Resurgam Choir (IRL), The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (UK) and conductor Mark Duley (NZ/IRL)

History is brought to life in Saint Nicholas’ Collegiate Church in the Galway Early Music Festival’s mainstage concert, From Siege to Siege. The story of a powerful European dynasty of emperors—roiled by internal struggles and under attack by external powers—is woven through with the music of composers whose lives were spent serving these powerful rulers. Acclamations for the births and coronations of kings, laments for their demise, and a favourite tune so loved by one regent as to be nicknamed “The Song of the Emperor”—plus the recurring theme of ever-fickle Fortune: Fortuna desperata. From Europe’s Western shores to its southeastern borders, the sounds of the 16th and 17th centuries are painted with the rich colours of The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble’s brasswinds and Resurgam’s exquisite voices and strings.