“These are motets built on betrayal, grief, and the flickering edge of faith. They demand singers of virtuosity and insight, and Luminescence delivered.”
Classikon (March 2025)

GESUALDO TENEBRAE II

ALL WAS MADE DARK

Luminescence continues their three-year odyssey into the dark heart of the Renaissance, with the harrowing epicentre of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae.

Four centuries on, this totemic work from an Italian master remains shockingly avant-garde. Tormented by his own murderous crimes, and likely unheard in his lifetime beyond the walls of his own castle, Gesualdo’s twisted harmony turns inward, the texture ever denser, and the pacing ebbing ever slower, as he addresses the bloody core of the Passion story. Suspended between betrayal and resurrection, Gesualdo’s most desolate work pulls us into his unrelieved confrontation with suffering, death, and guilt.

Don’t miss the second instalment of Luminescence’s landmark Gesualdo Tenebrae series, directed by Roland Peelman.

Saturday 14 March | Canberra
7.30pm, ANZAC Memorial Chapel of St Paul
Cnr. Robert Campbell Rd & Miles Rd
Royal Military College Duntroon, ACT 2612
TICKETS

Sunday 15 March | Wollongong
6.00pm, Wollongong Art Gallery
46 Burelli St, Wollongong, NSW 2500
TICKETS

Tuesday 17 March | Sydney
6.30pm & 8.15pm, Phoenix Central Park
37-49 O'Connor St, Chippendale NSW 2008
Presented by Phoenix Central Park and Judith Neilson, free entry by ballot.

Thursday 19 March | Sydney
8.00pm, The Neilson ACO Pier 2/3,
Hickson Rd, Dawes Point NSW 2000
TICKETS

Saturday 21 March | Melbourne
7.30pm, Sacred Heart Oratory, Abbotsford Convent,
1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford VIC 3067. 
TICKETS

Programme:

Carlo Gesualdo, Responsoria et alia ad Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae spectantia  (1611) 
Responsoria Feria sexta (Good Friday) interspersed with Lamentations of Jeremiah
                 
                  Omnes amici mei

                  Velum templi scissum est

                  Vinea mea electa

                  Tamquam ad latronem existis

                  Tenebrae factae sunt

                  Animam meam dilectam

                  Tradiderunt me

                  Jesum tradidit impius

                  Caligaverunt oculi mei

1 hour no interval

  • AJ America

    mezzo soprano/artistic director

  • Lucien Fischer

    baritone

  • Rachel Mink

    soprano

  • Alasdair Stretch

    bass-baritone

  • Dan Walker

    tenor

  • Lachlan McDonald

    baritone (guest artist)