Vox Nova
About Vox Nova
By Pär Lindén
My inspiration comes from a wide ran… Read Full Bio ↴About Vox Nova
By Pär Lindén
My inspiration comes from a wide range of musical influences, from classical and folk music, through to pop and rock. I started composing my own music at the end of the eighties. On one occasion I was listening to some magical Gregorian chant music, and I got the idea to develop the music in my own way. I wanted to create a different sound using the beautiful and traditional Gregorian songs.
Some years later, in 2002, I was asked to take part in a song-project on the occasion of Saint Bridget’s 700 years anniversary. It was celebrated in 2003 in the town of Vadstena, Sweden, where she founded her monastic order. I said a definite ‘yes’ to this opportunity! We sang there in July, dressed in linen tunics and cowls. We also sang in Stockholm, in Riddarholm’s church among others. Prior to the anniversary I started to make my dream come true, which was to mix Gregorian chant with a more modern sound. My goal was to get a CD single out for the Bridget anniversary. I did everything myself on an very tight budget. Five hundred copies of the CD were made, four hundred of which were sold in Vadstena.
Some were sent to radio producers and record companies, and the music had some radio airplay as a result. I had great expectations when my CD was released and it was great fun producing it too. It was not a professional production however, so I started putting together new songs for a whole album. I wanted Vox Nova to have a solid foundation.
At the end of 2004, I got in touch with a music producer who put me in contact with the producers who we are still working with today. We started working together in January 2006, and over the next twelve months, ten songs were produced and mixed. In January 2007 the album ‘Sapientia’ was finally ready for release.
The members of Vox Nova
Pär Lindén
Music which is narrative, full of feeling, and has a mystical air... where can I find it? I feel very drawn to monastery environments where I experience a certain atmosphere of deep peace and reflection. People quite often light up when I tell them that I am composing music to Gregorian chant. It was a natural choice for me to combine Gregorian chant with rhythms and harmonies. It becomes a crossing of two paths, and I hope it will help Gregorian chant reach a wider audience, and that they will be enriched by listening to it.
Anna Pihl Lindén
During my entire upbringing I had the advantage of listening to genuine folk music. Folk music, for me, reflects the joy of playing it, the spirit of community, melancholy and the beautiful light Swedish summer nights. The crossover to singing treasured songs from the early church has been a long one, although on reflection, I can see many similarities between folk music and traditional Gregorian chanting. What really caught me about Gregorian song performance was an experience I had as a student. We went on a journey to Solesmes monastery in France, where we listened to and experienced the beautiful song of the monks. A door was opened to a completely new world of sound for me. It was, however, not until 1997 that I had the opportunity to sing in a Gregorian song ensemble. Since then, I have sung at many concerts in churches around the country.
I have been singing in Vox Nova since 2003. Today I work as a church organist, which gives me the advantage of both carrying on the tradition and bringing new creativity into the musical world of the church. This makes it very interesting and exciting even though the lyrics of the songs have not changed since the Middle-ages. The note values in Gregorian chant are not written down as they are in regular songbooks of today, so the chants are constantly changing and can be freely interpreted.
Martin Ciszuk
Since my teenage years, I have been interested in history and music from the middle ages, as well as mysticism and liturgy (songs and ritual within the church). I met Pär and Anna during the Gregorian concert project at the 700 year anniversary of Saint Bridget in Vadstena. After singing together for six months I was asked by Pär if I would like to come to the studio for the recording of the Saint Bridget record. Naturally, I accepted, and I am now one of the regular singers in Vox Nova.
I started singing Gregorian chant at the Schola Gregoriana Holmiae in the 1980s. We sang Mass in the Catholic cathedral. I learnt about neumerna – the oldest notation, the song-cycles of the ecclesiastical year, about Mass and the different parts of horary prayer, words and melodies. We held concerts and took part in mediaeval music festivals. Gregorian chants, sung in Latin as a part of Catholic Mass, made a deep impression on me. In my profession as a textile artist I design, weave and sew liturgical clothes for the Swedish church. I also work with historical textile research and teach this subject. I sew historical costumes and reconstruct historical fabrics. I design Vox Nova’s stage costumes, which are based upon traditional mediaeval outfits. I have added some fantasy and mystery, in order for them to work as stage costumes.
By Pär Lindén
My inspiration comes from a wide ran… Read Full Bio ↴About Vox Nova
By Pär Lindén
My inspiration comes from a wide range of musical influences, from classical and folk music, through to pop and rock. I started composing my own music at the end of the eighties. On one occasion I was listening to some magical Gregorian chant music, and I got the idea to develop the music in my own way. I wanted to create a different sound using the beautiful and traditional Gregorian songs.
Some years later, in 2002, I was asked to take part in a song-project on the occasion of Saint Bridget’s 700 years anniversary. It was celebrated in 2003 in the town of Vadstena, Sweden, where she founded her monastic order. I said a definite ‘yes’ to this opportunity! We sang there in July, dressed in linen tunics and cowls. We also sang in Stockholm, in Riddarholm’s church among others. Prior to the anniversary I started to make my dream come true, which was to mix Gregorian chant with a more modern sound. My goal was to get a CD single out for the Bridget anniversary. I did everything myself on an very tight budget. Five hundred copies of the CD were made, four hundred of which were sold in Vadstena.
Some were sent to radio producers and record companies, and the music had some radio airplay as a result. I had great expectations when my CD was released and it was great fun producing it too. It was not a professional production however, so I started putting together new songs for a whole album. I wanted Vox Nova to have a solid foundation.
At the end of 2004, I got in touch with a music producer who put me in contact with the producers who we are still working with today. We started working together in January 2006, and over the next twelve months, ten songs were produced and mixed. In January 2007 the album ‘Sapientia’ was finally ready for release.
The members of Vox Nova
Pär Lindén
Music which is narrative, full of feeling, and has a mystical air... where can I find it? I feel very drawn to monastery environments where I experience a certain atmosphere of deep peace and reflection. People quite often light up when I tell them that I am composing music to Gregorian chant. It was a natural choice for me to combine Gregorian chant with rhythms and harmonies. It becomes a crossing of two paths, and I hope it will help Gregorian chant reach a wider audience, and that they will be enriched by listening to it.
Anna Pihl Lindén
During my entire upbringing I had the advantage of listening to genuine folk music. Folk music, for me, reflects the joy of playing it, the spirit of community, melancholy and the beautiful light Swedish summer nights. The crossover to singing treasured songs from the early church has been a long one, although on reflection, I can see many similarities between folk music and traditional Gregorian chanting. What really caught me about Gregorian song performance was an experience I had as a student. We went on a journey to Solesmes monastery in France, where we listened to and experienced the beautiful song of the monks. A door was opened to a completely new world of sound for me. It was, however, not until 1997 that I had the opportunity to sing in a Gregorian song ensemble. Since then, I have sung at many concerts in churches around the country.
I have been singing in Vox Nova since 2003. Today I work as a church organist, which gives me the advantage of both carrying on the tradition and bringing new creativity into the musical world of the church. This makes it very interesting and exciting even though the lyrics of the songs have not changed since the Middle-ages. The note values in Gregorian chant are not written down as they are in regular songbooks of today, so the chants are constantly changing and can be freely interpreted.
Martin Ciszuk
Since my teenage years, I have been interested in history and music from the middle ages, as well as mysticism and liturgy (songs and ritual within the church). I met Pär and Anna during the Gregorian concert project at the 700 year anniversary of Saint Bridget in Vadstena. After singing together for six months I was asked by Pär if I would like to come to the studio for the recording of the Saint Bridget record. Naturally, I accepted, and I am now one of the regular singers in Vox Nova.
I started singing Gregorian chant at the Schola Gregoriana Holmiae in the 1980s. We sang Mass in the Catholic cathedral. I learnt about neumerna – the oldest notation, the song-cycles of the ecclesiastical year, about Mass and the different parts of horary prayer, words and melodies. We held concerts and took part in mediaeval music festivals. Gregorian chants, sung in Latin as a part of Catholic Mass, made a deep impression on me. In my profession as a textile artist I design, weave and sew liturgical clothes for the Swedish church. I also work with historical textile research and teach this subject. I sew historical costumes and reconstruct historical fabrics. I design Vox Nova’s stage costumes, which are based upon traditional mediaeval outfits. I have added some fantasy and mystery, in order for them to work as stage costumes.
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