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Utzon Music 2023 The Gesualdo Six English Motets

2 April 2023

In the Utzon Room

Classical Music

Experience the sound of the Tudors with one of the UK’s finest all-male vocal ensembles in a concert of Renaissance masterpieces.

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

BBC Music Magazine

A Trove of Music from a Golden Age

The members of Gesualdo Six grew up in the English cathedral tradition, singing the wealth of glorious repertoire that emerged during the English Renaissance, a Golden Age for church music.

It might have been one of the most turbulent periods in English history, fuelled by religious division, but composers rose to the challenge, writing lavish and elaborate music for the Catholics and bringing fresh clarity to the words for the Protestants.

Performed by an award-winning vocal ensemble that knows this music better than anyone, this concert offers a taste of the astonishing invention (and re-invention) that resulted, ranging from the intricately woven creations of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd to the beautiful simplicity of Thomas Tomkins.

Sydney Opera House Presents

You know the saying: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, when in the company of one of the finest British vocal ensembles, you go with English Motets. I fully expect to be transported by this repertoire; from cottage gardens to wild highland moors, The Gesualdo Six will take us there.

Casey Green, Utzon Music Curator

Artist Information

Artists

The Gesualdo Six

Guy James countertenor
Joshua Cooter tenor
Joseph Wicks tenor
Michael Craddock baritone
Samuel Mitchell bass
Owain Park bass

PROGRAM

TALLIS Te lucis ante terminum
BYRD Ave verum corpus
BYRD Afflicti pro peccatis nostris
FOREST Qualis est dilectus meus
SHERYNGHAM Ah, gentle Jesu
BYRD Tristia et anxietas
BYRD Vigilate
WHITE Christe qui lux es et dies
TALLIS If ye love me
TALLIS In manus tuas
TOMKINS When David heard
BYRD Laudate pueri Dominum

 

Other information

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