GALILEO - Brighton Early Music Festival

EARLY MUSIC
FESTIVAL
2016
GALILEO
A music drama on the life and discoveries of
Galileo Galilei
Script by Clare Norburn
The Marian Consort
Katie Trethewey and Miriam Allan sopranos
Rory McCleery countertenor, director
Guy Cutting and Simon Wall tenors
Edward Grint bass
Monteverdi String Band
Oliver Webber violin, director
Theresa Caudle violin
Wendi Kelly and David Brooker violas
Christopher Suckling bass violin
Peter McCarthy violone
David Miller renaissance lutes in G and A, chitarrone
Alex McCartney renaissance lutes in G and A, chitarrone
Steven Devine harpsichord, organ
Roger Watkins actor
Stephen Tiller director
The pre-recorded role of Inquisition Spokesman is played by Nigel Pittman
LIF
DC FE
FO
UST
TR
St Paul’s Church, 7.30pm
Saturday 29th October
Sunday 30th October
THE RA
Lighting design by Pitch Black
Stage management by Rex Russell
Produced by Brighton Early Music Festival
UN
7
DE D IN 1
14
G F
Events 12&13 The Marian Consort and Monteverdi String Band
GALILEO
BRIGHTON
THE PROGRAMME
Music before Part I
Francesco Canova da Milano
1497–1543
Canon and Spagna from the Cavalcanti
Lute Book (1590)
Joan Ambrosio Dalza fl.1508
Calata ala Spagnola from Intabulatura de
lauto, libro quarto (1508)
Galileo regularly played lute duets
with his father, the musician and
theorist Vincenzo Galilei, in his youth;
Vincenzo’s musicianship must have
influenced the young Galileo, as
indeed must his empirical approach to
music theory, which encouraged the
questioning of authority.
Part I
Cristofano Malvezzi 1547–1599
Sinfonia a 6 from Intermedio no 4 (1589)
Giovanni Bardi 1534–1612
Miseri habitator from Intermedio no 4
(1589)
As an able young man with relevant
skills, Galileo would have been present
at the Intermedi, possibly even as a
performer; he had recently given a
lecture on the geometry of Dante’s Hell,
and his expertise may have contributed
to the set design for the 4th Intermedio,
set in Hell.
THE PROGRAMME
Giovanni Gabrieli c.1556–c.1612
Canzon Prima a 5 from Canzoni et sonate
(1615, posth.)
Galileo visited Venice many times during
his years at Padua; he may have heard
canzonas like this played at church
services.
Giulio Caccini c.1550–1618
Io che dal ciel cader from Intermedio no 4
(1589)
The practice of singing to string consort
accompaniment was one developed by
Vincenzo Galilei as a way of delivering
the new art of monody.
Vincenzo Galilei c.1520–1591
Contrapuncto secondo from Il Fronimo
(1568)
His father’s duets doubtless formed part
of the repertoire they played together.
Emilio de’ Cavalieri c.1550–1602
O che nuovo miracolo (excerpts) from
Intermedio no 6 (1589)
Cipriano de Rore 1515–1565
Alcun non può saper from Il quarto libro d’i
madregali (1557)
The text comes from Ariosto’s Orlando
Furioso, which Galileo loved, constantly
referring to it in his scientific writing.
He used Ariosto’s characters to satirise
his opponents and sing his own praises,
tongue partly in cheek. This madrigal
refers to the fickle nature of those who,
when fortune changes, abandon their
friends – a concept that would not be
lost on the older Galileo.
Malvezzi
Or che le due grand’alme from Intermedio
no 4 (1589)
Galilei
Contrapuncto secondo from Il Fronimo
(1568)
Lute improvisation upon a ground bass
Galilei
Contrapuncto primo from Il Fronimo
(1568)
Claudio Monteverdi 1567–1643
Excerpts from Volgendo il ciel from
Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi (1638)
The opening lines of this madrigal,
published during Galileo’s final years, in
a collection dedicated to a new emperor
and a new age, use the still common
image of the revolution of the heavens
around the earth, jarring with Galileo’s
long-held heliocentrism.
INTERVAL
Music before Part II
Giovanni Antonio Terzi fl. 1580–1600
Canzone à 4 voci, based on a lost original
by Claudio Merulo 1533–1604
Part II
Orlando di Lasso c.1530-1594
Excerpt from Domine ne in furore tuo from
Septem Psalmi Poenitentiales (1565)
Galileo was obliged to recite the Seven
Penitential Psalms weekly for the first
three years of his punishment.
Francesca Caccini 1587–c.1641
La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’ isola di
Alcina final scene
(with interpolated dances by Lorenzo
Allegri)
This was performed at Florence when
Galileo was employed there by the
Medicis; as an Orlando Furioso tale it
would certainly have appealed to him.
The interpolated dances are by Lorenzo
Allegri, who provided dance music
for several courtly entertainments in
Florence during Galileo’s years there,
including a play by Cicognini in which
Galileo’s discoveries were celebrated.
Giuseppe Scarani fl. 1628–1641
Sonata prima, from Sonate Concertate
Op.1 (1630)
Michelangelo Galilei 1575–1631
Volta in C from Il Primo Libro
d’Intavolatura di liuto (1620)
In 1637, with the help of Monteverdi,
Galileo procured a violin for his nephew,
Alberto, son of Michelangelo, who
3
THE PROGRAMME
was employed at the Bavarian court.
Venetian sonatas such as those by
Scarani would likely have formed part of
their repertoire.
Domenico Mazzocchi 1592–1665
La Catena d’Adone final scene
Mazzocchi was a Roman composer
favoured by Pope Urban VIII, Galileo’s
friend and patron who ultimately had
him condemned. The libretto is based
on a poem by Giambattista Marino,
which also contains verses celebrating
Galileo’s telescopic discoveries. A moral
is printed at the end of the opera, one
which Urban would doubtless have
recommended to his unruly friend:
Mankind runs into many errors when
he strays from God, and only on
returning to Him may he find his place
in Paradise.
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger
c.1580–1651
Prelude from Libro quarto d’intavolatura di
chitarrone (1640)
Alessandro Piccinini 1566–c.1638
Ciacona from Intavolatura di liuto et di
chitarrone, libro primo (1623)
Monteverdi
O ciechi tanto affaticar from Selva morale e
spirituale (1641)
The text alludes to blindness and the
futility of human studies and labours;
4
THE CONCEPT
Galileo by this time was completely
blind, and his greatest work had been
added to the Index of Prohibited Books.
Monteverdi
Ah, dolente partita from Il Quarto Libro de
Madrigali a cinque voci (1603)
This is taken from Monteverdi’s
revolutionary fourth book, which
usurped the rules of harmony in
much the same way as Galileo’s work
overturned the Aristotelian orthodoxy,
instigating a similarly hostile reaction in
certain quarters; Galileo may have heard
some of these madrigals on his visit to
Mantua in 1604.
Kapsberger
Toccata XI from Libro quarto… (1640)
Monteverdi
Hor ch’el ciel e la terra (part I) from
Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi (1638)
Like ‘Volgendo il ciel’, the poem (this
time a much older sonnet by Petrarch)
opens with an image of the sky turning
around the earth. The closing lines, ‘and
only in thinking of her can I find peace’,
might find resonance in the old man’s
final reminiscences of his favourite
daughter Virginia.
Galileo is set on the final day of Galileo
Galilei’s life: 8th January 1642. Galileo
has spent the past nine years under house
arrest since his famous trial in June 1633.
He is ‘looked after’ by largely friendly
Inquisition staff, who nonetheless monitor
his actions and report back on his visitors.
Galileo is not able to leave the house. We
see him frail, blind, plagued by nightmares
of his trial and waiting for death. He is
haunted by strains of music from a consort
of musicians in his head: ‘sometimes I
choose the repertoire – but often, they are
in control, selecting music to catapult me
back in time, unlocking memories.’
He needs to talk; to revisit and categorise;
‘to tidy up the desk’ before he leaves.
The dramatic choices
Galileo packed a whole lot of living,
science and experimentation into his 78
years. Writing a script lasting 30 minutes
necessitated difficult choices and meant
cutting out swathes of his life and work.
Given that there are such interesting
musical connections which Oliver Webber of
the Monteverdi String Band had uncovered
in the music choices, I wanted to put those
musical connections and Galileo’s early life
at the centre of the first half of the play.
I found the parallels in the trajectories
of the lives of Vincenzo Galilei (Galileo’s
father, 1520-1591) and Galileo himself
fascinating. Vincenzo was a revolutionary.
A lutenist, composer and music theorist,
he studied with the leading music theorist
of the day, Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590).
Pupil turned rebel; Vincenzo rejected
Zarlino’s adherence to mean tone tuning,
instead favouring the modern standard to
which you will find your piano tuned: equal
temperament. Vincenzo argued that, while
mean tone could work for vocal ensembles,
it was impractical for instrumentalists. He
undertook a series of experiments into
measurements of string tension and it is
possible Galileo aided Vincenzo with his
experiments. This practical approach in
challenging the establishment has echoes in
Galileo’s own battle with the deep-rooted
adherence to Aristotle in academia.
In his early 20s, living at home, Galileo
certainly found himself on the periphery
of the famous Camerata, the cutting-edge
circle of pioneering musicians to which
his father belonged who were behind
the development of the latest musical
form: opera, and the new music: monody
(polyphony was decidedly passé). Galileo
himself played the lute, often playing lute
duets with his father. He certainly was
present at (and possibly even played in) the
famous 1589 musical celebrations around
the wedding of Ferdinando de Medici
to Christina of Lorraine: the Florentine
Intermedi (brought to life by BREMF in
2012).
5
THE CONCEPT
Music arguably played an interesting part
in some of his early experiments. In an age
when the measurement of time of a second
or less was not reliable from clocks, Galileo
knew from the inside that musicians could
keep surprisingly accurate time. He sought
a way of measuring time to track the speed
of a ball on an inclined plane. Musical beats
were the answer – as you will see…
Beyond the music, the other key element
had to be the story of Galileo’s trial. I was
struck by how Galileo was caught up in
a series of small, seemingly unimportant
events which had magnified consequences
several years down the line. I was reminded
of the film Sliding Doors, where two
divergent narratives hinge on a moment in
time when the character does or doesn’t
catch a train. It struck me that Galileo’s
fate likewise seemed to hang on a series
of small facts: a warning whisper that was
seen by an over-zealous Commissary, an
unsigned document that should have been
destroyed…
I came to the story thinking of Galileo as
some kind of anti-Catholic dogmatist and
was really surprised to find that this was
so far from the truth – that in effect the
Vatican propaganda of Pope Urban VIII still
holds sway today. Yet Galileo was drawn
to a monastic life in his youth. Far from
wanting to destroy the Church, he wanted
to save it – ‘to disentangle astronomical
matters, based on the word of Aristotle,
6
THE TEXTS
from the roots of its spiritual authority. So it
could remain inviolate. Otherwise, how safe
can the Church be in the long term?’
Above all, my interest was in the human
story - of an ordinary, stubborn, straighttalking man and what it felt like to stand
alone against the might of the Vatican.
As Galileo says: ‘So what would you have
done? You think you’d be different?...’
Clare Norburn
Friday 4th November, 8pm
St Paul’s Church
THE LILY AND THE ROSE
The Telling
Clare Norburn soprano
Ariane Prüssner mezzo soprano
Leah Stuttard harp, voice and drum
The Telling return to BREMF in a
special intimate candlelit programme
of medieval pieces celebrating lilies,
roses and greenery, often used as
imagery in works in praise of the
Virgin Mary, as well as in love songs.
Includes magical music by Hildegard
of Bingen, exotic upbeat Spanish
cantigas, soulful songs from the
Sephardic Jewish tradition and the
beautiful English carol Ther is no rose
of swych vertu.
Miseri habitator
(Giovambattista Strozzi)
Miseri habitator del cieco averno,
Giù nel dolente regno,
Null’altro scenderà ch’invidia e sdegno.
Sarà l’horror sarà il tormento eterno
Duro carcer inferno,
A te non più verrà la gente morta.
Chiud’in eterno la Tatarea porta.
Wretched citizens of blind hell,
Down to the reign of sorrow,
Nothing else will fall but envy and scorn.
Horror and eternal torment shall be
your harsh infernal prison,
The dead no more shall come to you.
Close the gate of Tartarus forever.
Alcun non può saper
(Ludovico Ariosto)
Alcun non può saper da chi sia amato,
Quando felice in su la ruota siede;
Però c’ha i veri e finti amici a lato
Che mostran tutti una medesma fede.
Se poi si cangia in tristo’l lieto stato,
Volta la turba adulatrice il piede;
E quel che di cor ama riman forte,
Et ama il suo signor sin’a la morte.
He cannot know by whom he is beloved
While happily on Fortune’s wheel he sits;
Since friends both true and false, while at his side,
Will all show him the self-same loyalty.
If then his happy state is changed to sorrow,
The flattering crowd will simply turn and flee;
While he who loves his master from the heart
Stays ever strong, and loves him unto death.
Io che dal ciel
(Giovambattista Strozzi)
Io che dal ciel cader farei la luna,
A voi ch’in alte e tutt’il ciel vedete
Voi commando
Ditene quando il somm’eterno Giove
Dal ciel in terra ogni sua gratia piove.
I, who would cause the moon to fall from the
heavens,
Command you who see all from highest heaven
To tell us when the great eternal Jove
Will pour his every grace from heaven to earth.
Volgendo il ciel
(Ottavio Rinuccini)
Volgendo il ciel per l’immortal sentiero,
le ruote de la luce alma e serena,
un secolo di pace il Sol rimena
sotto il Re novo del Romano Impero.
Su, mi si rechi ormai del grand’Ibero
profonda tazza, inghirlandata e piena
As the heavens turn in their immortal path,
on wheels of glorious bright light,
the Sun brings back an age of peace
under the new king of the Roman empire.
Now from great Iberia bring me a deep goblet,
garlanded and brimming,
7
THE TEXTS
THE TEXTS
che, correndomi al cor di vena in vena,
sgombri dall’alma ogni mortal pensiero.
Which, flowing to my heart from vein to vein,
chases from my soul all mortal thoughts.
Venga la nobil cetra: il crin di fiori
cingimi,
o Filli: io ferirò le stelle
cantando del mio Re gli eccelsi allori;
e voi che per beltà, Donne e Donzelle,
gite superbe d’immortali onori,
movete al mio bel suon le piante snelle,
Sparso di rose il crin leggiadro e biondo.
E lasciato del Istro il ricco fondo
Vengan l’humide ninfe al Ballo anch’elle.
Bring the noble lyre; encircle my brow with
flowers,
Oh Phyllis: I will pierce the stars
Singing the lofty glories of my King;
And you who amongst beauty, ladies and
damsels,
Go about proudly with immortal honours,
Move your swift feet to my fine music,
Your pretty blonde locks decorated with roses.
And, leaving the rich depths of the Danube,
Let the watery nymphs also join the dance.
Fuggan in sì bel dì nembi e procelle
D’aure odorate e’l mormorar giocondo
Fat’eco al mio cantar rimbombi il mondo
L’opre di Ferdinando eccelse e belle.
On such a beautiful day let clouds and storms flee
The scented breezes, and their gentle murmuring.
Echo my singing; let the world resound To the
splendid fine deeds of Ferdinando.
Domine ne in furore (Psalm 6)
Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me: neque in
ira tua corripias me.
Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum:
sana me, Domine, quoniam conturbata sunt
ossa mea.
Et anima mea turbata est valde: sed tu,
Domine, usquequo?
Convertere, Domine, et eripe animam meam:
salvum me fac propter misericordiam tuam.
Quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui: in
inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi?
La liberazione di Ruggiero – final scene
(anon – but texts for choruses quoted in Il
Corago, anonymous Florentine MS
c. 1630)
8
O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger: neither
chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: O
Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed.
My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord,
how long?
Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for
thy mercies’ sake.
For in death there is no remembrance of thee:
in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
Melissa:
Su dunque alti guerrieri
Uscite a consolar le belle amante.
Lieti seco danzate,
Poi quando tempo fia,
Al suon d’alta Armonia
Sovra I destri cavalli
Rinovellate I balli.
(dance)
Chorus:
Ai diletti, al gioire,
Chi mesto fù non dica più del suo languire.
(dance)
Chorus:
Tosche del sol pù belle,
Tosche, ch’ai mesti pianti
Delle nobil donzelle
Inumidiste le serene stele,
Ridete ora ai lor canti
E se la gioia raddoppiar volete,
All’alta fede lor fede apprendete.
Le catene d’Adone - final scene (Ottavio
Tronsarelli, based on Giambattista
Marino’s Adone (1623)
Qua canora, là sonora,
l’aria giri, l’aura spiri,
dilettosa, amorosa;
ch’entro una nube si riserra
il sol del cielo, e de la terra.
Dunque intanto fra boschi
vaga l’aura ragioni,
e fuor de gli antri foschi
dolce l’eco risuoni.
Lieto dopo l’errore,
Rise up, then, noble warriors
Away and console your beautiful lovers.
Dance happily with them,
Then when the time comes,
To the sound of noble harmony
On your war-horses
Renew the dance.
To delights, to rejoicing,
Let he who was sad speak no more of his
languishing.
Tuscans, whose sun shines more beautifully,
Tuscans, whose noble women
Moistened the bright stars with their tears,
Laugh now at their songs
And if you want to redouble your joy,
To their great fidelity join your own.
Melodious here, resounding there,
Let the air turn and breezes blow,
full of delight and love;
for behind a cloud the sun hides
from heaven and earth.
Meanwhile in the woods
let the pretty breezes speak,
and from the dark caves
let the sweet echo resound.
Happy after his error,
9
THE TEXTS
giunge Adone a goder la dèa d’amore;
ch’arde di lieto zelo,
chi dopo i falli fa ritorno al cielo.
Adonis now may enjoy the Goddess of love;
For he who returns to heaven after straying
burns with a happy zeal.
E col sangue acquistar terra, e tesoro,
Vie più dolce si trova l’acqua, e ‘l pane,
E ‘l vetro, e ‘l legno, che le gemme, e gli ori.
La selva con bei canti
gioisca al nostro suon,
sempre lodar si vanti
di Venere gli amori, gli errori d’Adon.
Let the forest, with beautiful songs,
rejoice as we play,
ever praising, to boast
of the loves of Venus, the errors of Adonis.
U’ son hor le ricchezze? U’ son gli honori,
E le gemme, e gli scetri, e le corone,
E le mitre con purpurei colori?
Miser chi speme in cosa mortal pone!
Lieto dopo l’errore
giunge Adone a goder la dèa d’amore;
ch’arde di lieto zelo,
chi dopo i falli fa ritorno al cielo.
Happy after his error,
Adonis now may enjoy the Goddess of love;
For he who returns to heaven after straying
burns with a happy zeal.
Allegory - printed at the end of this chorus:
Adone poi, che lontano dalla Deità di Venere
patisce incontri di varii travagli, è l’Huomo,
che lontano da Dio incorre in molti errori. Mà
come Venere, à lui ritornando, il libera d’ogni
affanno, & ogni felicità gli apporta, così Iddio,
dopò ch’à noi ritorna co’l suo efficace aiuto, ne
fa avanzare sopra i danni terreni, e ne rende
partecipi delli piaceri celesti.
Adonis then, who, far from the deity of Venus
suffers encounters of assorted travails, is Man,
who far from God runs into many errors. But as
Venus, returning to him, frees him from every
sorrow, and brings him every pleasure, thus God,
after he returns to us with his efficacious help,
helps us rise above terrestrial dangers, and makes
us participants in celestial pleasures.
Ah, dolente partita
(Giovanni Battista Guarini,
from Il Pastor Fido)
Ah, dolente partita!
ah, fin de la mia vita!
da te parto e non moro?
E pur i provo la pena de la morte
e sento nel partire un vivace morire,
che da vita al dolore
per far che moia immortalmente il core.
O ciechi tanto affaticar
(Francesco Petrarca)
O ciechi, il tanto affaticar, che giova?
Tutti tornate alla gran madre antica;
E ‘l nome vostro appena si ritrova.
Pur delle mille un’utile fatica,
Che non sian tutte vanità palesi!
Ch’intende i vostri studi, sì me l’ dica.
Che vale a soggiogar tanti paesi,
E tributarie far le genti strane
Con gli animi al suo danno sempre accesi?
Dopo l’imprese perigliose, e vane,
10
THE TEXTS
O you who are blind, what use are your efforts?
You will all return to the great ancient mother;
and your name will hardly be remembered.
Of these thousands of vain exploits,
Show me just one that is useful.
Who understands your studies? Let him then tell
me.
What use is the subjugation of so many lands,
Making slaves of foreign peoples,
Their souls, to their detriment, ever inflamed?
After these perilous, vain undertakings,
Hor che’l ciel e la terra
(Francesco Petrarca)
Hor ch’el ciel e la terra el vento tace
E le fere e gli augelli il sonno affrena,
Notte il carro stellato in giro mena
e nel suo letto il mar senz’onda giace,
veglio, penso, ardo, piango; e chi mi sface
sempre m’è innanzi per mia dolce pena:
guerra è il mio stato, d’ira e di duol piena,
e sol di lei pensando ho qualche pace.
and the conquering of land and treasure with
blood, a sweeter path is offered by water and
bread, while glass and wood seem better than
jewels and gold.
Where now are the riches? Where are the
honours, the gems, the sceptres, the crowns
and the purple mitres?
Wretched is he who places hope in mortal
things.
Ah, sorrowful parting!
Ah, end of my life!
I leave you and do not die?
And yet I feel the pain of death
And in parting I sense a lively dying
Which gives life to my sorrow
So my heart may die immortally.
Now that sky and earth and wind are silent
and the beasts and the birds are reined in sleep,
Night steers its starry chariot in its course,
and the sea lies waveless in its bed,
I look, I think, I burn, I weep: and she who
undoes me
is always before my eyes to my sweet pain:
war is my state, full of grief and anger,
and only in thinking of her do I find peace.
All translations by Oliver Webber except Psalm
6 – King James Bible version
11
THE PERFORMERS
The Monteverdi String Band is dedicated
to celebrating the sound and style of the
early violin consort in both well-established
repertoire and innovative new programmes. Our
instruments are modelled on originals from the
early decades of the 17th century; enhanced by
pure gut strings in equal tension, they lend the
ensemble a rich, grounded and blended tone. As
a recent critic wrote, ‘The MSB’s sound is quite
unlike that of any other ensemble I know that
plays this music’.
The challenge of creating new programmes
is one which we find richly rewarding, and
for which we are delighted to have earned a
reputation. Galileo, our first collaboration with
Clare Norburn (Breaking the Rules, Unsung
Heroine) is our third such project: the first was
The Madrigal Transformed, first performed
in Sardinia in 2014, in which we interleave
‘modern’ (17th-century!) and ancient (16thcentury) madrigals with contemporary readings;
this was followed in 2015-16 by our reimagining
of Monteverdi’s Combattimento, which was
described as ‘utterly gripping in its mixture of
eroticism and violence’.
News, photographs, articles and video clips can
be found at monteverdistringband.com
Oliver Webber’s education took him to Wells,
Cambridge, London and The Hague, and laid
the foundations for an eclectic and adventurous
approach to historical performance. He is the
artistic director of the Monteverdi String Band,
internationally acclaimed for their engaging
performances and innovative programming,
12
THE PERFORMERS
often informed by his passion for historical Italian
language and literature; this year’s programmes
have included poetry and sword-fighting.
As a violin soloist Oliver is often seen at major
London venues, as well as European festivals,
including the Festival Paganiniano di Carro in
Italy and the Vrijdag van Vredenburg series
in Utrecht. He is a member of the London
Handel Players, Passacaglia and the Parley of
Instruments, and his violin and (speaking!)
voice can often be heard on Radio 3. Orchestral
leading and directing also form a large part of
his work, in programmes ranging from 16thcentury monody to the operas of Hasse; he is
the leader of Ludus Baroque (Edinburgh) and
guest leader with the Gabrieli Players and the
London Handel Orchestra.
He makes his own gut strings, and bringing the
fruits of research to life on the concert platform is
a driving force behind his work. He is a professor
at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
and lectures throughout Europe on historical
performance; recent destinations include Basel
and Krakow. Oliver lives in London with his wife
and two sons, although they spend as much time
as possible in the mountains of Liguria.
Taking its name from the Blessed Virgin Mary,
a focus of religious devotion in the sacred
music of all ages, The Marian Consort is a
young, dynamic and internationally-renowned
early music vocal ensemble, recognised for
its freshness of approach and innovative
presentation of a broad range of repertoire.
The Marian Consort draws its members from
amongst the very best young singers on the
early music scene today. They normally perform
one to a part (dependent on the repertoire),
with smaller forces allowing clarity of texture
and subtlety and flexibility of interpretation that
illuminate the music for performer and audience
alike. The Marian Consort is also committed to
inspiring a love of singing in others and has led
participatory educational workshops for a wide
range of ages and abilities.
In addition to a focus on the music of the 15th
to 18th centuries, The Marian Consort is also a
proud exponent of contemporary music, and has
commissioned works from leading British choral
composers including Cecilia McDowall, Matthew
Martin and Cheryl Frances-Hoad.
Recent highlights have included recitals at
Spitalfields Festival, Cheltenham Festival and
Tage Alter Musik Regensburg; concerts for
Leipzig A Cappella Festival and St Magnus
International Festival; and an Arts Council
England funded music/theatre touring project
exploring the life and music of Carlo Gesualdo,
Breaking the Rules.
The Marian Consort has to date released seven
CDs with Delphian Records, to considerable
critical acclaim: ‘performances that glow with
golden purity and soul’, ‘precision and pellucid
textures’, ‘drawing the listener in by quiet
persuasion and musical intelligence of the
highest order’.
marianconsort.co.uk
Rory McCleery began his musical career as
a chorister at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral,
Edinburgh. He gained a double first in music
at Oxford University as both Organ and
Domus Academic Scholar of St Peter’s College,
subsequently completing an MSt in Musicology
with Distinction.
Rory is the founder of The Marian Consort, with
whom he performs across the UK and Europe.
Under his direction, The Marian Consort
has become renowned for its compelling
interpretations of a wide range of repertoire,
particularly the music of the Renaissance
and early Baroque, but also of works by
contemporary British composers.
As a countertenor, Rory greatly enjoys
performing as a soloist and consort singer with
ensembles including The Sixteen, Monteverdi
Choir, Gabrieli Consort, Dunedin Consort, The
Tallis Scholars, Le Concert d’Astrée, Academy
of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment and The Cardinall’s Musick.
Recent solo performances have included Bach
St John and St Matthew Passions; Handel
Messiah, Dixit Dominus and Ode for the
Birthday of Queen Anne; Pärt Passio; Purcell
Come ye Sons of Art, Ode to St Cecilia and
Welcome to All the Pleasures; Monteverdi
Vespers of 1610 and Britten Abraham and
Isaac. Rory has appeared as a soloist for
many radio broadcasts across Europe and
collaborates regularly with the Rose Consort of
Viols.
13
THE PERFORMERS
Rory is much in demand as a guest conductor,
chorus master, workshop leader and
programming consultant, and as the Associate
Director of the Oxford Youth Choirs is a
passionate believer in the importance of music
education and singing for young people.
Galileo is Clare Norburn’s fifth ‘concert/
play’, all for single actor with live music. Her
first, Unsung Heroine (2010), was about the
woman troubadour Beatriz de Dia and others
include Vision (2011) about Abbess Hildegard
of Bingen. Breaking the Rules, a collaboration
with vocal ensemble The Marian Consort about
composer and murderer Carlo Gesualdo with
actor Gerald Kyd as Gesualdo and directed
by Nicholas Renton, has been touring 13 UK
festivals and promoters in 2016, funded by Arts
Council England. It received a 4 star review
in The Guardian: ‘vivid and daring one man
psychodrama’. Her next writing project will be a
collaboration with the Dante Quartet.
Her background is as a singer, starting aged
7, singing ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’
at the local Harvest Supper. By 10 she was
singing the soprano recitatives from Messiah
with the school choir. She went on to study
music at Leeds University and London College
of Music. She has sung with many medieval
ensembles including Mediva (finalists in the
York International Young Artists Competition
and on Southbank Centre’s Fresh Young Artists
Series), Eclipse, her own group The Telling and
Vox Animae, with whom she has recorded
and performed medieval abbess Hildegard of
THE PERFORMERS
Bingen’s liturgical music drama Ordo Virtutum,
performing at many UK venues and festivals
including the Purcell Room, The Bridgewater
Hall and the Spitalfields, Buxton, Brighton and
Newbury Spring Festivals.
The Golden Years (Brook Productions); Landlord
in Persuasion (BBC); Prison Governor in King of
the Ghetto (BBC); Taxi Driver in Lovejoy (BBC);
Clive in Casualty (BBC); Doctor Webster in
Coronation Street (Granada TV); Measure for
Measure (BBC) and Archie Stokes in The Bill
(Thames TV).
Together with soprano Deborah Roberts,
Clare is co-founder and Co-Artistic Director
of Brighton Early Music Festival. Clare lives in
north London with her husband and two cats.
Stephen Tiller is the Artistic Director of
OperaMachine and is both an opera and theatre
director, a producer, writer, and dramaturg.
He trained originally as an actor at RADA and
worked for over 15 years with such luminaries
as Bill Gaskill, Stephen Daldry, Corin and
Vanessa Redgrave, Danny Boyle and Katie
Mitchell, but also started to make his own
site-specific pieces, notably Warcrime and The
Daughter – touring extensively in the UK and
also in France and Greece. His interest in opera
began in a swimming pool in Graz, Austria
when he met – socially and aquatically – some
opera singers just graduated from the Kunst
Universität. Three eventually came to London
to perform in site-specific versions of Menotti’s
The Consul with a refugee choir. The work of
OperaMachine continued with the creation of
Finding Butterfly – a 90 minute ‘opera-mash’
version of the Puccini classic set in Nagasaki
after World War 2, in which Cio-Cio San’s
now Americanised son returns to the city. The
production has since toured to Japan.
Roger Watkins’ recent work includes
Henry V (Globe); Eugénie Grandet (Batty
Productions/Assembly One - Edinburgh
Festival); The Alchemist (Liverpool Everyman);
As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Company at
the Roundhouse); Shakespeare’s Kings (RSC/
Westminster Abbey); The History Plays (RSC);
Measure for Measure (Globe and tour); The
Winter’s Tale and Troilus and Cressida (Globe);
Pericles at the Lyric Hammersmith and the role
of Doolittle in Pygmalion (Manchester Library
Theatre).
Television and film credits include The
Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
(Channel 4); Wallander (BBC/Left Bank
Pictures); Brothers of the Head (Marlin Films);
May 33rd (Endor Productions); The Debt (BBC);
Frank in Waking the Dead (BBC); Commissioner
Jenkins in Keen Eddie (Paramount); PC Sharp in
Hippies (Talkback Productions); Ted in Picking
Up the Pieces (Carlton TV); Mr Gallagher in
London Bridge (Carlton TV); DI Ramsey in
Hunting Venus (Carlton TV); Alfred Ranby in
The House of Eliott (BBC); Captain Narvaez in
Stephen loves working with emerging
performers and has taught and directed at most
of the major conservatories and universities,
as well as at the innovative physical theatre/
14
rep company Fourth Monkey. He loves offering
workshops and has also worked with ballet
dancers, prisoners, Cardboard Citizens, seniors,
circus artists, refugees, teachers and choirs, and
has been blessed to be invited to work thus
in Uganda, Ukraine, Serbia, Gaza, Lebanon,
Turkey, and just recently, with mainly Afghan
asylum-seekers, in the ‘Jungle Camp’ outside
Calais.
operamachine.com
PLAY YOUR PART, AND GET
CLOSER TO THE MUSIC
Support the UK’s most innovative early music
festival:
• Be part of our vital support network by
becoming a Festival Friend (from £30)
• Get really close to the creative process and
meet festival artists by joining our Artistic
Directors’ Circle (from £500)
As a thank you, we’ll welcome you with
priority booking, free concert programmes,
invitations to special events and, depending
on your level of support, opportunities to
attend open rehearsals, meet festival artists
and reserve the seats of your choice. To find
out more, visit our Information Desk or see
bremf.org.uk/friend
“It was almost like having our own personal
performance – and so interesting to see the
creative process.”
BREMF Friend on attending an open rehearsal
15
Saturday 12th November, 3pm & 7.30pm
St Bartholomew’s Church
GAIA
THREE INTERMEDI FOR A LIVING
PLANET
Devised and directed by Deborah Roberts
The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble
BREMF Consort of Voices
Lacock Scholars
BREMF Community Choir
Onde Sonore madrigal ensemble
Claire Williams organ, harpsichord, regal
Aileen Henry harp
Toby Carr chitarrone
Alison Kinder bass viol
Anonymous 2 dance, choreography, design
Laura Shipsey yoga
Zen Grisdale film editing
Pitch Black projections and lighting
Don’t miss this modern take on the 16th-century intermedi spectaculars
(as seen at BREMF in 2012) which brings together music and drama from
the 16th and 17th centuries with contemporary film, projections, lighting
effects, yoga and dance. Gaia tells the story of the Earth and how we have
perceived it through the ages, in three sections tracing the journey from the
core to the skies.
Featuring a wide range of music from Antoine Brumel’s powerful
‘Earthquake’ mass, selections from Monteverdi’s Orfeo, pastoral Italian
madrigals, and grand motets celebrating the Queen of Heaven.