Event listing

Gesualdo 6

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Cambridge favourites, The Gesualdo Six return to CEM to open the new season with a highly unusual concert format! Follow the 6-part male voice ensemble on a tour of the villages circling Cambridge as they perform four short concerts.

Join us at one or more of these historic village churches for a ‘pick & mix’ of medieval and renaissance music:

Tickets are £15 per concert, £10 (students) or £50 for an All Day ticket, (£30 for students).

11:30 St Andrew’s Church, Girton

The English in Europe – part I

The Gesualdo Six explore the transmission of sacred choral traditions in Renaissance Europe, shaped by patronage, pedagogy, and cultural exchange. At its core is the Contenance Angloise—a distinctive English style of rich consonance, flowing melodies, and controlled dissonance that influenced continental composers like Binchois and Brumel.

We trace English polyphony’s impact through Dunstaple’s Veni Sancte Spiritus and Du Fay’s Nuper rosarum ores, the latter commissioned for Florence’s cathedral consecration. This repertoire reveals the fluid boundaries between artistic transmission and cultural appropriation, underscoring English composers’ lasting imprint on European polyphony.

“The Gesualdo Six sang magnificently in tune; the ensemble was faultless. Their sound is precision-tooled for blend, perfectly rounded, and has the utmost ease and precision.”

OperaWire

PROGRAMME

Gilles Binchois Da pacem, Domine
Plainchant Asperges me – ‘faburden’ (from the Sarum Rite)
Antoine Brumel Da pacem, Domine

John Dunstaple Veni sancte Spiritus (found in both Modena B and ‘Old Hall’)
Guillaume Du Fay Nuper rosarum flores
Loyset Compère Quis numerare queat?

Adrian Willaert Infelix Ego

14:00 St Vigor’s with All Saints, Fulbourn

The English in Europe – part 2

The Gesualdo Six explore the transmission of sacred choral traditions in Renaissance Europe, shaped by patronage, pedagogy, and cultural exchange. At its core is the Contenance Angloise—a distinctive English style of rich consonance, flowing melodies, and controlled dissonance that influenced continental composers like Binchois and Brumel.

Walter Frye’s Ave Regina caelorum may have even appeared in artworks featuring sheet music, highlighting the interplay of music, architecture, and visual art. Paired Tota pulchra es settings by Forest and Mouton showcase Marian devotion as a vehicle for stylistic exchange, while settings of Sub tuum by Dunstaple and Brumel further reflect English influence on continental practice.

“Their sound seemed to float in mid-air before reaching the ears of the rapt audience… every line,
every gorgeous texture was radiantly clear.”

The Times

PROGRAMME

Jean Mouton Tota pulchra es
Walter Frye Ave Regina caelorum (Modena B)
John Forest Tota pulchra es

John Dunstaple Sub tuam protectionem
Antoine Brumel Sub tuum praesidium

Gilles Binchois Asperges Me
William Byrd Infelix Ego

16:00 St Mary the Virgin, Fen Ditton

Palestrina at 500

Palestrina was one of the most highly acclaimed musicians of the sixteenth century, and wrote a tremendous number of musical works, refining the musical style of his time. His compositions, characterised by a sense of elegance and balance, reflect his steadfast adherence to traditional melodic and harmonic conventions. Palestrina’s artistry also finds expression in the intricate interplay of secular and sacred madrigals, weaving narratives both poignant and jubilant.

“With the voices soaring and interweaving high above us, it occurred to me that it was no wonder that in centuries past, congregations sitting in the first gothic cathedrals believed in angels.”

Artstalk Magazine

PROGRAMME

Palestrina sacred works

Sicut cervus
Gloria from Missa Papae Marcelli
Super flumina Babylonis
Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae: Sabbato Sancto, Lectio III

Palestrina sacred madrigals

E tu Signor, tu la tua grazia infondi
Queste saranno ben lagrime

Palestrina secular madrigals

Io son ferito, ahi lasso
Quando dal terzo cielo

18:00 St Andrew and St Mary, Granchester

Spotlight on Carlo Gesualdo

The writing of notorious composer, Carlo Gesualdo is well known for its extreme style, with
chromatic melodies creating dissonant and disjointed harmonic progressions that illuminate
the most melancholy aspects of the dark texts he set. Alongside a selection of Gesualdo’s
atmospheric sacred music, focused on the darkness and shadows of Holy Week’s Tenebrae
services, The Gesualdo Six present four of his final madrigals, published in 1611.

“The whole programme moved forward by alternating between homophonic and polyphonic textures; between relative simplicity and complexity; between relaxation and tension… the effect was mesmerising.”

Limelight

PROGRAMME

Gesualdo sacred works

In te Domine speravi
Peccantem me quotidie
Tenebrae Responsories
 i. Tristis est anima mea
 ii. Tenebrae factae sunt
 iii. O vos omnes

Gesualdo secular madrigals, Books 5 & 6 1611

O tenebroso giorno
Asciugate i begli occhi
Ancide sol la morte
Moro, lasso, al mio duolo

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With generous support from Roger Mayhew