After the introduction by Paolo Da Col, at a conference in the Sala Bianchi in Belluno, on October 24th, at 6 PM, the concert will be listened to, performed by the multi-award-winning Odhecaton, conducted by Maestro Paolo Da Col, who for the occasion will take on the dual role of music expert and critic as well as musician.

A dual event to celebrate Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, princeps musicae, on the 500th anniversary of his birth.

The program features pieces by the well-known composer born in 1525, alongside works by musicians from the 16th to the 20th century: Thomas Tallis, Arvo Pärt, Wolfgang Rihm, Igor Stravinsky, and Giacinto Scelsi.

“There are composers whose fame is due to a small number of compositions despite their enormous output, and among them is Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: one mass, against over a hundred that have come down to us, a handful of motets against almost five hundred.”

Thus wrote Paolo Da Col in the program notes, illustrating the thread that connects the choice of other composers performed during the concert evening, in an ideal musical journey that reaches from the 16th century to the present day. For the audience and enthusiasts, this is an opportunity to deepen an illustrious musical era and to rediscover its spirit and stylistic legacy in our present.

The Odhecaton ensemble, since its debut in 1998, has won some of the most prestigious music awards and received critical recognition for having inaugurated a new interpretative attitude in the field of polyphonic performance.

The vocal ensemble derives its name from Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, the first printed book of polyphonic music (Venice, O. Petrucci 1501).

Its chosen repertoire represents the European musical production from the 14th to the 18th century.

Odhecaton brings together some of the finest male voices in Italy specialized in the performance of Renaissance and pre-classical music under the direction of Paolo Da Col.

The ensemble has recorded about fifteen CDs, gaining the highest discographic honors: Grand prix international de l’Académie du disque lyrique, 2 diapason d’or de l’année, 5 diapason (Diapason), choc (Classica), disco del mese (Amadeus), cd of the Year (Goldberg), Editor’s choice (Gramophone).

In 2018, Odhecaton was also awarded the Abbiati Prize by the Italian music critics for its performances, which the jury indicated as a «paradigm of style, clarity of exposition, and nobility of the sound spaces in which they resonate».

In March 2025, thanks to the project dedicated to Paolo Aretino, Odhecaton will receive the prestigious ADUIM award promoted by the Association of University Music Professors in Italy to enhance the best musical productions born from the interaction between musicological research and performance practice.

Conductor Paolo Da Col studied music at the Conservatory of Bologna and musicology at the University of Venice and at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance in Tours.

Since he was very young, he has focused his interests on the repertoire of Renaissance and pre-classical music, constantly combining research and performance.

He has been part of numerous Italian vocal ensembles for over twenty years. He is also the librarian at the Conservatory of Venice.

Since 1998, he has been the director of the vocal ensemble Odhecaton.

He has directed the magazine L’Organo with Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini and collaborated as a music critic with various specialized journals, directed the music catalog of the publisher Arnaldo Forni in Bologna, is a curator of editions of instrumental and vocal music, author of catalogs of musical archives and essays on the history of vocality.

He collaborates on the critical edition of the works of C. Gesualdo da Venosa and G. Tartini.

For more information: segreteriabelcircolo@gmail.com

For ticket reservations: Full € 25; Members € 15; Students (under 26) € 5, available at the concert venue, half an hour before it begins, or at Gomitolo d’Oro, via 30 aprile 1, in Belluno, open from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM and 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM, closed on Sunday and Monday morning.

Music by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina on the 500th anniversary of his birth. 72nd Season 2025 of the Belluno Cultural Circle.