Every year, the Madrid International Festival of Sacred Art (FIAS) offers a unique international program that takes place at various venues throughout the Spanish capital. It’s a unique opportunity to discover both well-known artists and new talents. The ensemble El Gran Teatro del Mundo opens the festival with a French composer: Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
The Baroque instrumental ensemble, led by Julio Caballero, specializes in French music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Recognized by critics as one of the best emerging ensembles, their performances transport us to the music of Louis XIV’s court thanks to an intensely realistic treatment of the emotions expressed in the music, uniting religious discourse with human feelings.

El Gran Teatro del Mundo brings the Basilica of San Miguel in Madrid to life with a selection of works by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704), among which the Litany of the Virgin stands out, representative of the French composer’s creative genius and fervor. Charpentier’s body of work includes an impressive collection of nearly 400 religious motets, whose musical and spiritual quality makes him one of the foremost composers of sacred music today. This was not always the case, as in his time he was under the overwhelming authority of a certain Lully, who did not look kindly upon the interest that Molière and Louis XIV had in Charpentier’s music.