VIRIDITAS – Songs of Nature

What does it mean to listen to the living world?

Join us for an evening of reflection and delight – a space where, through song, we can reconnect with the green pulse that sustains us all, conveyed with power and beauty by Ars Nova’s singers under the direction of Sofi Jeannin.

Viriditas – Songs of Nature takes its name from a concept coined by the 12th-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen. She used viriditas to describe the greening, life-giving force that flows through plants, people, music, and spirit – a quiet energy of growth, renewal, and connection that binds all creation together.

Spanning eight centuries, the programme brings Hildegard and Thomas Tallis into dialogue with composers of our own time. Birdsong, wind, plant life, and imagined landscapes echo throughout, inviting us to hear nature not simply as a backdrop, but as collaborator and companion.

At moments, the music revels in beauty and play. At others, it pauses to consider loss and responsibility, turning – through powerful new works – to humanity’s role in today’s biodiversity crisis. Among them is Declared Extinct, a new work by the Franco-British composer Heloise Werner, commissioned by Ars Nova and receiving its first performances here.

While the evening makes room for reflection – and perhaps even grief – it ultimately opens a space for wonder, curiosity, and joy: music that rustles, unfurls, dances, and breathes. From Renaissance polyphony to Caroline Shaw’s expansive sound worlds, Viriditas celebrates the enduring human desire to listen, to care, and to imagine new ways of living in harmony with the world around us.