COMING EVENTS

Gibbons 400

A concert to mark the 400th anniversary since the death of Orlando Gibbons

Our Lady and St Michael's Church, Abergavenny TBC

Our Concert celebrates the genius of the truly great British composer, Orlando Gibbons, on his 400th Anniversary. Considered in his time as " the greatest finger of that age" his music has never gone out of fashion and apart from famous songs such as The Silver Swan his pieces can still offer up many hidden gems.

We will be offering an overview of Gibbons’ immensely creative but sadly curtailed career with a wide-ranging selection of his sacred, secular and instrumental music, some pieces well-known but most deserving to be much more familiar. Acclaimed soloists Catherine King and Daniel Marles will take the lead in the verse-anthems and solo songs, while the Unicorn Singers’ regular Viol Consort, directed by Gillian Stephens, will accompany many of the pieces as well as presenting some of Gibbons’ extraordinary string Fantasias. And an exploration of the music will also open a window into the history of the early 17th century, tracing Gibbons’ links to the great and the good, including anthems commissioned by Archbishop Laud and by the king himself, for his only return visit to his native Scotland in 1617.

Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was the leading figure of the group of musicians whose work marks a transition between the High Renaissance style of Tallis and Byrd and the early Baroque of William Lawes and Matthew Locke. Renowned as a keyboard virtuoso (“the best finger of that age”), he was appointed to his first post at the Chapel Royal at the age of 19, and at the time of his death held the most prestigious post in the kingdom as organist of Westminster Abbey. He composed in all the genres of the period, from Anglican Service music and sacred anthems to madrigals, solo songs and partsongs, as well as keyboard and instrumental music, and made a new departure with his contributions, many of which are still sung, to the first Anglican hymn-book.

Christmas Concert