In the sixteenth-century, the splendor of the Renaissance blossomed across Italy as a new Holy Roman Empire stretched its wings from the Urals to the Atlantic. This special holiday edition of Harmonia brings listeners wonderful sixteenth-century Christmas music from the Venetian world of Giovanni Bassano and Gioseffo Zarlino, moving westward to the Milan of Franchinus Gaffurius, and southerly to the Naples of Diego Ortiz. Music of the Nordic Venetian Michael Praetorius provides a glorious grand finale.

Directed by Dr. Dana Marsh and Wendy Gillespie of the Historical Performance Institute of the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, with some of America's most outstanding young voices and players, specializing in early music.