Marco Antonio Centorio was born around 1600 in the Piedmontese town of Vercelli, in northern Italy. He began his studies of music and the humanities at the Collegio degli Innocenti, an institution founded in the late 15th century to supply Vercelli Cathedral with singers for religious services. Centorio, who had a fine treble voice, was one of the six pueri cantus taken in and educated at the Collegio. When his voice broke he moved to Milan, where he studied organ and counterpoint. By 1618 Centorio was already organist at Vercelli Cathedral, in 1628 he was appointed chapel master in the Cathedral, a position he held until his early death in 1638.

Centorio’s style reveals not only the solid training in counterpoint that was typical of northern Italy, but also the composer’s skill in handling motets, the Milanese canzone of the late 1500s and the new style of the early 1600s exemplified by Monteverdi, Donati, and later Grancini and others.

Included in the program are several examples of the mottetto con sinfonia. This was a well-established genre combining vocal and instrumental forces, notably with two violins and violone, while the theorbo was commonly added to double the basso continuo.

Performed by the Cappella Musicale della Cattedrale di Vercelli conducted by mons. Denis Silano, who previously presented world premieres of vocal works by Colombano, another composer closely related to the Vercelli Cathedral.