Cambridge Taverner Choir

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    Owen Rees and I started the Cambridge Taverner Choir in 1986;  it remains one of the country's few specialist Renaissance chamber choirs. For many years, we sang a series of four or five concerts each year in Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge. We now sing fewer concerts each year - at least one in Cambridge and one in Winchester. Full details may be found at the choir's website, www.cambridgetavernerchoir.org.uk.
     During our first 25 years we have explored the music of Renaissance Europe - in particular Spain (Victoria, Morales, Guerrero, Lobo), Portugal (Lobo, Cardoso, De Cristo, Fernandez, Magalhaes), Italy (Monteverdi,  Palestrina) The Netherlands (Josquin, Gombert, Lassus) and England (Taverner, Sheppard, Tallis, Mundye, Byrd, Gibbons, Ramsey). We've also made a few forays into the Baroque (the Bach motets) and the 20th century (in particular Britten).
    See the file below for some notes on the history and development of the choir, written for our 20th anniversary in 2006.
20th_anniv_notes.pdf
File Size: 84 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Posters

    We've done well over 100 concerts in the last 25 years. The archive can be seen here. Here are some of the posters I've put together over the years:.

CTC CD Recordings

"Beautiful music, superbly performed" (Gramophone)
    Our first CD, Music from Renaissance Portugal, reached the final six shortlist for the Gramophone Early Music Award. Our subsequent recordings, whilst not reaching the same dizzy heights, have all been very well reviewed. We will shortly release our fifth CD, a recording of Monteverdi's wonderful Missa In illo tempore. For further details of the recordings and to hear a sample track, click here

What is Our Life?

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Renaissance Laments and Elegies, including works by Josquin, Ramsay, Weelkes, Tomkins, Byrd and Lobo

    "Passionate singing .... gloriously full sound" (Early Music Review)
    "The sheer beauty of the voices is a delight.... the enormous expressive potential is fully realised" (Choir and Organ)

Music from Renaissance Portugal 1

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Polyphony from the Royal Monastery of Santa Cruz, Coimbra, including Lobo's 8-voice Requiem

    "It is the sheer musicianship which distinguishes this recording" (Gramophone)
   "An absolute revelation ... performances that will be hard to surpass" (Early Music)
    "A vibrant glow - perfect tuning and phrasing... flowing textures" (Classic CD)

The Song the Virgine Soong

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Christmas Music from Tudor England, including works by Tallis, Byrd, Browne, Pygott and Smert

   ***** (BBC Music)
    "The listener can feel how the singers are themselves moved by the beautiful music they are making" (Gramophone)
    "Immaculate.... the best disc of its type (Cathedral Music)"

Music from Renaissance Portugal 2

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Polyphony from Lisbon and Coimbra, including Lobo's Missa Cantate Domino

   
"Beautiful music, superbly performed (Gramophone)"
    "After hearing this CD, I defy anybody not to want more" (Organists' Review)
    "The bright and vigorous sound is ideal for this music" (Daily Telegraph)

Monteverdi: Missa In Illo Tempore

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New CD to be released in 2013
Monteverdi
Missa In Illo Tempore
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An image of John Taverner from the manuscript of his Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas