Marian Consort | Inviolata
Pioneering vocal ensemble The Marian Consort performs Inviolata – interrogating the music of the past; reviving important, unjustly forgotten works; and using both as inspiration for new compositions.
A triptych of settings of the Inviolata linked through time: the disarmingly beautiful music of early 16th-century master Josquin des Prez, itself based on older plainchant melodies, is given glorious new life by the Portuguese theorist – and first published Black composer – Vicente Lusitano, with both works reflected in a startling contemporary response from Aldeburgh Festival featured musician Roderick Williams.
Threaded through these are pieces reflecting on with the annunciation, connected both by their Marian texts and their interest in the music of the past. Electra Perivolari’s A Winged Woman explores themes of female creativity, imagination, self-doubt and transcendence through the poetry of Heather Dohollau and Hildegard von Bingen. Jonathan Harvey foreshadows the end of the annunciation story in his insistent quotation of Palestrina’s Stabat Mater.
Performed in the beautiful surroundings of Orford Church.
The performances are models of discretion and musical taste, every texture clear, every phrase beautifully shapedGuardian
Watch a performance by The Marian Consort
About Marian Consort
TMC features regularly on BBC Radio 3, and has released twelve recordings to critical acclaim, praised for ‘precision and pellucid textures’ (The Times).
Hailed as ‘brilliant discoverers, and exponents, of rare repertoire’ (The Observer), The Marian Consort performs music from the fifteenth century to the present day, with a focus on bringing to light and championing lesser-known works by composers such as Vicente Lusitano, Raffaella Aleotti, and Jean Maillard, reinvigorating their music for today’s listeners. Creating new music is of vital importance to TMC, and in recent years it has commissioned Electra Perivolaris, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Roderick Williams, David Fennessy, and Ben Rowarth.
