STILE ANTICO – IN A STRANGE LAND: ELIZABETHAN COMPOSERS IN EXILE
Queen Elizabeth I may not have wanted “to make windows into men’s souls”, but faced with threats at home and abroad, her regime dealt increasingly harshly with supporters of the old Catholic religion. Torn between obedience and conscience, several of England’s most talented musicians “Philips, Dering, and Dowland” chose a life of exile abroad. Those Catholic composers who remained in England – chief amongst them William Byrd and Robert White “expressed their spiritual exile in music of astonishing intensity and emotional impact.”
Stile Antico is a British ensemble now established as one of the most original and exciting new voices in its field and has an extensive and award-winning discography on the Harmonia Mundi label.
“Anything but antique…their sound has the urgency and freshness you get from young voices, and an amazing rhythmic vitality.” – The Daily Telegraph
Supported by Elaine Adair
There will be a pre-show talk in the Chan Centre’s Royal Bank Cinema at 1:15pm.
PROGRAMME
John Dowland – Flow my tears
Philip de Monte – Super Flumina Babylonis
William Byrd – Quomodo cantabimus
Richard Dering – Sancta et immaculata virginitas
Thomas Tallis – In ieiunio et fletu
Peter Philips – Regina caeli laetare
William Byrd – Tristitia et anxietas
INTERVAL
William Byrd – Haec Dies
Peter Philips Gaude – Maria / Virgo prudentissima
John Dowland – In this trembling shadow cast
Richard Dering – Factum est silentium
Robert White – Lamentations a5
