News

After a busy summer of Purcell, Gabrieli launch the 2015/16 season in style with two performances at the Utrecht Early Music Festival – Of a Rose is all my Song, our newest a cappella Consort programme featuring substantial 16^th century motets by Tallis and Mundy alongside contemporary British repertoire, and our much-loved Three Odes for St Cecilia programme, a celebration of Britten and Purcell.

The season continues in October with a performance at St Stephen Walbrook featuring London Youth Chamber Choir, one of Gabrieli Roar’s partner choirs, alongside the Gabrieli Players in a performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria. LYCC will join us again later in the year for two of the most significant events of our season, forming part of the massed choir of Gabrieli Roar for performances at Southwark Cathedral on 16 February 2016 and at Ely Cathedral in early July 2016. The programme for these concerts will feature Elgar Give unto the Lord, Wesley Blessed be the God and Father and Britten Te Deum.

The autumn also sees a rare meeting point between Gabrieli’s activities and Paul McCreesh’s guest conducting when Gabrieli will provide a team of soloists to perform the Bach St Matthew Passion at the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Paul, bringing his one-to-a-part interpretation to Minnesota.

We look forward to a busy December which begins with an afternoon of Christmas music at Hampton Court Palace, including works by Bach, Buxtehude and Torelli. Programmed by Gabrieli leader Catherine Martin, the short concerts will be performed in the beautiful Cartoon Gallery and will feature soloist Emma Walshe. Later in December we undertake a five concert tour of Handel’s Messiah, with performances in Lucerne, Versailles, Zaragoza, San Sebastian and Pamplona. The cast of soloists includes Sarah Tynan, Mhairi Lawson, Iestyn Davies, Tim Mead, Stuart Jackson and Neal Davies.

In May 2016 we make our debut at Internationales Bachfest Schaffhausen performing the Bach St Matthew Passion before embarking on a mammoth project for June: two performances and a recording of Haydn’s The Seasons in collaboration with the wonderful National Forum of Music Choir, Wroclaw. Ten years ago, Gabrieli made a Gramophone Award-winning recording of Haydn’s The Creation: the first recording ever to replicate the huge orchestra that Haydn himself used in early performances. A decade later, it is time to give the “sister” work, The Seasons, the same treatment in a stellar recording featuring soloists Carolyn Sampson, Jeremy Ovenden and Andrew Foster Williams. Performances will take place in London, at St John’s Smith Square, and Wroclaw, at their stunning new concert hall, the National Forum of Music.

The season concludes with a very busy period in which the Consort will tour regional UK venues in July with a secular programme of English music and we perform the Mozart Requiem at the Gstaad Festival, Switzerland and Festival de Beaune, France before returning to the UK for a new Purcell project at Hampton Court Palace in August, details of which will be announced later in the season.

A busy but exciting season, as usual full of great variety – let’s get started!