One of the UK’s greatest cultural exports. BBC Radio 3
… absolute unanimity, perfect tuning, impeccable diction, stunning control and a seemingly effortless inevitability about everything they do. Gramophone, 2023
The sound coming from The Tallis Scholars almost surpassed the humanly possible – Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph
Founded in 1973 by their director, Peter Phillips, The Tallis Scholars have established themselves as the leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music throughout the world. The purity and clarity of their sound, perfect for the Renaissance repertoire, has given them a worldwide following. Celebrating their 50th birthday last year, they have now performed well over 2,500 concerts and won many awards for their recordings including the BBC Music Magazine’s much coveted Recording of the Year Award in 2021 and the 2021 Gramophone Early Music Award.
The journey behind this programme is a familiar one: from darkness into light. Or, to put it in a more Christian way, from penitence into joy. This is an emotional journey, often associated with Lent and Easter, which has inspired some of the greatest sacred music ever written. Our first half is largely devoted to the mood of Lent, nowhere more beautifully captured than in the two English settings of the Lamentations, by White and Tallis, which we sing here. Both composers are masters at alternating the traditional words of lament with the greater reflection provided by the Hebrew letters, which punctuate the main text.
In the second half we join in worship of Jesus and Mary as they fulfill the Easter prophecy: Jesus in Parsons’s magnificent setting of O bone Jesu; Mary in the Ave Maria and Regina caeli settings. The message of these pieces is then summed up in the complete cycle of Byrd’s Propers for Easter Day – five motets which take us through the drama of the Crucifixion. Listen out for the fourth one, where in no more than a minute Byrd describes in music the shaking of the earth when Christ died – Terra tremuit.
At 4pm the group will be running a masterclass focussing on young singers from local schools. This requires no ticket and is free to watch!