https://youtube.com/watch?v=VTdAMtRmzlY%3Frel%3D0

The San Diego Early Music Society opens it’s 33rd season Friday with a performance of early Spanish music — the Reign and Radiance of Spain — by the acclaimed New York Polyphony.

Friday’s program, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at St. James by-the-Sea in La Jolla., is centered on Victoria’s Missa O quam gloriosum and works by Guerrero, Morales, and Palestrina.

New York Polyphony is regarded as one of the finest vocal chamber ensembles in the world and is currently on a North American tour.

Later this month, the society inaugurates its east county performances with the Quatuor Mosaïques string quartet on Oct. 31, at 7:30 p.m. at Cuyamaca College’s Performing Arts Theater in El Cajon.

The Society is a nonprofit organization founded to showcase the musical treasures of Europe’s medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, as performed on period instruments and in accordance with historical practice.

The society’s 2014-15 international series includes:

Piffaro: “Fortune My Foe: Ballads, Songs and Dances from Elizabethan England”
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014
St. James-by-the-Sea

Tapestry: “Song of Songs: Return to the Garden”
Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015
St. James-by-the-Sea

Les Voix Humaines with Charles Daniels: “Perchance to Dream”
Monday, Feb. 16, 2015
St. James-by-the-Sea

Musica ad Rhenum: “Bach Cantatas, Plus”
Friday, March 6, 2015
St. James-by-the-Sea

Concerto Köln: “Baroque Concertos for Harp, Mandolin and Flute”
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Performing Arts Theater, Cuyamaca College

In addition, the society’s adventure series includes:

Quatuor Mosaïques: “Quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Schumann”
Friday, Oct. 31, 2014
Performing Arts Theater, Cuyamaca College

The Myriad Trio: “Baroque Rethought”
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Performing Arts Theater, Cuyamaca College

Eric Hoeprich (clarinet), Tanya Tomkins (cello), Eric Zivian (fortepiano):
“19th-Century Clarinet Trios”
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Performing Arts Theater, Cuyamaca College

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for concerts at St. James-by-the-Sea are $28-$35; tickets for concerts at Cuyamaca College are $18-$25.

Chris Jennewein is founder and senior editor of Times of San Diego.