P a s t W o r k s h o p s
Season 2018-19
Miserere Mei, Deus — motets of yearning and penitence
with David Allinson
Monday 8th April 2019 7pm - 9:30pm
The Gresham Centre, Gresham Street, London EC2V 7BX
David Allinson, musical director of the Renaissance Singers, leads a singing workshop exploring penitential pieces that were included in our concert programme just two days earlier. Whether you were able to attend the concert or not, this will be an immersive experience, exploring gloriously plangent, suspension-laden music in the company of an expert guide, singing alongside members of the Renaissance Singers. David is a highly-experienced, energetic workshop leader. Expect technical insights, historical context and gentle humour, to balance the pathos of this profoundly beautiful music.
Polychoral Music for Voices and Brass
with Gareth Wilson
Saturday 12th January 2019 10am - 5pm
St Mary-at-Hill, Lovat Lane, London EC3R 8EE
£25 full price, £22 concessions, £12.50 Friends
Perhaps for obvious reasons, Renaissance polyphony is commonly sung unaccompanied, and this is how most of us have become accustomed to hearing it. But it is not the case that such music was always performed this way; the use of instruments within choral music, especially multi-choir music, while not necessarily the default option, may have been more common than we often assume. For this workshop, led by Gareth Wilson, we will be joined by six early brass instruments, specifically cornetts and sackbuts, to explore the various means by which they might be employed to enhance its performance. Through the rehearsal of music by Palestrina, Lassus, Cardoso, and culminating in the 16-voice “Vidi Speciosum” by Ingegneri (an Italian contemporary of Palestrina and teacher of Monteverdi), this workshop will look at how voices and instruments can combine in order to create a unique and extraordinary sound world, one which allows us to see familiar music in a very different light.
Gareth Wilson is Director of Chapel Music at Girton College, Cambridge, and Director of Music at Christ Church, Chelsea. He is also an academic professor at the Royal College of Music and is a member of the Music Faculty at Cambridge University, having previously held similar positions at the Royal Academy of Music and at King’s College, London, where he became the first member of the Music Department to receive a KCL Teaching Excellence Award. In addition to his conducting work, he is a composer whose music has been heard in dozens of cathedrals, churches, and college chapels all over Britain, Canada, and the USA, has been broadcast on BBC Radio and Classic FM, features on several recordings, and has been performed by such groups as the BBC Singers, the Choir of St John’s, Cambridge, and by the Choir of the Chapel Royal at the baptism of Prince Louis.
The Colour of Song
with Stephen Connolly
Wednesday 5th September 2018, 7pm - 9:30pm
St. Botolph's Bishopsgate, EC2M 3TL
We are delighted that former King's Singer Stephen Connolly will be leading our first Open Workshop of the season. The group, under Stephen's co-direction, were well-known for their interpretation of secular Renaissance music from all over Europe. Stephen will drawn on his wealth of experience in this repertoire to lead us in bringing vocal colour and expression to a selection of English, French and Italian madrigals.
Stephen Connolly sang Bass with the internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble The King's Singers from 1987 – 2010. In addition to performing in excess of 120 concerts each year for almost a quarter of a century, he has made frequent appearances around the world. He has recorded extensively with EMI, BMG Records, Signum Records and Sony, collecting many awards - including three Grammy nominations and a Grammy. Following his 23 years with The King's Singers, he spent 6 years as Head of Vocal Studies at The Cheltenham Ladies' College.
in 2008 Stephen formed his International A Cappella School (IAS) to share his knowledge and passion for a cappella music. IAS provides an opportunity for choral singers to immerse themselves in a specially selected and diverse choral repertoire.
