Singers with whom we work with include Emma Kirkby, Julia Gooding, Rachel Elliott and Rebecca Outram sopranos, Robin Blaze, James Bowman, William Purefoy and William Towers countertenors, James Gilchrist, James Oxley and Andrew Carwood tenors, and Peter Harvey baritone.

Please contact us for full details or with your own requirements!

 

Britannia Triumphans

forces: five voices, six viols, violin, organ, three lutes and harp

Spectacular music for royal masques and entertainments by William Lawes. Concordia's exploration of this wonderful but little known precursor of the opera has included a concert recorded for BBC Television, and continues with a large-scale performance in the Banqueting House (where many court masques received their original performances) in October 2003.

Ecco Venezia Bella

forces: seven voices, five viols, lute and virginals

Recreating a musical evening at one of the great 16th century Venetian academies, Concordia’s rich combination of voices, viols, lute and harpsichord reveals the hidden face of Venetian music: the dialogues, madrigals, fantasias, ricercares and lutesongs with which the city’s famous musicians entertained themselves and their noble patrons in the marble halls of the great Palazzi. Featured composers include Andrea Gabrieli, Adrian Willaert, Claudio Merulo, Cipriano da Rore, Baldassare Donato and Girolamo Bassano. Concordia will be touring this programme on the Early Music Network in Autumn 2003.

Sing unto the Lord
forces: six voices and six viols

Verse anthems and fantasies by William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons, this programme toured in France in June 2003 to great acclaim.

 

Music for Mademoiselle de Guise

forces: six voices, four viols, theorbo and organ

Sacred music by the wonderful French baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier.  The greatest of his early works were created for Mlle de Guise's ensemble of voices and viols.

 

The Cries of London

forces: five voices and five viols

Advertising jingles aren’t just a modern phenomenon. Even in Shakespeare’s day, market traders sold their wares with familiar cries: ‘New fresh herring at Billingsgate…’ ‘Ha’ ye any rats or mice to kill?’ ‘Buy a fine washing ball or a poking stick with a silver dildo...’. Orlando Gibbons' evocation of the streets of early 17th-century London, forms the starting point for this exploration of music with city connections. We also visit the countryside with a selection of bawdy cries and catches celebrating animals and the lusty men and women who care for them.

 

The Regina Monologues

forces: staged with Elizabeth I in full costume, countertenor, five viols, lute and virginals

First produced for the Covent Garden Festival and now set to tour in the UK, USA and Japan, this powerful show combines music with a specially commissioned set of monologues for the ageing Queen Elizabeth I in which she reminisces on her life, loves, regrets, passions and the state of the nation [ more information ].  TV star Penelope Keith was our first Elizabeth and tour performances are planned to be shared between her, Susannah York and Janet Suzman.

 

Music for Mona Lisa

forces: staged with dancers and voice of Leonardo, countertenor, lute, four viols, four wind instruments and percussion

Why does the Mona Lisa smile? Giorgio Vasari provided the answer in 1550:

“Mona Lisa was very beautiful, and while Leonardo was painting her portrait he engaged musicians who played and sang and continually jested in order to take away the melancholy that painters are used to give to their portraits... This figure of Leonardo's has such a pleasant smile that it seems rather divine than human...”

Concordia brings together a band of voice, viols, early winds and percussion, as well as spectacular costumed dancers, to recreate the musical entertainment provided by Leonardo, which brought the world's most celebrated smile to the face of the Mona Lisa while her portrait was being painted in Florence in the year 1503. We include music ranging from sophisticated works by the international superstar composers of the time, Heinrich Isaac and Josquin Desprez, to dances and lute pieces reflecting the improvised styles of contemporary popular music, sounds as hauntingly beautiful as the Mona Lisa herself.

 

 

The show can also be performed in an acclaimed contemporary staging with new dance, dramatic lighting and readings from Leonardo's notebooks [ more information, reviews and images ].

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