The Present: Ex Utero

Polyphonic vocal music from the 17th century meets contemporary sound fragments of baby and children's voices. In “Ex Utero”, the Berlin vocal ensemble The Present expands the associative space of a Marian Vespers and celebrates female creative power over four centuries. The focus is on the music of Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, who lived as a nun in a Benedictine convent in Milan in the 17th century and achieved national fame as a composer, singer and “maestra di capella”. Hildegard Westerkamp's “Moments of Laughter”, in which the composer also incorporates fragments of her daughter's voice, is interspersed with Cozzolani's motets of up to eight voices. Thus, te liturgical celebration of Mary, the mother of Jesus, also becomes a sensual reflection on birth and life.