A trip to Italy was not just for painters and architects, it was a sine qua non for many composers. When Marc-Antoine Charpentier arrived in Rome in the late 1660’s he was undoubtedly impressed by the thriving musical life in the Palace of the Popes. All churches and services across the city resounded with new Italian compositions, including motets for solo voice and large-scale works for several choirs by eminent composers such as brothers Domenico and Virgilio Mazzocchi (pope Urbain VIII’s favourite musicians) or Orazio Benevoli. Marc-Antoine Charpentier assimilated both the polychoral technique and expressiveness of Italian sacred music, raising it to the heights of refinement and sensitivity. The CMBV choir Les Pages & Les Chantres accompanied by Jean-Marc Aymes’ Concerto Soave with the radiant presence of soprano Maria Cristina Kiehr directed by Fabien Armengaud invite us to rediscover these masterpieces from baroque Rome and music by its most inspired French admirer.