EARLY MUSIC SERIES

What does it mean to have more than 50 award-winning recordings, exist without rival in the glorious sound of Renaissance polyphony, and be under the direction of Oxford-educated Peter Phillips? Perfection! Widley known as the finest interpresters of Renaissance vocal music, The Tallis Scholars will return to Kansas City, where they have become a favorite. The Friends’ annual holiday concert will fill the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception with vocal sounds of unparalleled beauty.

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 across the globe. In 2008-2009 the group will tour the USA twice including a visit to Mexico, tour Japan, and appear at festivals and venues across the UK and Europe including in their own Choral Series at Cadogan Hall. In July 2009 The Tallis Scholars will team up with the National Centre for Early Music and the BBC in a nation-wide composition competition, designed to encourage young people to write for unaccompanied voices. The winning entry will be part of the concert which will open the 2009 York Festival, alongside Taverner's spectacular Missa Corona spinea.

The Tallis Scholars' career highlights have included a tour of China in 1999, including two concerts in Beijing; and the privilege of performing in the Sistine Chapel in April 1994 to mark the final stage of the complete restoration of the Michelangelo frescoes, broadcast simultaneously on Italian and Japanese television, now available on DVD. The ensemble have commissioned many contemporary composers during their history: in 1998 they celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a special concert in London's National Gallery, premiering a Sir John Tavener work written for the group and narrated by Sting. A further performance was given with Sir Paul McCartney in New York in 2000. The Tallis Scholars are broadcast regularly on radio (including performances from the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in both 2007 and 2008) and have also been featured on the acclaimed ITV programme The Southbank Show.