When: Saturday, 8 November 2025, 4:00pm
Where: Northstar Ballroom A-B, Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Format: In-Person Event
Incantare and The Mirandola Ensemble present Musical Landscapes Across the Americas, a program of music from the Spanish Americas and beyond. With Florida as its starting point, this concert expands to Spanish territories throughout the Americas, including sonorous polyphony, upbeat villancicos, and stately dances from Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, and the Iberian Peninsula.
In Spanish Florida, as in other parts of the Spanish Americas, western music was taught as part of a conversion method. Europeans were shocked and scandalized by indigenous music, which celebrated cultural practices—such as the veneration of women and unashamed eroticism—that threatened European hierarchies. Polyphony had no such presumption, and it was used as a tool to draw indigenous tribes away from their native religions, albeit with varied success. On the other hand, it was sometimes welcomed into indigenous musical culture, where it was adopted and honed alongside traditional musical practices.
The Catholic missions of the New World were a fulcrum for cultural change. In them, the Iberian priests introduced polyphony, an “ordered” music that used western modes and intervals in note-against-note lines in praised of the Catholic god. Music manuscript collections and western musical instruments were sent to the Americas on ships. In the missions, indigenous communities learned to sing, play, and compose music in the European style. This cultural blending extended throughout the Americas. Today, it is a deeply ingrained musical tradition in these lands.
Musical Landscapes Across the Americas presents a small slice of this music with Florida as its starting point, featuring works by Guerrero, Rimonte, Encina, Franco, and many others. While some of the composers presented on this program never stepped foot in the Americas, their music is representative of that which would have been performed here.
This event is presented as part of the Many Musics of America Project.
Tickets
Early-Bird tickets: $15
Standard tickets (after 22 September 2025): $25
Attendees of the 2025 AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting should reserve tickets for Musical Landscapes Across the Americas via the Annual Meeting registration form. Already registered for the Annual Meeting? Add special event tickets to your registration.
If you would like to attend this performance and do not plan to attend the 2025 AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting, please purchase your ticket using the following button.
About The Ensembles
Incantare’s concerts highlight the musical and cultural connections of under-explored musicians from the Renaissance and early Baroque periods, especially music by composers, singers, and instrumentalists from marginalized communities in early modern Europe. Incantare’s unique programs reflect a mission to discover, research, transcribe, and perform works that may not have been heard since their conception.
Incantare debuted to enthusiastic crowds at the 2018 Twin Cities Early Music Festival, where they were chosen as one of “the week’s five best Twin Cities classical concerts” by the Star Tribune. Since then, they have performed programs throughout the United States. Appearances among many include Pittsburgh’s Renaissance and Baroque series with Chatham Baroque, the Housewright Virtuoso Series in Tallahassee, the Madison Early Music Festival, and the International Trombone Festival, where they were praised for their “beautiful and cohesive sound.” Incantare’s EXILE program, currently touring throughout the U.S., was recognized as an “innovative project” by the Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research, and EMAg, the Magazine of Early Music America, reported that audiences have left the ensemble’s concerts “with a sense of awe.”
The consort of sackbuts and violins has a long history and a unique sound that incorporates the vocal qualities of both instruments while retaining each of their distinct timbres, making it the perfect medium for performing the beautiful works from the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. The name “Incantare,” a play on words that means “to enchant” in Italian and “to sing” in Latin, links directly to the ensemble’s mission as early instrumentalists. Incantare seeks to enchant, charm, hypnotize, and spellbind by singing through their instruments.
The Mirandola Ensemble, established in 2011, is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based professional choral ensemble dedicated to promoting the highest standards of choral music, the idea of choral music as ‘high art’ in the Western tradition, and the aesthetics of the Renaissance. The ensemble has served multiple years as a Class Notes Artist-in-Residence for Classical Minnesota Public Radio. The group’s three studio albums – “The Infant King: Advent and Christmastide”, “Unquiet Thoughts: The Lute Songs of John Dowland”, and “Nymphs & Angels” – are all available via iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, and other streaming music services. The Mirandola Ensemble is led by Artistic Director and tenor Nick Chalmers.