P r o j e c t s
Adopt a Composer
2012 - 2013
In the Summer of 2012, the Renaissance Singers were paired with Stef Conner (pictured) as part of the Sound and Music/Making Music/PRSF Adopt a Composer scheme. Over the course of the next year we would collaborate with Stef on a series of new works written for the choir, that were ultimately performed in our The Shrines of Waltham concert in October 2013.
You can find out more about the works Stef composed and the concert at Waltham Abbey from Stef's website.
Striggio: Mass in 40 parts
September 2012
In 2012 we were selected as the local choir to join i Fagiolini for the London performance of Striggio's 40-part motet Ecce beatam lucem and the related mass Ecco sì beato giorno. This series of six concerts across the country was the culmination of i Fagiolini's Striggio project and the premiere performances of this edition of the mass. The London performance took place at St Augustine's, Kilburn and the voices and instruments were spread across both levels of the building, making use of the galleries to give a multi-layered effect.
You can find out more about this project by visiting i Fagiolini's dedicated microsite, where there is a page about the public performances.
Edmund Hooper: The 'Flat' Service
September 2010
With support from the BBC Performing Arts Fund’s Choral Ambition scheme, the Renaissance Singers unearthed a ‘missing’ Evening Service by Edmund Hooper – The ‘Flat’ Service.
The choir’s musical director David Allinson, a specialist in early English church music, has produced the first modern performing edition of the service which was given its premier in the context of a service of Jacobean Choral Evensong on 30 September 2010, accompanied by organist William Whitehead. The performance was preceded by a short talk by David Allinson who gave an insight into the process of reconstructing the work and bringing it back to life.
The Renaissance Singers have recorded The ‘Flat’ Service and other works by Hooper. See our Recordings page for further details. Courtesy of Andrew Gant, you can find a detailed exposition of the life and work of Edmund Hooper, Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, here.