The Spooky Men come down from the Mountains like a wolf on the fold. Forged in the red-hot cauldron of Georgian table singing, where anvil strikes bread and like their brothers of old they raise the morning sun with uplifted arms, their ecumenical embrace now extends to songs Paulian and Johnian. They sing paeans in praise of hardware yet are unafraid to face the existential angst that stares up at them from the debris of breakfast.
Stile Antico is an ensemble of young British singers, now established as one of the most original and exciting new voices in its field. Much in demand in concert, the group performs regularly throughout Europe and North America. Their recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label have enjoyed great success, receiving the Diapason d’Or de l'année, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik and twice attracting GRAMMY nominations. Their recent release Song of Songs won the 2009 Gramophone Award for Early Music and reached the top of the US Classical Chart.
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (February 27, 1848 – October 7, 1918) was an English composer, probably best known for his setting of William Blake's poem, Jerusalem, the coronation anthem I was glad and the hymn tune Repton set to Dear Lord and Father of Mankind. Born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, and brought up at Highnam Court, Gloucestershire, he was the son of an amateur artist, and was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford. He studied with the English-born composer Henry Hugo Pierson in Stuttgart, and with William Sterndale Bennett and the pianist Edward Dannreuther in London.
Fatima Al Qadiri is a Brooklyn-based composer, musician, curator and artist. Born in Senegal, Al Qadiri's exposure to the rampant misappropriation of Western subculture while growing up in Kuwait is apparent in her highly virtuosic body of work. She has performed her symphonic and plaintive baroque electronic compositions at The Kitchen, Gallery 179 and Santos Party House and has regularly exhibited multimedia projects in New York City and Kuwait alongside fellow iconoclasts Khalid Al Gharaballi and Lauren Boyle.
Frank Martin (15 September 1890 – 21 November 1974) was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands. He was born in Geneva, the tenth and last child of Charles Martin, a pastor. Before he started school, he was already playing the piano and improvising. At nine, he was composing complete, fully formed songs, without having had any instruction in song forms or harmony. A performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion which he heard at the age of twelve left upon him an ineradicable impression, and Bach became his true master.
Claudio Monteverdi ("Green Mountain") (Cremona May 15, 1567 – November 29, 1643) was an Italian composer, violinist and singer. His work marks the transition from Renaissance to Baroque music. During his long life he produced work that can be classified in both categories, and he was one of the most significant revolutionaries that brought about the change in style. Monteverdi wrote the earliest dramatically viable opera, Orfeo, and was fortunate enough to enjoy fame during his lifetime.
Morten Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943 in Colfax, Washington) is an American composer with Danish roots. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Whitman College and the University of Southern California, where he studied advanced composition. He is a long-time professor and Chair of the Department of Composition at USC, and was also Composer in Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001.
Coro Nostro is a mixed chamber choir of about 30 singers of all ages drawn from across the Universities, the City and County of Leicester, UK and beyond. We have a wide repertoire of sacred and secular polyphonic motets, madrigals and part-songs, ranging from the 13th to the 21st Century, including three new pieces especially written for us in 2004 and 2005 by Anthony Pither. We receive much praise from the public for the quality of our musicianship, the variety of our repertoire and the clarity and authenticity of our diction and expression.