P a s t W o r k s h o p s
Treasures from Latin America
Monday 28 October, 7:00pm - 9:30pm
St Stephen's, Rochester Row, London SW1P 1LE
In our first Open Workshop of the season, conductor Sarah Latto will take
us on a musical tour around seventeenth century Latin America. We will
discover some of the earliest polyphony from Peru, Bolivia and Mexico,
including the mesmerising Hanac pachap cussicuinin, a work famous for
being the earliest printed polyphony on the continent of South America,
set in the Quechuan language. We will also explore the work of Francisco
Hernández, a native Peruvian composer, whose Sancta Maria, e! is an
exquisite miniature set in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec people.
About Sarah Latto
Sarah Latto is conductor and artistic director of Echo Vocal Ensemble.
Described as "sparkling, poised and powerful", the group made its debut in 2017, and have since performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, as Ensemble-
in-Residence at Ryedale Festival and live on BBC Radio 3. The group has
quickly developed a reputation for imaginative programming and multi-
disciplinary collaborations, including with poet Roger McGough, composer
James MacMillan, visual artist Polly Apfelbaum and the London
Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sarah studied music at Cambridge University, where she held a choral
scholarship with Sidney Sussex College. Her professional training has
included working with the Brighton Early Music Festival and a Fellowship
with Yale University. Sarah was also appointed Conducting Scholar with
the prestigious young artists scheme Genesis Sixteen, and in 2019 became
Ex Cathedra's inaugural Associate Conductor. As a freelance conductor,
Sarah has worked with the BBC Singers, with Trinity Laban Conservatoire
and with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.
Tickets
Standard tickets £14 / £12 concessions
Tickets free for under 21s (under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult)
Music
Print your own music or purchase for £3 online
Early polyphony from Mexico, Peru and Bolivia
Led by Sarah Latto
Pieces of a Lifetime
Monday 8 July, 7:00pm - 9:30pm
St Stephen's, Rochester Row, London SW1P 1LE
What Renaissance music would you take to your desert island?
David Allinson has been our MD since the start of 2010. He has devised dozens of concert programmes and led us through hundreds of rehearsals. As part of our 80th anniversary celebrations, we've asked him to nominate a handful of highlight works from his years with the choir and to include them in this celebratory evening workshop.
After much agonising, David winnowed his list to six key works, each of which reminds him of a peak moment conducting the Rennies — be it singing Josquin in a private confraternity church in Italy, performing Richafort’s Requiem in Scandinavia or singing in a play about William Byrd at Ingatestone Hall. From reconstructing Edmund Hooper’s lost canticles to singing Tallis in competition at St John’s, Smith Square, or even creating a virtual choir rendition of Verdelot’s music during the pandemic, these pieces tell the story of David’s years with the choir.
So please, do join us for an enjoyable, friendly evening singing this beautiful music under David Allinson’s direction, as we celebrate the recent history of The Renaissance Singers.
Many of you will already know David, but if not: he has wide experience as a leader of choral workshops, having led countless workshops and residential singing courses in the UK and Europe, working for every UK Early Music Forum, for organisations such as Lacock and Run by Singers, and for numerous private groups. He is known for his combination of scholarship, technical know-how and humorous positivity.
Tickets
Advance tickets (limited availability) £12 / £10 concessions
Standard tickets £14 / £12 concessions
Tickets free for under 21s (under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult)
The Renaissance Singers' 80th anniversary workshop
Led by David Allinson
The (Un)Caged Byrd: A Composer and his Conscience
A talk by musicologist Dr Kerry McCarthy, live on Zoom
Wednesday 11th October 2023
7pm for about 90 minutes
Live on Zoom, hosted by the Renaissance Singers and introduced by David Allinson
As the Renaissance Singers prepare to perform the new play Master Byrd at Ingatestone Hall, we are delighted to present a live talk by one of the foremost experts on the composer’s life and music, Dr Kerry McCarthy.
2023 has been Byrd’s year. A glorious stream of performances, conferences, broadcasts and articles about the composer has reaffirmed his status as one of the greatest musicians England has ever produced.
For this contribution to his 400th anniversary celebrations, Dr McCarthy will shine a light upon Byrd’s inner life: was he truly an ‘internal exile’, tortured by fidelity to his religious convictions? Or is this a modern projection, a romanticisation of a composer who enjoyed much creative freedom and achieved the highest professional recognition?
While life as a prominent recusant brought peril, complication and compromise, Byrd was a pragmatist, a ‘political player’.
Dr McCarthy will look at the composer’s relationship with three important musically-inclined Catholic families — the Brownes, the Pagets and the Petres — each of which had quite different ways of practising their faith and dealing with the pressure to conform. In turn, something of Byrd’s inner life will be revealed.
As we look beyond this 400th anniversary, Dr McCarthy will examine the extent to which Byrd’s contemporaries, and musicians in the generations immediately following, valued and understood his music, drawing upon it for inspiration. What did Byrd have to say to them? What does he continue to say to us?
Tickets
£8 full price
Unable to watch live?
Buy a regular ticket and receive a link a few days later to watch the recording at your leisure. All those with a ticket will receive this link so they can watch the talk again.
If you’re able to be with us at Ingatestone Hall on 21 October, this talk will be an ideal primer. But if you are unable to see our performances of Master Byrd, this should be a fascinating freestanding talk about Byrd’s wonderful music and extraordinary life.
The Sound of (Sixteenth-Century) Music (UPPER VOICES ONLY)
A live workshop with Laurie Stras
Monday 3rd July 2023
7:00 - 9:30pm
St Stephen's, Rochester Row, London SW1P 1LE
£14 full price, £12 concessions
Long before Maria von Trapp or Sister Act, the nuns of Renaissance Italy were making music to the same standard as the Sistine Chapel choir – far from being silent places, convents were alive with the sound of complex polyphony. Women from almost every family were destined for the veil, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise to find the daughters of Lucrezia Borgia and Galileo Galilei among the ranks of Italy’s musical nuns.
No wimples necessary, but all upper voices welcome to enjoy an evening singing “equal-voice” polyphony, with all its strange dissonance and surprising textures – not at all like the standard choral fare. Come for the poly-chant (chant-ophony?) of the ancient Salve sponsa Dei from the Florentine convent of San Matteo in Arcetri, where Suor Maria Celeste Galilei was choir mistress, stay for the astonishing harmonic language of Suor Leonora d’Este’s Angustiae mihi sunt. We’ll sneak in some chant and canons while we are at it!
Professor Laurie Stras is a leading advocate for women’s voices and upper-voice polyphony as part of the Renaissance soundscape. She co-directed Musica Secreta with Deborah Roberts for twenty years, as the Band Boffin; she continues to lead the group’s research activities and musical programming, with Claire Williams taking the ensemble directorship lead. Laurie is Professor Emerita of Music at the University of Southampton, and in 2023-2024 she holds a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship to complete her book on the Biffoli-Sostegni manuscript, a choirbook containing liturgical polyphony from San Matteo.
Please note that counter-tenors are welcome to attend this workshop.
English Madrigals
A live workshop with Greg Skidmore
Monday 24th April 2023
7:00 - 9:30pm
St Stephen's, Rochester Row, London SW1P 1LE
£14 full price, £12 concessions
In this Byrd year, for a bit of a change, come and spend an evening singing English music mainly NOT by Byrd. This workshop will focus on the rich English madrigal repertoire, focusing on John Wilbye, but also including Orlando Gibbons, John Ward, Thomas Tomkins, Thomas Weelkes (who also died 400 years ago this year), and more.
Wilbye's famous Draw on sweet night will certainly make an appearance, as will perhaps lesser-known wonders such as Come, sable night, by John Ward or Weelkes' lament for Thomas Morley, Death hath deprived me of my dearest friend. While we will certainly wallow in English melancholy, it won't all be doom and gloom and you will definitely have a chance to get your fa la la on! Some Byrd may also sneak in by the back door...
Born in Canada, Greg Skidmore arrived in England as an undergraduate at Royal Holloway College, University of London. After graduating with First Class Honours in Music, his postgraduate Choral Scholarship at Wells Cathedral led him to Lay Clerkships at Gloucester Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford. He now lives in London and pursues a varied career as a consort, choral, and solo oratorio singer alongside his growing commitments as a conductor and workshop leader.
While at Christ Church in Oxford, he began a course of doctoral research in Musicology at the University of Oxford and started his own men’s voices consort, I Dedicati. More recently he was appointed Musical Director of The Lacock Scholars and has performed throughout the UK with them, including ongoing engagements at Westminster Abbey. In August 2021, he was appointed Musical Director of Brighton Consort and in 2023 is presenting a full year of concerts honouring the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd.
Greg is increasingly engaged in Canada as a guest conductor, clinician, and record producer, founding The Canadian Renaissance Music Summer Schools in 2018. 2023 sees an expansion of his work in Canada with the organisation, with two courses running this summer.
