical and devotional dimensions of the repertoire with the Lamentation for Holy Thursday by Salvador Romero, alongside works by Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde, Gaspar Sanz, and Alonso Torices. The concert concludes with Mirándose estaba Dios, an anonymous colonial piece that encapsulates the poetic and spiritual depth of this repertoire. This collaboration stands as an artistic and cultural gesture that places colonial music from the Viceroyalty on international stages.

This project involved not only a demanding artistic process but also a complex logistical and international management effort. Claudia Liliana Gantívar’s leadership was instrumental in bringing together institutions, coordinating teams, and realizing a tour that united musicians, repertoires, and perspectives to bring to life a musical heritage that is still in the process of being fully recognized.

Visual archive: Moisés Díaz Monja