Listen to the NCEM competition winners, Palestrina, Phinot and Croce from Chester Cathedral on BBC R3, Sunday 11 July

The prestigious NCEM Composers Award 2010, now in its second year, presented in partnership with BBC Radio 3 and The Tallis Scholars, has been won by 16-year-old Owain Park with 'Sweet Day' and 25-year-old Alexander Campkin with 'O Magnum Mysterium'.

The winning pieces were performed by The Tallis Scholars during their concert in Chester Cathedral as part of the Chester Summer Music Festival on Wednesday 30 June 2010. Presented by Lucie Skeaping, BBC Radio 3 will broadcast highlights during the Early Music Show on Sunday 11 July.

The next NCEM Composers Award with The Tallis Scholars and BBC Radio 3 is scheduled for spring/summer 2012 - further details can be accessed via the NCEM website.

'WHAT a curtain-raiser for this year's Chester Summer Music Festival... At all times, the choir was beautifully balanced with perfect diction. While it was possible to hear many of the solo voices, the way director Peter Phillips makes this ensemble sound as one is near genius.'
Glyn Mon Hughes, Liverpool Daily Post, 1 July 2010

For further information please see www.ncem.co.uk and www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/earlymusicshow.

NEW RECORDING - VICTORIA: Lamentations of Jeremiah

"...beautifully understated recording of one of the greatest achievements of Spanish Golden Age polyphony."
The Guardian, 5 *****

"...a plangent beauty, which is characterised by the lucent sound and faultless intonation that have been the defining strengths of the choir during the last four decades."
BBC Music Magazine

Released on 29th March, this is the 50th recording that the Tallis Scholars have made with their record label, Gimell Records, and 2010 is also the year in which Gimell celebrates its 30th anniversary. As Music Web International’s Recording of the Month, "the disc can be said very fairly to be a celebration of the core virtues both of the label and of the Tallis Scholars...an outstanding release that celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of Gimell in the most distinguished manner possible."

Now available on the Gimell label: www.gimell.com.

Peter Phillips takes on ‘Soul Music’

Peter Phillips is to appear in BBC Radio 4’s ‘Soul Music’ on Tuesday 1st September at 1:30pm, to be repeated the following Saturday. ‘Soul Music’ is a series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact, and in this episode, Peter will be interviewed by Rosie Boulton about the Allegri Miserere, alongside Roy Goodman. He will appear in a second episode, discussing Vaughan Williams’ inspirational Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, alongside Michael Kennedy, on Tuesday 15th September.

The Tallis Scholars on BBC Radio 3

The group appeared on The Early Music Show on 19th July, at 13:00.

Catherine Bott presented a performance of John Taverner's Missa Corona Spirea by The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, given as part of the York Early Music Festival 2009.

The ensemble also performed the winning two entries of the 2009 National Centre for Early Music's Young Composers' Award - Arise by Elizabeth Edwards, and God by Michael Perrett. Catherine introduced the music, met the composers and spoke with Peter Phillips about the work of The Tallis Scholars, and about the competition.

This concert was the opening performance of the York Early Music Festival 2009, which took place in York Minster on 10th July 2009:

‘The opening salvo in this year’s festival, on until July 18, was stylishly unleashed by The Tallis Scholars under their founder-director Peter Phillips.’
Martin Dreyer, The Press, July 2009