The sound of Pismu novu, svi pivajmo – a traditional Advent chant from Veli Varoš (a neighborhood in the historic old town of Split, on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast) – reverberated throughout City Recital Hall as singers processed slowly down the aisle. The texture was thick with the unaccompanied male voices of Kantaduri – a group of six Croatian cantors – while four female voices from French medieval vocal ensemble Dialogos gently coloured the upper spectrum of the harmonies. The sedate procession reached the stage during the second number, O, prislavna Božja Mati, another Advent chant, this time from the city of Stari Grad on the island of Hvar.

^{Kantaduri: Stjepan Franetovic, Srecko Damjanovic, Joško Caleta, Nikola Damjanovic, Milivoj Rilov, Marko Rogosic, photos by Jamie Williams}

In Dalmatica: Chants of the Adriatic, the ensemble turned the space of City Recital Hall into a cathedral, utilising the resonant space to take the audience on a meditative and atmospheric journey through a unique and fascinating corner of sacred music, revived from Latin manuscripts and oral tradition. Spanning the course of the liturgical year, the ensemble dovetailed polyphonic and monodic chants – a mix of solo...