Salzburg Festival 2016: Missa Salisburgensis

One of the supreme masterworks of Baroque polyphony, the Missa Salisburgensis by composer-violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber is performed in the Salzburg Cathedral – the very building where it was first heard. Biber’s Mass was specifically designed to exploit the acoustics and architecture of the Cathedral and is here presented in authentic 360° surround sound, bringing into play all four of the Cathedral’s organs. Performed by the renowned Prague-based period ensembles Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 under their founder-director Václav Luks, Biber’s Mass is prefaced by a selection of sacred choral works by Monteverdi, masterpieces that are equally suited to the Italianate splendor of Salzburg’s Cathedral. “An extravagant but joyous enterprise, a real festival event. Long will this spectacular Mass continue to resound in my memory” (Salzburger Nachrichten).