Amy Haworth, Emma Walshe, Victoria Meteyard Soprano
Caroline Trevor, Elisabeth Paul, Rosie Parker Alto
Steven Harrold, Tom Castle, Jonathan Hanley Tenor
Tim Scott Whiteley, Rob Macdonald, Gabriel Crouch Bass
The Tallis Scholars were founded in 1973 by their director, Peter Phillips. The ensemble 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 2023/24 in addition to the ensemble’s usual tour programme in Europe and the United Kingdom included performances in London, Paris, Dresden, Ravenna and Helsinki as well as in Japan and the USA.
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.
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.
