Versa est in luctum is performed by the Vocal Chamber Music ensemble, University of Redlands Conservatory of Music, and directed by Prof. Christopher Gabbitas. Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (1590-1664) was one of a wave of Iberian composers who made the journey across the Atlantic to become amongst the first truly American composers, dying in Puebla in Mexico. de Padilla’s work would have been widely performed by choirs both in Mexico and in the Mission Churches of what is now southwest USA. This is a song of mourning, probably on the death of an important church or political figure, and uses imitative writing and dense harmonic texture, in advance of its time. Visit www.redlands.edu/vcm to learn more about the Master of Music in Vocal Chamber Music program at the University of Redlands Conservatory of Music.