This concert puts into perspective the cantigas de Santa Maria, Galician-Portuguese songs relating legends and miracles of the Virgin, collected by King Alfonso X, known as "el Sabio" (the wise one), a great protector of the arts and sciences, which hosted the most eminent personalities of the three cultures of the Book and some pieces by the Benedictine monk and troubadour Gautier de Coincy, who was one of the first and greatest poets in the Oïl language, as well as being Prior of Vic-sur-Aisne (1214) and of Saint-Médard de Soissons (1233) Discantus has selected seven of these cantigas and set them alongside songs to the Virgin - in the Oïl language - by Gautier de Coincy, as well as Marian antiphons (Gregorian chant) and polyphonies, notably from the manuscript of the Cistercian nuns of the monastery of Las Huelgas. The concert thus offers an approach to the musical universe around the miracles of the Virgin in the 13th century.

With the Discantus ensemble, directed by Brigitte Lesne, as a part of the 900th birthday of the Abbaye Prémontré, next to Laon. More information here and here.