The Gesualdo Six

Church Window Mask

Thursday 11 May 7.30pm

Apologies, due to illness, The Gesualdo Six will be amending their programme.

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  • Getting here

    We are at 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL between Piccadilly and Jermyn Street, about 200 yards from Piccadilly Circus.

  • Part of St James’s Piccadilly Classical Programme.

    Doors 7pm. Event 7:30pm-8:45pm without an interval.

  • Access

    St James’s aspires to be a place where all can belong, and where every person’s gifts and identities are welcome and celebrated. We are working to improve the experience at St James’s in the church building and the online community. We have step-free access from the courtyard to the church, and a toilet for disabled people. The courtyard and Redemption Roasters coffee shop are wheelchair accessible. If you have special access requirements (e.g. wheelchair users) please contact concerts@sjp.org.uk

    • With the natural world bursting into life for Spring, the event will be based around The Gesualdo Six’s popular programme The Wishing Tree, which follows the roots of choral singing through to the flowering of a tradition. The natural world has always proved to be a plentiful source of inspiration for composers; exploring a relationship between old and new, playful and profound.

    Programme
    Trad. arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams Bushes and Briars
    David Bednall Put out into the deep
    Lily Vadaneaux Fall, leaves, fall
    Alison Willis The Wind’s Warning
    Joby Talbot The Wishing Tree
    Jacques Arcadelt Il bianco e dolce cigno
    Orlando Gibbons The Silver Swan
    Trad. arr. James Whitbourn The Lark in the clear air
    György Ligeti Selection from ‘Nonsense Madrigals’
    ii. Cuckoo in the Pear-Tree
    v. Flying Robert
    v. The Lobster Quadrille
    Luca Marenzio Potrò viver io più se senza luce
    G.P. da Palestrina Io son ferito, ahi lasso
    Carlo Gesualdo Asciugate i begli occhi
    Thomas Weelkes The Nightingale, the organ of delight
    Thomas Weelkes The Ape, the Monkey and the Baboone
    Gerda Blok-Wilson O Little Rose
    Eleanor Daley grandmother moon

    “Weavers of rich and plangent aural tapestries, The Gesualdo Six meld style and substance with beguiling sure-footedness.” BBC Music Magazine

    The Gesualdo Six is an award-winning British vocal ensemble comprising some of the UK’s finest consort singers, directed by Owain Park. Praised for their imaginative programming and impeccable blend, the ensemble formed in 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories in Cambridge and has gone on to perform at numerous major festivals across the UK, Europe, North America and Australia. Notable highlights include a concert as part of the distinguished Deutschlandradio Debut Series, debut at Wigmore Hall in 2021, and collaborations with the Brodsky Quartet, London Mozart Players, Luxmuralis, William Barton and Matilda Lloyd.

    The group have recently commissioned new works from Joanna Ward, Kerensa Briggs, Deborah Pritchard, Joanna Marsh, and Richard Barnard alongside coronasolfège for 6 by Héloïse Werner.

    Videos of the ensemble performing a diverse selection of works filmed in Ely Cathedral have been watched by millions online. The group released their debut recording English Motets on Hyperion Records in early 2018 to critical acclaim, followed by a festive album of seasonal favourites in late 2019, Christmas, and an album of compline-themed music titled Fading which was awarded Vocal & Choral Recording of the Year 2020 by Limelight. A programme celebrating the 500th anniversary of Josquin des Prez titled Josquin’s Legacy followed in late 2021, and Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday was released in Lent 2022.

    “…impeccably delivered, with that undefinable excitement that comes from a group of musicians working absolutely as one.” Gramophone

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