The Sistine Chapel is one of the world’s great sacred spaces and over the centuries, it has inspired and nourished a musical tradition without parallel in Western culture. The Tallis Scholars share its treasures tonight in a concert that embraces both Allegri’s transcendent Miserere and the first UK performance of a recently rediscovered Requiem by the great Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

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The Tallis Scholars

Cadogan Hall 

Baroque music is often presented as grand, serious and a little... cautious. However, the ensemble "Dar vieni" thinks differently. They invite you to a concert in which Baroque is freed from museum frames - it is alive, pulsating. For the ensemble, Baroque is not only counterpoints and ornaments. It is an era in which emotions are no less than today, you just need to blow the dust off it. The ensemble wants to take this music in your hands, move it, feel how it breathes. It wants the listener to be more than just an observer - to get involved, feel the rhythm, emotion, and maybe even forget that they are sitting in a concert hall. Because Baroque music was not written for museums, but for people. It was intended to celebrate, mourn, express passion and inner vibrations - and it still can. You just need to let it live.

"Another One" - Baroque Without Dust

Paliesius Manor

Christmas is a time for families and old friends – for well-loved tunes and good cheer. But it’s also a time of mystery and wonder: of silent nights, and sounds that echo across centuries. We’re delighted to be back at Cadogan Hall this Yuletide for two nights of beauty, wonder and seasonal joy. From medieval carols to visionary modern masterpieces, it all takes its inspiration from the story at the heart of the season: a baby in a stable, surrounded by simply heavenly singing.

The Sixteen at Christmas: Cambridge

Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge

Experience the magic of Christmas with one of the world’s finest choral ensembles. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen return to Cadogan Hall for their highly anticipated annual yuletide concert. From medieval melodies to modern compositions, this musical journey celebrates the heart of Christmas – a humble birth surrounded by heavenly song.

It isn’t Christmas at Cadogan Hall without The Sixteen’s extraordinary, atmospheric seasonal celebration and we look forward to welcoming all ages for an unforgettable evening of beauty and joy.

The Sixteen

Music that brings stillness. It may sound paradoxical, but that’s exactly the goal of Casco Phil’s INKEER concerts. Together with a professional meditation specialist, Casco Phil’s string quartet offers a counterbalance to our hectic, digital, hyper-fast daily lives. The quest for inner peace is timeless. From the intricate vocal weavings of Palestrina, Allegri and Mechelen-born Philippus de Monte to the impressionistic colour palettes of Ravel and Debussy: old and new meet in a search for inner calm that makes you forget time—even if just for a moment.

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Mechelen Public Library Het Predikheren

For the fifth time in its 45-year history, and for the first time in two decades, The Sixteen will travel to Japan for four performances across the country, celebrating Palestrina’s 500th anniversary and the 90th birthday of Arvo Pärt. In a programme demonstrating the craft of choral writing across the centuries, we combine music from Palestrina’s exquisite Song of Songs and Stabat mater, with the mesmerising sounds of Pärt’s Tribute to Ceasar and Da pacem Domine.

The Celebrated Light of Music

Acros Fukuoka

Aoyama Music Memorial Hall Barocksaal

Sagamihara Civic Center

Tokyo Opera City Tower

500 years ago, a boy was born in the Italian city of Palestrina. He grew up as a choirboy, and over time he became one of the most important and influential composers of the Renaissance, who was associated with, among other things, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Palestrina 500 years - in the footsteps of the master

Trinity Church Copenhagen

Odder Parish Church

Assistens Cemetery

The final concert of Wigmore Hall’s Palestrina focus shines a spotlight on the composer’s austerely beautiful L’homme armé, ‘The Armed Man’, a popular medieval chanson, and the foundation for a setting of the Latin Mass.

Palestrina: Teacher and Warrior

Catholic Church of Saint James

The Pioneer Valley Symphony opens the season honoring the contribution of women composers to classical music. Ethyl Smyth’s rousing “March of the Women” celebrates resilient, daring, and effective advocacy of women. The beautiful and entrancing piano concerto by Clara Wieck Schumann forms the centerpiece of the concert before exploring the world of counterpoint and chorales with Robert Schumann’s beloved Rhenish symphony prefaced by Palestrina’s Adoramus Te and Stokowski’s sumptuous rendering of it for orchestra.

Season Opening: Counterpoints on the Rhein

Greenfield High School

Peter Navarro-Alonso recently received our largest Danish composer award, the Carl Nielsen Legatet, for his “well-thought-out, beautiful, and strongly expressive and uncompromising music.”

A Symphony of Man

To mark the final day of the Egerton Music Festival, ten members of The Sixteen will perform a special programme drawing on the connection of spoken word, with poetry by Rosetti, Wordsworth, Shelley and T S Eliot, accompanying the music of Byrd, Palestrina, Hildegard, Finzi, Sheppard and Stanford.

Good night, good night beloved: Egerton

St James' Church, Egerton

On Palestrina, Harry says ‘I have always regarded Palestrina as the master craftsman whose music composers of all ages have attempted to emulate. He shapes his music in a beautifully sonorous way using many suspensions but always coming back into the line of the music. However it is this perfect craftsmanship that can sometimes make Palestrina’s music sound all too perfect and occasionally academic. We have attempted to achieve real ebb and flow in his music, not clipping the ends of phrases but allowing the music to breathe, to convey the real meaning of the words and making our breaths part of the music as a whole. There is a wealth of word painting in which to indulge especially in his Song of Songs motets. Our aim has been to be sensitive to this wonderful poetry and inject an energy and beauty to our performances that I hope goes some way to honour Palestrina as the celebrated light of music.’

The Breaking of Bread: London

Angels are all around us. So started a discussion between John Studzinski (philanthropist and founder of the Genesis Foundation) and the late Robert Willis (poet, cleric and Dean of Canterbury Cathedral until 2022). Often angels are introduced into stories and creative art as signs of a spiritual dimension which is beyond our human conceiving. There is in fact a much wider acceptance of the concept of angels in the minds and hearts of people of all faiths and none. Robert was commissioned by John to write a series of poems about Angels as messengers, ministers, warriors and worshippers, with John then commissioning three young composers to set these poems to music.

Voices of Angels

St John R C Church

St James's Piccadilly

Immerse yourself in the ethereal sounds of the Baroque era with "Celestial Voices - Music of the Baroque," a concert series that promises to transport audiences back in time through the power of music. Under the baton of Principal Guest Conductor Nicholas Kraemer, the Music of the Baroque Chorus and Members of the Orchestra will showcase their incredible talent and versatility. The program features a rich tapestry of compositions from the Renaissance to the Baroque period, including works by Tallis, Palestrina, Purcell, Monteverdi, Byrd, Pachelbel, Rameau, and Bach.

The concert series will highlight the shimmering sounds of Palestrina and Byrd, the intricate compositions of Purcell, and culminate in the high energy of Bach’s "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied" (Sing unto the Lord a new song), BWV 225. This selection of music not only showcases the technical prowess of the performers but also the emotional depth and spiritual uplift inherent in Baroque music.

"Celestial Voices" will be performed at two iconic locations, offering audiences a choice of venues to experience the magic of Baroque music. The first performance will take place on Sunday, May 11, 2025, at 7:30 PM at the Faith, Hope, & Charity Church in Winnetka. The series will continue with a performance on Monday, May 12, 2025, at 7:30 PM at the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. For those unable to attend in person, an on-demand performance will be available on Friday, May 16, 2025, at 5:00 PM.

This concert series is a must-attend for lovers of choral and orchestral music, offering a rare opportunity to experience the breadth and depth of Baroque music performed by a talented ensemble under the guidance of Nicholas Kraemer. Don't miss your chance to be part of this musical journey through time.

Celestial Voices

Fourth Presbyterian Church

Sts Faith, Hope, And Charity Catholic Church

Stile Antico is firmly established as one of the world’s most accomplished and innovative vocal ensembles. Working without a conductor, its twelve members have thrilled audiences on four continents with their fresh, vibrant and moving performances of Renaissance polyphony. Its bestselling recordings have earned accolades including the Gramophone Award for Early Music, Diapason d’or de l’année, Edison Klassiek Award, and Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. The group has received three Grammy® nominations, and performed live at the 60th Grammy® Awards at Madison Square Garden.

Stile Antico

St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church

Long associated with the Sistine Chapel, Palestrina’s actual time as a singer in the Pope’s choir was brief. He spent many more years associated with the choir of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Cappella Giulia. This concert will feature music composed in the later years of his life between 1571 and his death in 1594. The concert will highlight Palestrina’s often overlooked compositions for two choirs and features the eight-voice Missa Confitebor tibi Domine, along with motets and offertories.

Polyhymnia

Saint Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church

“Blessed Cæcilia, appear in vision and inspire all musicians. Come down to us mortals and shake us with your immortal fire!”

Hymn to Saint Cecilia

Roskilde Cathedral

The Round Tower

The Irish Youth Choir, under Artistic Director Bernie Sherlock, is made up of Ireland's finest young singers between the ages of 18-28. It has been an important part of Irish musical life since 1982. Singers are recruited by audition, and meet during the summer course and workshop weekends throughout the year. It offers an electic advanced repertoire, inspiring and empowering young Irish singers with careful vocal and stylistic preparation in a good atmosphere, while instilling a life-long love of music. Alumni of the Irish Youth Choir have proceeded to become some of Ireland’s best conductors, choir founders, singers, teachers, and musicians.

Irish Youth Choir with Sing Ireland

Royal Irish Academy of Music

This programme moves across the ages, from the intricate architecture of Renaissance polyphony by Palestrina, Lassus and Byrd, to the distinctive voices of the present day, including Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Blake Morgan. At its centre is the season of Advent: a time of waiting and anticipation. Ancient hymns and carols sit alongside modern reflections on the Christmas story, with familiar melodies appearing both in their traditional form and through the lens of contemporary arrangers. From candlelit devotion to moments of joy, The Gesualdo Six trace a musical path through the festive season.

O Magnum Mysterium

Smith Square Hall

A sequence of music featuring rarely-heard verse anthems by Thomas Tomkins who provided music for Christmas Day and the feasts after Christmas – St Stephen, St John the Evangelist and the Holy Innocents. These anthems are elegant and witty, the very best chamber music of the early to mid-19th Century in England. Around them is another rarely-heard setting of the Mass by Palestrina, based on his own motet Dies sanctificatus. Typically elegant and expressive, it encapsulates both the wonder and joy of Christmas. To finish and to point the way forward is a verse anthem by John Bull for the feast of the Epiphany when we celebrate the visit of the Three Kings, and finally an eight-part ebullient setting of Dies sanctificatus by Palestrina.

The Cardinall’s Musick

Wigmore Hall

Pure, sweet, serene, hear a radiant blend of unaccompanied voices rise in song. VOCES8 combines with its Foundation Choir to share its heavenly sound in music exploring prayer.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 15, 2026

O Magnum Mysterium · Sinfonia Smith Square

Dec 21, 2026

The Cardinall’s Musick · Wigmore Hall

Mar 16, 2027

The VOCES8 Foundation Choir: Hear My Prayer · Barbican Centre

Past events

May 13, 2026

The Tallis Scholars · Cadogan Hall

Apr 18, 2026

"Another One" - Baroque Without Dust · Paliesius Manor

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