Sacred-music chamber choir The Tallis Scholars explores a collection of stories tied to Easter, Lent, and natural disaster spanning six centuries. Renowned as “one of the UK’s greatest cultural exports” (BBC Radio 3), The Tallis Scholars will treat audiences to an evocative blend of sacred Renaissance music and contemporary works by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang, Nico Muhly, Eric Whitacre, and more.

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The Tallis Scholars

Carnegie Hall

Celebrating 50 years this season, the peerless Tallis Scholars return to Berkeley with a gorgeous holiday program that views the Christmas story from the perspective of the shepherds who came to worship at the manger. The concert revolves around Who did you see, Shepherds?, a mass by Flemish composer Clemens non Papa, its five movements dispersed between similar text settings by other masters from the late Renaissance. Also on the program is a magnificent double choir motet by Giovanni Croce, and two sublime settings of the Salve regina by Obrecht and Philips. Masters of Renaissance polyphony, the Tallis Scholars are at the height of their powers, having recently won both the BBC Music Magazine’s Recording of the Year Award and the Gramophone Early Music Award. “Tonal purity, articulation, ensemble spirit: everything here is sheer perfection…. Phillips’ unaccompanied voices bring passion and warmth to every note” (The Times, London).

Tallis Scholars

First Congregational Church

Celebrating their 50th anniversary this season, the peerless Tallis Scholars are at the very height of their powers, winning both the Recording of the Year and the Choral Award in BBC Music Magazine last year, and taking home the 2021 Gramophone Music Award in Early Music. These Berkeley favorites are master performers of sacred Renaissance choral music, and here lend their crystalline clarity and pinpoint precision to an exciting program of works that includes Tallis’ monumental Suscipe quaeso, Byrd’s masterful Tribue domine, and contemporary works by Nico Muhly and Arvo Pärt.

The Tallis Scholars, one of the world’s premier vocal ensembles, celebrates its 50th anniversary under the leadership of founding director Peter Phillips who formed the group from members of the Oxford and Cambridge chapel choirs. Resonating in the glory of the Cathedral Basilica, their program will feature Renaissance masterpieces of sacred music from England and Europe, including works by Tallis, Palestrina, Lassus, and Josquin des Prez, among others.

The Tallis Scholars

Apr 8, 2024