Biography of Gabrieli Consort & Players
The Gabrieli Consort & Players were founded by Paul McCreesh in 1982 and celebrated their 25th anniversary over the 2006/7 season. Initially recognised for their mould-breaking reconstructions of music for historical occasions, they have gone on to captivate audiences worldwide with their bold readings of the masterworks of the baroque and renaissance. They are regularly heard at major festivals and concert halls throughout Europe and the USA. In partnership with Martin Randall Music Management, they have pioneered new areas of 'cultural tourism' in creating festivals of music in historic centres, including Venice, Rome, Naples, Leipzig, and northern Spain. September 2007 saw the ensemble's largest residency to date as part of the Wratislavia Cantans Festival in Wrocław, Poland, where Paul McCreesh became Artistic Director in 2006.
For over ten years the Gabrieli Consort & Players have recorded exclusively with Deutsche Grammophon Archiv and their first release on the label, Venetian Vespers, won the 1993 Gramophone Award. Subsequent recordings of music by Palestrina, Praetorius, Morales, Purcell, Handel and Bach have won several major European prizes. The Gabrieli Consort & Players released Messiah in 1998, and since then have become firmly established as leading interpreters of Handel's works. Their recordings of Solomon (with Andreas Scholl in the title role), Theodora, and Saul ("a performance of unusual power and glory" The Times) have all received the highest praise.
The ensemble is well known for its vivid and moving readings of the Bach masterworks, often given with chamber-sized forces. Their recording of the Easter Oratorio and Magnificat celebrated the Bach anniversary in 2000 and was followed in April 2003 with the St Matthew Passion. This landmark recording with Mark Padmore (in the role of the Evangelist), Peter Harvey and Magdalena Kožená has been extolled as revelatory. ("In the distinguished performance history of the Great Passion, this is a dynamic and powerful new reading…a memorable and vitally conceived new account." Gramophone)
The Gabrieli Consort & Players continue to expand into several new areas. Their first forays into the classical repertoire were widely praised, and their first opera recording, Gluck's Paride ed Elena with Magdalena Kožená, was issued in 2005 to great critical acclaim. More classical repertoire followed swiftly with the release of Mozart's C Minor Mass with Camilla Tilling and Sarah Connolly. The ensemble's recording of Monteverdi's Vespers, released in 2006, has been hailed by BBC Music Magazine as "compelling...superbly effective...marvellously fresh". The Road to Paradise (2007) is a departure from previous discs: a specially devised a cappella choral programme with music from the medieval to the present day linked by the theme of pilgrimage. Another such programme on the theme of music to the Virgin Mary called A Spotless Rose will be released in early 2009. March 2008 saw the much-anticipated release of the ensemble's recording of Haydn's great oratorio The Creation. ("Wonderfully inspiriting…exhilarating, poetic and marvellously sung…the prime recommendation." Gramophone)
The Creation project in 2006 was the beginning of a collaborative relationship involving students from Chetham's School of Music, Britain's largest specialist music school. The first project culminated in a large-scale performance of Haydn's Creation at the Barbican Hall in London (and the subsequent DG recording) where massed Gabrieli forces were joined by the Chetham's Chamber Choir. Gabrieli and Chetham's paired up again in early 2008 to work on Mendelssohn's Elijah. Coachings from Gabrieli principals and Paul McCreesh led to three concerts by the Chetham's Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Choir who were joined by two local choirs from the Manchester area.
The Gabrielis continue to perform their own concert series at the Christ Church, Spitalfields, one of the most beautiful examples of baroque architecture in Europe. The 2007/8 season featured concerts of Christmas music by Praetorius; Handel's La Resurrezione; and Three Odes for Saint Cecilia, a programme of Purcell and Britten odes in praise of the Patron Saint of Music. Plans for 2009 include Handel's Jephtha, The Creation, and Theodora, and a special double bill of Handel's Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Acis and Galatea.