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Tickets go on sale September 15, 2026.
For more information, contact
info@newgenerationfoundation.org.
Masterclass - Internationally acclaimed soprano Dame Emma Kirkby leads a public Masterclass with artists of Vox Medicea and Mascarade Opera.
A Christmas Celebration! Vox Medicea and Mascarade Opera join forces for a grand musical celebration of the season, featuring sacred works from across the centuries including celebrated arias, audience carols and rare choral works from our upcoming album.
Sung Mass - 11am, Chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano. Haydn St. Nicholas Mass performed litergically, along with motets for Advent. Vox Medicea with artists of Mascarade Opera.
Special performance for a private wedding convalidation ceremony in the Cappella del Coro, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.
Vox Medicea performs at the Tomás Luis de Victoria Festival in Ávila, Spain. A special series of concerts celebrating 500 years since the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Annual festival of Florentine sacred music.
Vox Medicea and the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble present rediscovered Florentine sacred works from the Medici era at the Medici Church of Santa Felicita, including the world premiere of O Adoranda Trinitas, specially commissioned from Nico Muhly and inspired by a rediscovered 16th-century Florentine work, alongside a masterclass with Dame Emma Kirkby and a Medici Mass at Santi Michele e Gaetano.
Vox Medicea headlines the Rome Chamber Music Festival at the Auditorium Conciliazione, Rome. A programme of rare Florentine works celebrating the Jubilee Year, with special reference to the 500th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Vox Medicea performs at the Convento di San Francesco di Fiesole as part of the New Generation Festival, with a Sung Mass in Fiesole Cathedral.
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Vox Medicea presents a selection of Christmas motets, old and new, at the Mascarade Opera Christmas Concert in collaboration with the Artists of Mascarade Opera at the Chiesa di San Salvatore in Ognissanti.
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Annual festival of Florentine sacred music.
Vox Medicea and the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble present rediscovered Florentine sacred works from the Medici era, including music unheard for centuries, with performances in the Sacresty of the Basilica di Santo Spirito, Palazzo Pitti, and a Medici Mass at Santi Michele e Gaetano, alongside a masterclass with soprano Dame Emma Kirkby.
Annual festival of Florentine sacred music.
Vox Medicea and the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble present rediscovered Florentine sacred works from the Medici era, including pieces unheard for centuries, with performances at the Palazzo Pitti and Santi Michele e Gaetano, alongside a masterclass with soprano Dame Emma Kirkby.
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Inaugural concert in the Salone dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of Eleonora di Toledo, on behalf of the Comune di Firenze.
Vox Medicea records its debut album with the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, to be released on the acclaimed Arcana label.
Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici brings together a remarkable collection of rare and unknown choral works from Florence during the time of the Medici - an era synonymous with beauty, creativity and some of the greatest artists the world has ever known.
Featuring works from the 13th century up to the 17th century Granducato, this unique debut album celebrates the spectacular Florentine choral tradition, including works likely unheard for centuries, alongside a special commission from composer Nico Muhly.
An exclusive Album Preview event at the Church of Santi Michele e Gaetano offers invited guests an exclusive opportunity to hear works from the album ahead of its release.
Release of Vox Medicea’s debut album, Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici, accompanied by a Gala launch concert marking a defining moment for the ensemble and presenting this extraordinary repertoire to audiences worldwide.
Florence of the 15th and 16th centuries is renowned for its humanistic and artistic achievements.
The artists of this city read like a roll call of some of the greatest artists in history, however unlike its rivals Rome and Venice, the musical heritage of Florence’s sacred composers remain comparatively overlooked.
Since its inception in 2018, our research has examined and transcribed over one hundred motets, alongside numerous mass settings, Magnificats, psalms, cantatas and laude, many of which have likely remained unheard for centuries.
To date we have investigated and mapped musical manuscripts held in archives including the Archivio di Stato di Firenze, the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, the Opera del Duomo Museum, and other collections across Italy and Europe, preparing these works for modern performance through transcription and historical contextualisation.
Mark Spyropoulos read Music at Trinity College Dublin and trained as a singer in London at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama under Laura Sarti, and the young singers programme English National Opera. He has performed with several ensembles in the UK and France including with William Christie at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Opera Holland Park, the Philharmonia Chorus and the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court.
In 2015 he became the first British singer to join the Papal Choir of the Sistine Chapel.With the Sistina, Mark has recorded four albums with Deutsche Grammophon including several world-première recordings, winning the Echo Klassik Prize for Cantate Domino in 2015.
He has toured extensively across Europe, South Korea, the USA and Canada, appearing as both a chorister and a soloist. Mark has also made several TV and radio appearances discussing choral music, including interviews on RAI, Sky Arts, CBS 60 Minutes, Fox News, BBC Breakfast, the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune'.
He has lectured in London at the China Exchange and at Eton College in addition to contributing to articles for the Independent on Sunday, Early Music Today, The Tablet, The Guardian and The Florentine.
In 2020 he starred in the BBC documentary Inside the Vatican.
In November 2018, Mark established the Music Programme at the Medici Archive Project in Florence with a mission to rediscover and perform sacred works from the vast archives of Medici Florence, before moving to the New Generation Foundation to launch the Sacred Music Programme.
To facilitate this, he founded Vox Medicea in 2020, a bespoke choir of Renaissance specialists with the sole purpose of reviving this forgotten repertoire.As Director of Vox Medicea, Mark has performed concerts in London, an extended broadcast feature for CBS Sunday Morning and a major public concert in the Salone dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio on behalf of the Comune di Firenze. Since 2023 the choir has performed at the Ávila Festival, Rome Chamber Music Festival, St Peter’s Basilica, Rome and basilicas across Florence. In July 2022, he launched the Florence Choral Course, offering advanced choral training in the music of the Italian Renaissance. In 2023 he launched the ‘Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici’ festival weekend to celebrate and showcase the choral heritage of Florence.
In 2025 he launched the Coro di Santo Spirito, offering choral scholarships to young singers based in Florence to sing regular services at the Basilica di Santo Spirito.
The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble is a virtuoso period instrument group with a host of distinguished recordings to its name. In addition to its recital work, the ensemble collaborates with leading vocal ensembles such as I Fagiolini, The Tallis Scholars, Alamire, Resurgam Choir, The Marian Consort, Westminster Cathedral Choir & Vox Medicea.
They also feature regularly at major UK & International music festivals, previously visiting Canada, Russia, Israel, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Ireland and the USA - debuting in 2025 at the Boston Early Music Festival with The Tallis Scholars. ECSE is also in demand as a recording ensemble, contributing to Gramophone Award-winning discs such as The Spy’s Choirbook (Obsidian) 2015, and the monumental Striggio mass in 40 parts — Missa ecco si beato giorno — with I Fagiolini, winning the Gramophone Award for Early Music 2011 and the Diapason d’Or.
ECSE celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018 with a solo CD on the Resonus label entitled Music for Windy Instruments: Sounds from the Court of James I.
ECSE’s 30th anniversary year (2023) saw a new collaborative CD with the Irish vocal ensemble Resurgam of music by Thomas Weelkes - Gentleman Extraordinary (Resonus Classics) and was awarded Editor’s Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Jan 2024) “….ECSE's playing is so rich, warm & expressive that they continually drew my attention”.
Last year (2025) saw ECSE embark on a new collaboration with the choir of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court in a recording of sacred music by Orlando Gibbons followed to mark his 400th year of his death. The current year, 2026 is another busy year with tours to Galway (Resurgam) & Florence (Vox Medicea) including ECSE returning to co-direct on the Florence Choral Course. The year also sports several UK performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with the renowned, I Fagiolini including a new recording due for release on 4th September (Coro Records).
The project culminates in Venice in November with Martin Randall Travel for performances of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo & Vespers in Scuola Grande Di San Rocco & Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa die Frari respectively to mark I Fagiolini's 40th anniversary year.
In August 2026, ECSE team up again with the wonderful Vox Medicea in Florence for a new and exciting recording on the prestigious Arcana label entitled - Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici, bringing together a vast array of works, mostly unheard for centuries.
Vox Medicea is a male voice ensemble dedicated to the music of Medici era Florence and wider Renaissance Italy. Based in Florence it is comprised of outstanding specialist singers drawn from Italy and across Europe.
Vox Medicea is a professional male-voice ensemble dedicated to the performance, recording and revival of rare and forgotten works of sacred music from Florence during the time of the Medici.
Bringing together leading specialists from Italy and across Europe, the choir combines historical scholarship with exceptional artistry to bring masterpieces of the Florentine Renaissance back to life. Featured on international stages, Vox Medicea presents concerts ranging from intimate a cappella programmes to grand polychoral works with period instruments, offering audiences a unique opportunity to experience this breathtaking musical heritage.
The Sacred Music Programme begins as a research initiative launched in 2018 by Mark Spyropoulos in collaboration with musicologist Dr Giordano Mastrocola at the Medici Archive Project in Florence, in order to explore and examine primary source material housed in the vast archival collections in Florence and across Europe.
Vox Medicea is founded as a professional male-voice ensemble in order to trial newly rediscovered and transcribed sixteenth century Florentine sacred works, giving its first performance in London with a private showcase of five motets.
Vox Medicea is featured in a special presentation for CBS Sunday Morning, recorded in September 2020 and broadcast on Easter Sunday 2021.
Vox Medicea establishes the Florence Choral Course, an educational programme dedicated to choral training and Renaissance repertoire.
Inaugural public performance - Vox Medicea is selected by the Comune di Firenze to perform a special concert in the historic Salone dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, to mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Eleonora di Toledo.
Vox Medicea establishes the annual Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici Gala weekend. A three day weekend featuring concerts, tours, receptions, lectures, Masterclasses, a Gala concert and sung ‘Medici Mass’, to promote and celebrate the sacred music of Florence.
Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici 2023 — Vox Medicea and the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble present rediscovered Florentine sacred works from the Medici era, including pieces unheard for centuries, with performances at the Palazzo Pitti and Santi Michele e Gaetano, alongside a masterclass with Dame Emma Kirkby.
Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici 2024 — Vox Medicea and the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble present rediscovered Florentine sacred works from the Medici era, including music unheard for centuries, with performances in the Sacresty of the Basilica di Santo Spirito, Palazzo Pitti, and a Medici Mass at Santi Michele e Gaetano, alongside a masterclass with Dame Emma Kirkby.
Vox Medicea performs at the Convento di San Francesco di Fiesole, as part of the New Generation Festival, along with a ‘Medici Mass’ at Fiesole Cathedral.
Vox Medicea headlines the Rome Chamber Music Festival at the Auditorium Conciliazione, Rome.
Vox Medicea establishes the Coro di Santo Spirito, an educational initiative providing choral scholarships for young singers based in Florence, to sing monthly services at the Basilica di Santo Spirito.
Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici 2025 — Vox Medicea and the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble present rediscovered Florentine sacred works from the Medici era at the Medici Church of Santa Felicita, including the world premiere of O Adoranda Trinitas, specially commissioned from Nico Muhly, inspired by a rediscovered 16th-century Florentine work, alongside a masterclass with Dame Emma Kirkby and a ‘Medici Mass’ at Santi Michele e Gaetano.
Vox Medicea performs at the Tomás Luis da Victoria Festival in Ávila, Spain.
Vox Medicea records its debut album.
Members of Vox Medicea and the Coro di Santo Spirito combine to present a programme of 15th and 16th century works for the Renaissance lecture series at the Basilica di Santo Spirito.
A Christmas Celebration! Vox Medicea in collaboration with artists of Mascarade Opera will present a weekend of events on the theme of Christmas, including a Gala concert featuring oratorio arias, a liturgical performance of Haydn’s St. Nicholas Mass and works from our upcoming album.
Vox Medicea releases its debut album.
Your generosity will help rediscover, revive, and restore the music of the Medici, bringing centuries of beauty back to life through world-class research, training, and performance.
The New Generation Foundation offers a rare opportunity — not simply to support the arts, but to shape cultural history.
From training the stars of tomorrow, to restoring lost musical masterpieces, and bringing festivals to new audiences, your generosity funds the moments that stay with people long after the curtain falls. Find out how you can get involved and help us create something extraordinary.
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For enquiries about the debut album Sacred Masterpieces of the Medici, its premiere events, or Vox Medicea and its activities, please use the form below. A member of our team will respond as promptly as possible.
For all publicity enquiries, please contact Elisa Nello at en@newgenerationfoundation.com.
Bookings: All tour and performance enquiries should be directed to KD Schmid at olivia.al-slaiman@kdschmid.de.
Vox Medicea is a project of the New Generation Foundation.
