In the fifteenth century, Burgundy is at the height of its power. Ruling over some of Europe’s wealthiest territories, Philip the Good seeks to rival the greatest kingdoms of his time. A duke without a crown, he presides over vast lands stretching from Dijon to Bruges, making his itinerant court both a stage for his ambitions and one of the foremost artistic centres of his age. Painting, manuscript illumination, literature and music flourish under his unparalleled patronage.

From the splendour of public ceremonies to the duke’s most intimate entertainments, music and musicians accompany the great occasions of court life, giving expression to an ideal of grandeur rooted in chivalric culture. The celebrations of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal in Bruges in 1430, the ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the spectacular Feast of the Pheasant in Lille exemplify this cultivation of magnificence, in which the arts assert the duke’s power. An exceptional generation of composers flourishes in and around this court, including Gilles Binchois and Guillaume Du Fay, who will become leading figures in Europe’s musical renewal.

Weaving together secular and sacred music, instrumental pieces and the accounts of chroniclers, this concert follows in the footsteps of the most magnificent of Burgundy’s dukesa princely patron of a new musical art destined to resonate across the continent.