These are the Cries - a choral concert

A programme to celebrate the music of three great composers of the past, paired with music from celebrated living composer James Weeks and with period instrumentalists Matthew Farrell and Nick Scott-Burt. 2025 is a major anniversary year for all three composers Palestrina, Gibbons and Berio, who each made a unique and telling contribution to the landscape of classical music history. In this concert, we seek to highlight music from each that might be slightly lesser-known to audiences, including Gibbons Cries of London, three movements of Berio’s vocal sequence of the same name and music from the Canticum Canticorum (Song of Songs) by Palestrina, paired with contemporary settings of similar texts by James Weeks, taken from his work Mala Punica and a more recent reworking of a Gibbons madrigal. Performing alongside the choir will be exciting young countertenor and bass viol player Matthew Farrell, former musical son of Leicester who is now making waves as a member of Westminster Cathedral Choir and with his viol consort Arculo.