The new disc of the Kölner Akademie, “Feliz Navidad”, is out today! Using historically informed performance, the Cologne-based ensemble interprets a selection of festive Christmas works as they could be experienced in the 18th century in Mexico City Cathedral. The composers Manuel de Sumaya, Ignacio Jerusalem, Francisco Corsell and José de Nebra, all Europeans, created church music that combined formal elements and folk melodies of the Old World with the rhythmic vitality of the New. The disc was recorded under the musical direction of Michael Alexander Willens for the cpo label.