The opening concert of the twenty-fifth edition of the IMF Summer Festivities of Early Music can be considered a dramaturgical gem. On 16 July 2024, Tiburtina Ensemble and Flemish Oltremontano Antwerpen gathered at Emmaus Abbey to bring to life the musical story in an altarpiece by Hans Memling.

The hour and a half long concert rest in the company of angels brought an undoubtedly uplifting experience and the dramaturgical intention to tell the musical story of the altarpiece came to fruition, and about halfway through the concert I realized one of its effects: it was as if time had stopped. The breathless audience had the opportunity to cast aside the cares of everyday life and truly rest. Timelessness, but at the same time the aforementioned subtle gradation and a sense of an increasingly noticeable inner glow and brightening.

Daniel Pinc, KlasikaPlus.cz