In video: Paul McCreesh/Gabrieli Consort & Players

We recently sat down with director of Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh, to chat about their upcoming Associate Artist series in this Summer Festival as well as the ensemble’s relationship to Spitalfields Music.

Click play to find out more about their three Christ Church Spitalfields programmes which encompass the range of Gabrieli Consort & Players’ work, from early English opera to twentieth century unaccompanied choral music. Oh, and not to forget their foray into making music for the toddling audience.

Booking now open for Summer Festival 2012!

So it’s still cold and miserable outside, and too dark in the evenings, but summer is hotting up Spitalfields Music HQ as booking is now open for our Summer Festival 2012!

Matthew Barley at Village Underground (Image: Alys Tomlinson)

Running from 8-23 June, the Festival is packed with more musical treats than ever! Leading the programme as our Associate Artists are the Gabrieli Consort & Players, cellist Matthew Barley and tabla player and music producer Talvin Singh. Between them they present an eclectic series of performances ranging from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and Stravinsky’s mass setting to a fusion of tabla, folk and electronic, a candle-lit performance of John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil and a search for the answer to the question, What’s Music For?

Paul McCreesh in Old Spitalfields Market (Image: Alys Tomlinson)

We welcome a number of music-theatre encounters, as The Sixteen return with a new commission from Alec Roth with Samuel Beckett’s Old Earth monologues. La Nuova Musica collaborate with Vignette Productions on Sacrifices: a new staging and installation around two baroque oratorios, and The Opera Group come together with the London Sinfonietta in Harrison Birtwistle’s tale of love and jealously, Bow Down.

Talvin Singh at Oxford House (Image: James Berry)

Alongside all this, Dutch cult sensation Night of the Unexpected makes its London debut, with a cocktail of experimental beats improvised jazz, composed repertoire and conceptual pop music. Late-night concerts from Melvyn Tan with Bach suites and new variations plus EXAUDI celebrating the beauty of John Cage’s vocal music. There’s also choral music of every flavour as the Monteverdi Choir go on a European choral pilgrimage, the Choir of Royal Holloway bring songs from the Baltic States and the distinct sounds of South American baroque from Florilegium and the Arakaendar Bolivia Choir.

All this and much, much more will be filling the extraordinary spaces of Spitalfields this summer! See our website for the full festival listings, or flick through the Festival brochure online.

Booking is now open: online 24 hours-a-day at spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk (just register an account if you’re new to us) or via the Box Office phone lines on 020 7377 1362 (open Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm).

Artist Focus: Gabrieli Consort

‘Gabrieli is a wonderful early-instrument group, characterised by extraordinary sweetness of tone, and by an expressiveness which would be regarded as quaint if it didn’t emerge from the right kind of instruments. Even hearing them tune up is a pleasure’ – Michael Tanner The Spectator

Taking their name from two legendary Venetian composers, the Gabrieli Consort have set a very high standard to live up to. It would seem they do just that – receiving critical acclaim for their international performances and recordings; a Gramophone Best Choral Recording award for their rendition of Hadyn’s Creation; and a Grammy nomination for their recent recording A Spotless Rose.

Founded in 1982 by Paul McCreesh, current Artistic Director, the Gabrieli Consort are renowned for their interpretations of great choral and instrumental works spanning from the Renaissance to the present day. At this year’s Summer Festival the group will present a new choral project, By morning glow and evening shade, celebrating William Byrd’s Great Service. The performance will also feature the world premiere of the latest choral work by Jonathan Dove – Two Sonnets, commissioned specially by the Gabrieli Consort. Dove’s sensitivity to words and desire to exploit the beauty of choral sound will ensure that his commission contrasts and complements Byrd’s celebrated masterpiece.

Gabrieli Consort
Monday 20 June 7.30pm
Christ Church Spitalfields
Book now!