The Tallis Scholars was founded by their director, Peter Philips, in 1973. The group specializes in scholarship-informed performances of a cappella sacred vocal music, primarily from the Renaissance period. They promote that music through both concerts and recordings. For the latter they have their own label, Gimell, on which they have accumulated a prodigious repertoire. For the former they maintain a heavy performing schedule.
Indeed, their last visit to North America involved a seven-city tour that took place last November and December. Now they are about to celebrate their 40th anniversary by returning for an eight-city tour of the United States. Here is the specific agenda:
- March 14, Memphis, Tennessee: Calvary Episcopal Church
- March 15, Jackson, Mississippi: St. Philip’s Episcopal Church
- March 17, Dallas, Texas: Highland Park Presbyterian Church
- March 18, Indianapolis, Indiana: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
- March 19, Falls Church, Virginia: Falls Church Episcopal Church
- March 20, Richmond, Virginia: St. James’ Episcopal Church
- March 22, Los Angeles, California: Bradbury Building
- March 23, Berkeley, California: First Congregational Church
On a broader scale the group will celebrate its anniversary with the release of an anthology on two CDs. Entitled Renaissance Radio this collection will present two and a half hours of classic recordings made by The Tallis Scholars over the course of 40 years. The release date for this anthology is March 12; but, as usual, Amazon.com is taking pre-orders. In addition, Gimell has set up an information page on its Web site that provides one paragraph of notes for each of the 47 tracks that span the two CDs. (For the record, Thomas Tallis is the composer for fourteen of those tracks!)
Comments