The Tallis Scholars

“Anyone familiar with Renaissance music knows that this group has attained superstardom among its ilk”

The Boston Globe, December 1998

The Tallis Scholars were founded in 1973 by their director, Peter Phillips. Through their recordings and concert performances, they have established themselves as the leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music throughout the world. Peter Phillips has worked with the ensemble to create, through good tuning and blend, the purity and clarity of sound which he feels best serve the Renaissance repertoire, allowing every detail of the musical lines to be heard. It is the resulting beauty of sound for which the Tallis Scholars have become so widely renowned.

The Tallis Scholars perform in both sacred and secular venues, giving around 70 concerts each year. In April 1994 the group enjoyed the privilege of performing in the Sistine Chapel to mark the final stage of the complete restoration of the Michelangelo frescoes, broadcast simultaneously on Italian and Japanese television. In New York on 5th Dec 1998 the group gave their 1000th concert. That same year saw them in Italy (in Ferrara, at the invitation of Claudio Abbado) and in London for a unique 25th Anniversary concert in London's National Gallery premiering a John Tavener work written for the group and narrated by Sting. A further performance was given with Sir Paul McCartney in New York.

In recent years, they have performed in Germany, Spain, Italy, the Concertgebouw in the Netherlands, La Chaise Dieu in France, the USA, Japan, China, Australia, Singapore, and at many UK venues including Symphony Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Wigmore Hall, London's South Bank Centre and the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms. Recent appearances include concerts at the Salzburg Festival, Bath Festival, Milan Cathedral Festival, at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and at the BBC Proms in London. 2006 saw the Scholars' second appearance at the Mostly Mozart Festival, appearances in Ravinia and Tanglewood , plus concerts in Israel, the USA, and across Europe including their debut in Iceland. Plans for 2007 include tours of Australia, Japan, Europe and North & South America as well as festival and concert performances throughout the world.

The group continues to commission living composers and gave the world premieres of two works written for 40 voices, "I have thee by the hand, O Man" by Robin Walker and "When the wet wind sings" by Errollyn Wallen. In January 2006, they premiered Sir John Tavener's 'Tribute to Cavafy' (the full realisation of 'In the Month of Athyr', the work he wrote for their 25th anniversary), narrated by Vanessa Redgrave.

Much of The Tallis Scholars' reputation for their pioneering work has come from their association with Gimell Records, set up by Peter Phillips and Steve Smith in 1981 solely to record them. In February 1994 Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars performed on the 400th anniversary of the death of Palestrina in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, where Palestrina had trained as a choirboy and later worked as Maestro di Cappella. The concerts were recorded by Gimell and are available on both CD and DVD. Their two latest discs, respectively featuring the music of John Browne and Francisco Guerrero have received exceptional reviews, the former winning the Early Music nomination at the annual GRAMOPHONE Awards in 2005. It was also nominated for a Grammy.

Recordings by the Tallis Scholars have attracted many awards throughout the world. In 1987 their recording of Josquin's Missa La sol fa re mi and Missa Pange lingua received GRAMOPHONE magazine's Record of the Year award, still the only recording of early music ever to win this coveted award. In 1989 the French magazine DIAPASON gave two of its coveted Diapason d'Or de l'Année awards for recordings of a mass and motets by Lassus and of Josquin's two masses based on the chanson L'Homme armé. Their recording of Palestrina's Missa Assumpta est Maria and Missa Sicut lilium was awarded GRAMOPHONE'S Early Music Award in 1991, and they received the 1994 Early Music Award for their recording of music by Cipriano de Rore. This recording was also voted by listeners of Classic FM to be the year's People's Choice in a joint Classic FM/GRAMOPHONE competition. These accolades are continuing evidence of the exceptionally high standard maintained by the Tallis Scholars, and of their dedication to one of the great repertoires in Western classical music. The group's second DVD/Video was released in 2003; made in collaboration with BBC television and entitled Playing Elizabeth's Tune, it focuses on the life and works of William Byrd and features performances of the sacred music of Elizabeth I's favourite composer, filmed in the beautiful surroundings of Tewkesbury Abbey.

In 2005, Peter Phillips was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, a decoration intended to honour individuals who have contributed to the understanding of French culture in the world.

Director: Peter Phillips

PETER PHILLIPS has made an impressive if unusual reputation for himself in dedicating his life's work to the research and performance of Renaissance polyphony. Having won a scholarship to Oxford in 1972, Peter Phillips studied Renaissance music with David Wulstan and Denis Arnold, and gained experience in conducting small vocal ensembles, already experimenting with the rarer parts of the repertoire. He founded the Tallis Scholars in 1973, with whom he has now appeared in 1450 concerts and made over 50 discs, encouraging interest in polyphony all over the world. As a result of his work, through concerts, recordings, magazine awards, publishing editions of the music and writing articles, Renaissance music has come to be accepted for the first time as part of the mainstream classical repertoire.

Apart from the Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips continues to work with other specialist ensembles. Amongst others he has appeared with the Collegium Vocale of Ghent, broadcasting live on French radio from the Saintes festival; the Vox Vocal Ensemble of New York; and Musix of Budapest. Peter also works extensively with the BBC Singers with whom he has broadcast live on BBC Radio Three. He gives numerous master-classes and choral workshops every year around the world and is also Artistic Director of the Tallis Scholars Summer School - UK and USA based choral courses dedicated to exploring the heritage of renaissance choral music, and developing a performance style appropriate to it as pioneered by The Tallis Scholars. 2007 marks the first Summer School in Sydney, Australia. Peter has recently been appointed Director of Music at Merton College, Oxford, where he will set up a new Choral Foundation in 2008.

In addition to conducting, Peter Phillips is well-known as a writer. For many years he has contributed a regular music column (as well as one on cricket) to The Spectator. In 1995 he became the owner and Publisher of The Musical Times, the oldest continuously published music journal in the world. His first book, English Sacred Music 1549-1649, was published by Gimell in 1991, while his second, What We Really Do, an unblinking account of what touring is like, alongside insights about the make-up and performance of polyphony, was published in 2003.

Peter Phillips has made numerous television and radio broadcasts. Besides those featuring The Tallis Scholars (which include live broadcasts from the 2001 and 2003 Proms, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Bath Festival and the Cheltenham Festival), he has appeared several times on the BBC's Music Weekly and on the BBC World Service, on Kaleidoscope (Radio 4), on Today (Radio 4) and on German, French, Canadian and North American radio. In 2002 The Tallis Scholars made a special television documentary for the BBC about the life and times of William Byrd.

In 2005, Peter Phillips was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture, a decoration intended to honour individuals who have contributed to the understanding of French culture in the world. In 2006, his song-cycle for contralto 'Four Rondeaux by Charles d'Orleans' was premiered in the Guggenheim, New York, to critical acclaim.