Istvánffy Chamber Choir - Porta: Missa Mortuorum (CD)

Release Date: 02/04/22

The undeservedly rarely played renaissance composer, C. Porta's death mass and the world premiere recording of the 'Qui vult venire post me á7' motet.

The Istvánffy Chamber Choir was founded by Lőrinc Muntag in 2014. The repertoire of the group consists primarily of Gregorian chant, sacred works of the Renaissance, Bach cantatas, and Romantic and contemporary a capella works.
The choir has given the world premieres of many works (particularly those of Ádám Bajnok, Máté Balogh, Lőrinc Muntag, László Sándor, Lőrinc Szécsi, Márton Szőcs, and Péter Tornyai).
The Istvánffy Chamber Choir has performed with success at many festivals and competitions all over Europe. In 2017 at the London International A Capella Choir Competition they achieved an outstanding result, and that same year in Germany they made a tour as part of the Reformation 500 series. In 2018 in Košice they presented the Porta compositions that form the backbone of this CD, and they also gave an
outstanding concert in 2019 in Laredo in Spain, in the 5th Ciclo de Musica Religiosa festival.
As a child Lőrinc Muntag learned the violin and piano, and in addition he sang for years in Schola Hungarica under the direction of Janka Szendrei and László Dobszay, and also in the Saint Stephen Boy's Choir under the direction of Zoltán Mizsei.
He studied composition at the Béla Bartók Conservatory and Grammar School with István Fekete Győr, then at the Liszt Academy under László Vidovszky, where he graduated with honours in 2015.
He took part in composition courses given by Gyula Csapó, Péter Eötvös, Charles Ames, Larry Polansky, Philip Glass, and Christian Wolff, and his pieces have been played at festivals such as Ostrava Days (2011, 2013), Café Budapest (2015, 2017, 2019) and Klangraum Düsseldorf (2019, 2020, 2021).
He has been a member of the following international composer's collectives: CentriFUGA, the Hermina Artists' Group, and Wandelweiser.
In 2014 he founded his own ensemble, the Istvánffy Chamber Choir.
Since 2020 he has participated in the postgraduate programme for conductors of the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, where his teacher is Iwan Wassilevski.