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Sun, Moon, Sea and Stars

8 February 2016

A great start to 2016 appearing at the fab London A Cappella Festival at Kings Place curated by The Swingle Singers. They’re clearly doing great things there in developing a huge and varied interest in singing of all manner of vocal ensembles. We were honoured to be opening the festival and it was a hugely… continued

Christmas Round-up

17 December 2015

On advent Sunday we returned to Cadogan Hall together with the English Chamber Orchestra for a performance of Handel’s Messiah. We were thrilled to be joined by soloists Grace Davidson (soprano), Andrew Staples (tenor), David Soar (bass) and as a last minute replacement for our Patron Sarah Connolly, who was sadly taken ill, Anna Stéphany… continued

The Tenebrae Effect and a new recording project

27 November 2015

At St Martin-in-the Fields in November we did the first of our major The Tenebrae Effect workshop. Henry Southern our manager was delighted to tell me it had sold out within a week of being advertised and that we had to increase the capacity for the event in order to fit in everyone who wanted to… continued

Brahms, Bruckner and Russian Treasures galore

12 October 2015

Having had a wonderful break of 4 weeks over the summer with the family down in Devon, which actually ended up being even more exhausting than our usual mad routine at home, things seem to have taken off at the furious pace they left off at back in July! So, we had another glorious trip… continued

Thaxted and Lessay Music Festivals

12 August 2015

Tenebrae was lucky enough to be invited to perform at Thaxted and Lessay festivals, and I was lucky enough to be part of the choir for these concerts. Both settings are magical and have their own set of charms about them. First, Thaxted. Repeating a programme from Douai Abbey as part of the Newbury Spring… continued

Path of Miracles 10th Anniversary

17 July 2015

On this, the 10th anniversary of the first performance of Joby Talbot’s epic choral symphony Path of Miracles, I have some very strong and mixed emotions going through my head. The world premiere had been due to take place at the beautiful church St Bartholomew-the-Great on that fateful day of the London bombings 7th July,… continued

A month of King’s Singers encounters!

2 July 2015

Another busy month with some spectacular highlights: apologies in advance if this sounds like I’m enjoying several trips down memory lane! Firstly a concert in the beautiful church of Swaledale. I’ve rarely had the chance to visit this stunning part of England and as soon as we were driving through the glorious scenery it made… continued

Sherborne, Newbury and Speyer

22 May 2015

We revisited the glorious Abbey of Sherborne this month to give our Russian Treasures programme another outing. A packed Abbey gave us such a fabulous reception: it’s a magical place and the concerts there by candle light always create a wonderful atmosphere. We also went back to Douai Abbey, another stunning venue and another sell-out… continued

Cuenca, Recordings and Russian Treasures

29 April 2015

Another busy month for us with concerts and yet more time recording some fabulous music. A wonderful trip to Cuenca for a performance of Spanish renaissance music from the likes of Victoria and Guerrero, but also some less well known names such as Fernando de las Infantas, Alonso de Alba and Juan Navarro. The concert… continued

Happy Easter!

1 April 2015

We had a fabulous concert of music by Will Todd, singing to a packed audience in the beautiful church of Holy Trinity, Guildford. The acoustic is absolutely stunning and the choir sounded wonderfully rich and luxurious. I count myself very lucky indeed to have worked with many truly great musicians over the years and this… continued

Whirlwind Start to 2015

3 March 2015

It’s been a whirlwind start to 2015! Three fabulous days in the glorious atmosphere of Temple Church to record a very special disc of music by Brahms and Bruckner. Our regular sound engineer Andrew Mellor lost his father to cancer in 2009 and Tenebrae also lost its co-founder Barbara Pollock to the disease in 2010…. continued

Nigel Short reflects on his memories of Sir John Tavener

13 November 2013

I was very sad to hear the news of Sir John Tavener’s passing yesterday. Sir John was an extremely pleasant and gentle man, but with an almost unnerving sense of spiritual conviction. He reflected this in his music, much of it specifically based on Russian Orthodoxy, but latterly it became more universal, including elements of Hinduism and… continued

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