Vlad marks the beginning of Black History Month with new recordings of music by Vicente Lusitano, thought to be the first-published Black composer in European music history. Lusitano was famously pitted against Nicola Vicentino and relegated to footnotes in music history, until scholars more recently brought his music to the fore. Conductor and keyboardist Joseph McHardy has recently recorded Lusitano’s vocal music with Chineke! Voices and since 2022, Rory McCleery and the Marian Concert have added two CDs of the Portuguese-Italian composer’s music to the discography. Explore these wonderful new recordings this Sunday, as Vlad gets the ball rolling on Black History Month with sublime selections and historical context about people of African descent in the millennium of European early music.
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 1st October, 7am-10am
