The ensemble The Tallis Scholars was founded in 1973 by its director, Peter Phillips. It has established a worldwide reputation through its recordings and performances of Renaissance sacred music. Peter Phillips has worked with The Tallis Scholars to develop the pure and clear sound that he considers essential for Renaissance repertory, and which allows every detail of the musical lines to be heard. This sound has made the ensemble widely renowned.
The Tallis Scholars perform in both sacred and secular venues, and give around eighty concerts worldwide each year. In 2013 the ensemble celebrated its 40th anniversary with a world tour, giving 99 performances in 80 venues in 16 countries. After 50 years performing, the ensemble remains in demand, and has now given well over 2,500 concerts. On the 500th anniversary of the death of Josquin Desprez, The Tallis Scholars performed all of his 18 masses over a period of four days at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, repeating this monumental project in Utrecht in summer 2023.
Highlights of 2024/25 in addition to the ensemble’s usual tour programme in Europe and the United Kingdom have included performances in the USA, Japan and East Asia, along with a series of further concerts in London.
The Tallis Scholars’ recordings have won numerous international prizes. Their 1987 recording of Josquin’s Missa ‘La sol fa re mi’ and Missa ‘Pangue lingua’ was voted Recording of the Year by the music magazine Gramophone. In 2012 their recording of Josquin’s Missa de Beata Virgine and Missa ‘Ave maris stella’ received the Diapason d’Or. In 2021, their CD recording of Josquin’s masses Hercules Dux Ferrarie, D’ung aultre amer and Faysant regretz received the BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Year Award and won the Gramophone Early Music Award. This is the last of a series of nine albums in a project to record and release all Josquin’s masses. The ensemble’s most recent recording, Maria plena virtute, featuring works by Robert Fayrfax, was released in 2024 and was awarded Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine.
In their 40th year, The Tallis Scholars were welcomed into Gramophone Magazine’s Hall of Fame by public vote. The ensemble was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2001, 2009 and 2010.
