Cal Performances presents: The Tallis Scholars
$48+
David Lang — sun-centered (Cal Performances co-commission)
In an imaginative program that builds a bridge between the 15th and 21st centuries, the superlative Tallis Scholars pair a masterwork of Renaissance polyphony with a new composition by composer David Lang.
Antoine Brumel’s colossal Earthquake Mass, scored for 12 voices, is a marvel in its imagination and scale, the intricate, dense music coming alive through the clarity, precision, and purity of tone that has been the hallmark of this ensemble’s performances for decades.
Lang, who is co-founder and co-artistic director of the groundbreaking new-music collective Bang on a Can, has composed dozens of award-winning works for choir and voice, from chamber works to oratorios to opera – and received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for another a cappella work, The Little Match Girl Passion. His sun-centered is a response to Brumel’s mass, inspired by Galileo’s pursuit of truth, the relentless nature of human curiosity, and the perils of suppressing it.
“The sound Phillips draws from the Scholars manages to be ethereal and yet full-blooded, uplifting and yet grounded in the very human emotions the words express” (The Guardian).
About The Tallis Scholars
Over five decades of performance and a catalogue of award-winning recordings for Gimell, Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars have done more than any other group to establish sacred vocal music of the Renaissance as one of the great repertoires of Western classical music.
They have sought to bring Renaissance works to a wider audience in churches, cathedrals and venues on every continent on the planet except Antarctica! These include the Royal Albert Hall, the Sistine Chapel, the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall New York, the Philharmonic Hall Berlin, Saint Mark's Venice, Seoul Arts Centre Korea, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, Beijing Concert Hall, Megaron Athens, and the Sydney Opera House.
The Tallis Scholars continue to develop their exclusive sound, praised by reviewers for its supple clarity and tone, and to bring fresh interpretations to music by contemporary as well as past composers, such as Pärt, Tavener, Whitacre, Muhly, and Jackson.