ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
Few things small enough to fit in the palm of the hand can inspire wonder about the limitless potential of human creativity. A collection of early Renaissance devotional objects — elegantly precise boxwood carvings of miniature rosaries, prayer beads and altarpieces, on display as part of a major international exhibition — served as the direct inspiration for this musical program.
These objects draw viewers into a private and intimate world of meditation; religious scenes carved with precision and poetry evoke a bygone world of intense spiritual devotion—sometimes tormented, sometimes luminous, but always fascinating.
The music in this program is designed to elicit similar sensations in listeners. Originating in northern European circles, contemporary with those who produced these boxwood carvings, these spiritual pieces are not intended for grand cathedrals or public ceremony, but for personal meditation, private chapels and rooms, family houses and assemblies. Like the beads and rosaries, their craftsmanship is precise, superb; rich in subtle details, they lead us to wonder, and to contemplation.
The musical program Treasures of Devotion was commissioned by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters, New York for Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures, an exhibition co-curated by the AGO, Toronto; The Met Cloisters, New York; and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Treasures of Devotion was performed at all three venues in 2017.
For more information on early 16th c.-Gothic boxwood miniature 
carvings, the Boxwood Project, and to see more photos, visit: http://boxwood.ago.ca
PERFORMANCE AND RECORDING SESSION PHOTOS
The Boston Camerata; Art Gallery of Ontario, TorontoPhoto: Leah Maghanoy © Art Gallery of Ontario
Left to right: Andrew Arceci, Fabio Accurso, Joel Frederiksen, Daniel Hershey, Carol Lewis, Anne Azéma, Michael Barrett, Shira Kammen, David Griesinger. Abbey Church St Pierre-St Paul, Ferrières-en-Gâtinais, France
