Stile Antico
Dante: A Divine Hope
Dante Alighieri’s Comedia (Divine Comedy) is considered one of the greatest works of literature ever written. Its enduring imagery has shaped our western culture’s views and understanding of the afterlife for more than 700 years. With this programme, Stile Antico descends with Il Divino into Hell, journeys together through Purgatory, and finally arrives at the gates of Heaven. Renaissance madrigals and sacred music by composers such as Victoria, Palestrina, and Morales illustrate the way, and texts by Dante himself, set to music by Lazzaschi and Merulo, also narrate the story. At the pinnacle of Heaven we meet the Virgin Mary in Giovanni Gabrieli’s glorious 12-part Magnificat.
£29 | £19 | £14
(£1 children / students)
Ex Cathedra
Jeffrey Skidmore director | Martha McLorinan mezzo-soprano | James Robinson tenor
Rachmaninoff All Night Vigil (‘Vespers’)
Audience favourites Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore return to St Marys with Rachmaninoff’s most-loved choral work to round off a season celebrating the composer’s 150th year. Powerful, passionate, hypnotic – in a time of turmoil and amid the shock of war, Rachmaninoff turned to the choral heritage he held dear, and created one of the most awe-inspiring vocal masterpieces. With its luminous choral tapestry, mesmeric melodies and some of the lowest notes you’ll ever hear sung, there is little wonder it is beloved by audiences and singers alike.
Concert generously supported by Helen & Stan Ireland
£29 | £19 | £14
(£1 children / students)
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Julian Wilkins & Jeffrey Skidmore conductors
Summer Concert
The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir comes to St Mary’s to take part in the second Warwick Choral Festival, conducted by Julian Wilkins (CBSO Choruses) and Jeffrey Skidmore (Ex Cathedra).
This beautiful and uplifting programme brings together works by Arbeau, Britten, Debussy, Fauré, Finzi, Howells, Le Jeune, Lalande, de Lassus, Machaut, Messiaen, Monteverdi, Saint-Saëns and Whitacre for a true June evening’s delight.
Tickets: £20 and £15 unreserved (students/children £1)
Ex Cathedra
directed by Jeffrey Skidmore
with Andrew Skidmore cello
Baroque Passion
Music by Bach, Purcell, Lotti, Domenico Scarlatti, Kuhnau, Monteverdi, Carissimi, and Charpentier.
Ex Cathedra returns with a programme of sublime music telling of the sacrifice, heartbreak and healing of the Easter story – heartrending as Mary weeps at the foot of the cross to Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater but concludes with optimism in Bach’s glorious motet Komm, Jesu, komm.
“…a heady mix of gloriously rich polyphony” – BBC Music Magazine
£26 | £18 | £12
(£1 children / students)
The Marian Consort
directed by Rory McCleery
Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?
Treasures from the manuscripts of Elizabethan England with music by Byrd, Clemens non Papa, Giles, Parsley, Parsons, Tallis and Van Wilder.
The Marian Consort – the young, dynamic group that made its BBC Proms debut last year and whose most recent CD release was chosen as one of Presto Music’s 2021 Recordings of the Year – comes to Warwick for the first time, bringing a programme that explores sacred vocal polyphony found in the beautiful handwritten manuscripts that were the preserve of Elizabethan music collectors.
“The singers perform with a yearning intensity which is just exquisite” – Gramophone
Concert generously supported by Warwick Town Council
£26 | £18 | £12
(£1 children / students)
Armonico Consort
Christopher Monks director
Toby Spence Evangelist | Sir Willard White Christus
Bach St Matthew Passion
Whatever your own spiritual beliefs, everyone should hear St Matthew Passion at least once. A work of genius, combining the most perfectly formed recitative with Bach’s most beautiful arias, St Matthew Passion vividly, passionately and dramatically brings to life the intense emotions and humanity of the Passion of Christ.
Tickets: £39.50 | £27.50 | £19.50 | £14.50 | £11
Concert will have an interval
Da Capo Chamber Choir
John Adams director
Songs for Summer
Feel the joy and celebrate the return of live music with Da Capo Chamber Choir. Discover old and new favourites in an a cappella selection of music for summer from the 16th century to the present day.
Sadly, the continued restrictions mean that this concert cannot now go ahead as planned, but it is hoped to rearrange it for a future date.
Ex Cathedra
Jeffrey Skidmore director
Our First Love – the English Renaissance
We all remember our first love! For Jeffrey and the founding members of Ex Cathedra it was the English Renaissance, a golden age in which composers created a treasury of truly inspiring choral repertoire. So it feels fitting that for a return to live concerts, Ex Cathedra return to their first love with this programme of powerfully emotional music from Tallis, Sheppard, Byrd, Tomkins, Gibbons, and more.
Concert generously supported by The Grimmitt Trust
This concert is now sold out as, working to the current social distancing guidelines, our numbers were strictly limited.
Concert will run straight through with no interval
The Choirs of the Collegiate Church of St Mary
Beauchamp Sinfonietta | Mark Swinton and Lucy Morrell organ
Oliver Hancock conductor
Parry I was glad and Blest pair of sirens
Howells Hymn for Saint Cecilia | Bainton And I saw a new heaven
Mendelssohn Hear my prayer | Jonathan Dove Vast ocean of light
Bairstow Save us, O Lord | Willan O praise the Lord
Brahms Geistliches Lied
Tickets: £12 (children free)
Concert generously supported by the Warwick Choral Trust and the William A. Cadbury Charitable Trust
Sadly, the continued restrictions mean that this concert cannot now go ahead as planned, but it is hoped to rearrange it for a future date.
Concert will run straight through with no interval
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross director | George Gillow and Samuel Jones organ
A place where angels sing
Marking their first live concerts since the start of the pandemic, the Choir returns to Leamington to present a sumptuous choral programme that unlocks the silence and celebrates the human voice in song.
Interwoven amongst masterpieces by Byrd and MacMillan are a fascinating selection of recent Icelandic choral works, American spirituals, folksongs, and Ross’s own arrangement of Abide with me.
Concert generously supported by Michael & Halldóra Blair
Concert will run straight through with no interval