Flores Rosarum

The vocal ensemble Flores Rosarum (literally: Rose Petals) was founded in 2007 by Susi Ferfoglia with a group of female singers fascinated by the music of St Hildegard of Bingen. The fascination with this repertoire is also reflected in the ensemble’s name, which refers to one of the responsories of the medieval saint. Flores Rosarum gave a stage performance of one of the most memorable works of St Hildegard – the morality play Ordo Virtutum. The group carried out this project with the Swiss ensemble Peregrina (art director: Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett), and its premiere took place in autumn 2013. The collaboration between Flores Rosarum and Peregrina also extended to the preparation and public performance of the later polyphonic repertoire from the archives of the Polish Benedictine nuns.

Members of the ensemble conduct intense artistic and research activities, which allows each project to begin with an exploration of the manuscript containing the chants being performed. Familiarity with medieval notations and an understanding of the liturgical, historical and social contexts in which the works in question were written paves the way for an interpretation that wishes to be faithful to what is found in a given manuscript. Flores Rosarum also likes drawing on the repertoire found in Polish liturgical and musical manuscripts. For many years, they have been involved in the promotion of chants contained in medieval manuscripts preserved in the Archives of the Kraków Cathedral Chapter, in the archives of the convents of the Benedictine Sisters in Staniątki and the Poor Clares in Kraków and Stary Sącz. The fruits of this research include the project The Life of St Stanislaus according to Wincenty of Kielcza (aibkkk Ms 52, c. 1320), the record with chants of Staniątki nuns (Venite, exultemus Domino. Chants of the Benedictine Sisters from the Antiphonary written during the rule of Priestess Dorota Szreniawska – 1536), the project Summum bonum amplum donum presenting the Good Thursday ritual of washing feet in the convent of the Poor Clares in Kraków from the Franciscan Gradual no. 205. In addition to its intensive concert activities, the ensemble engages in initiatives promoting the performance of Gregorian chant in semiological optics also within the liturgy.