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St Matthew Passion - 25 March 2023

Dear friends of The Tudor Consort,

We are excited to announce that New Zealand’s premier early music choir The Tudor Consort is presenting J S Bach’s monumental oratorio St Matthew Passion on Saturday 25 March 2023.

Tickets available now via Humanitix.

The Tudor Consort will be accompanied by the Chiesa Ensemble and directed from the harpsichord by Music Director Michael Stewart.

This historically-informed performance will draw soloists from the choir in the manner in which the work was intended to be heard, alongside tenor Lachlan Craig as the Evangelist.

Join us for this powerful setting detailing the last days of Christ’s life, retold by solo voices, double orchestra and double chorus. Book today to hear this sacred choral work brimming with drama, performed by the region’s finest singers.

You will see we are using a new ticketing method for this concert. Should you have any issues using Humanitix to purchase your ticket, please email tickets@tudor-consort.org.nz and we will be happy to assist you with your purchase. We hope that this new ticketing platform will offer a smoother user experience for our audience, and thank you for coming along with us on this change.

We are offering the opportunity to pre-purchase programmes when you buy your tickets. Programmes will also be for sale for $5 each at the concert.

We thank you for your ongoing support of The Tudor Consort through what has been such a difficult time for Aotearoa and the arts. We look forward to sharing the beauty of Bach’s famous passion oratorio with you in March next year.

Ngā mihi nui,

The Tudor Consort

Monday 28 November, 2022

Missa Papae Marcelli

The Tudor Consort is excited to present Palestrina’s legendary Mass for the first time since 2001.

In the mid-16th century, the Roman Catholic Church convened the Council of Trent, to consider and respond to issues of the Protestant Reformation. One of the issues discussed was the ‘lasciviousness and impurity’ of Mass settings based on popular secular melodies, and the difficulty of understanding the text clearly amidst such highly intricate polyphony. In reaction to the Council, Palestrina composed the Mass; the simple and declamatory style (known as imitative polyphony) of the Missa Papae Marcelli is a direct response to the latter injunction, which has led to the legend that Palestrina ‘saved polyphony’ from being banned by the Council.

The mass is named after the short-lived Pope Marcellus II, who clocked in at a mere 22 days as Pope, making him the 6th shortest reigning Pontiff.

This is Palestrina’s most famous mass, and has been studied for centuries as a prime example of Renaissance polyphony, with its vocal interplay. The legend of this Mass has even inspired an opera - Hans Pfitzner’s Palestrina (1917).

This performance will take the form of a liturgical reconstruction, a practice developed by our founding director Simon Ravens. Rather than performing the Mass movements one after the other, they will be set within the original framework of Gregorian chant, in this case the Propers for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Wednesday 10 August, 2022

Times of Penitence

We hope you are staying well and safe in what has been another turbulent year! The cancellation of our much-loved Good Friday concert in April was so disappointing, and it seems amazing that we are only just about to present our first solo concert of 2022. Fresh from a wonderful collaboration with Camerata of Haydn’s Nelson Mass, we are delighted to invite you to Times of Penitence on Saturday 9 July.

This Times of Penitence concert is a somewhat reordered version of what we would have loved to have performed on Good Friday. Based around Francis Poulenc’s Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence (Four Penitential Motets), the programme will feature works by Lassus, Victoria, Mauersberger, Zelenka, and New Zealand’s own Dorothy Buchanan.

“I’ve always been a huge admirer of The Sixteen and particularly their amazing director, Harry Christophers”, says Music Director Michael Stewart. “In his view, Victoria and Poulenc are among a trio of the very greatest composers of sacred music, and I would have to agree. I do hope you can come along and savour some of this incredible music, and perhaps quiz me on who the third composer is!”

Do mark your diaries for our other concerts for this year: a mass reconstruction for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin featuring Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli on 3 September, and our next appearance with the NZSO to perform Handel’s Messiah on December 10. We’re pleased to attach a small season poster which reaches to early 2023 where we look forward to performing St Matthew Passion with the Chiesa Ensemble.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday 9 July.

Sunday 3 July, 2022

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