The Marian Consort
The Marian Consort will create a new performance piece contemplating human intimacy. Renaissance madrigals and new music by composer Joanna Ward will form the core of a rich and emotionally-charged musical encounter, performed live by a line-up of five singers.
Underpinning this musical body will be a spatialised soundscape made by sound designer Helen Atkinson, through which the audience will freely move; a ghostly tissue of closely-recorded bodily movement, breath, fragmented utterings. Images and live projections will offer audiences an arresting, even voyeuristic visual experience that together with sound and music will seek to capture the aura of intimacy.
With this Snape Residency, The Marian Consort seeks to further its mission reimagining early music: reinvigorating forgotten music for today’s ears, commissioning new works that challenge or comment upon, and collaborating with other artists and practitioners to new musical experiences. The residency will also offer time and space for the Consort and its artists to build confidence, take risks, and be empowered to make more ambitious, outstanding work.
Snape Residencies provide time and space for creators at all stages of their careers; a supportive environment to create, be curious, and try out new ideas. Open Sessions offer a unique chance to go behind-the-scenes and experience work-in-progress created during the Residency.
We are so grateful to our supporters, without whom none of our work would be possible. Visit Support Us to find out how you can help.
Supporters contributing towards Residencies include:
PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund.
About The Marian Consort
The Marian Consort is a vocal ensemble that presents bold and thrilling performances across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia. Led by founder and director, Rory McCleery, the group is composed of the very best singers in a flexible, intimate ensemble, allowing clarity of texture and subtlety of interpretation that illuminates the music for performer and audience alike. TMC features regularly on BBC Radio 3, and has released fourteen recordings to critical acclaim, praised for ‘precision and pellucid textures’ (The Times).
The Marian Consort performs music from the twelfth century to the present day, with a focus on bringing to light and championing marginalised and lesser-known composers such as Vicente Lusitano, Raffaella Aleotti, and Jean Maillard. TMC has premiered over 30 works to date, and in recent years it has commissioned Dani Howard, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Laurence Osborn and Electra Perivolaris.
The Marian Consort is a pioneer of projects which move beyond the confines of the traditional concert, most notably ‘Breaking the Rules’, a staged concert-drama based on the life and crimes of Carlo Gesualdo called ‘daring and vivid’ by The Guardian; and ‘Lusitano Remixed’, a surround sound installation made with Roderick Williams. Recent highlights include a concert at the BBC Proms; performances in the Bascule Chamber inside London’s Tower Bridge; the premiere of a major new commission by David Fennessy at Brighton Festival; and a Wigmore Hall recital presented in partnership with BBC Radio 3. The Marian Consort is in residence with Music at Oxford across 2023 and 2024.
