Saturday 2 May
XL
40 years of The Tudor Consort
Our very first performance took place at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul on 23 April 1986. Our fortieth birthday celebration concert features Tudor music from that performance, alongside Thomas Tallis’ celebrated forty-part motet Spem in allium, and the New Zealand premiere of Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s Tentatio, a forty-part work written as a homage to Tallis, describing Christ’s forty days of temptation by the Devil in the wilderness. We are delighted to be collaborating with director Jacqueline Coats, and also with a number of Tudor Consort alumni, who will join us for this special concert.
The Tudor Consort
Equally at home with ethereal renaissance polyphony and challenging works of the present day, The Tudor Consort is one of New Zealand’s premier chamber choirs.
Since its inception forty years ago with founding Music Director Simon Ravens, The Tudor Consort has been dedicated to artistic excellence, authentic performance practice, and above all moving its audience through the art form of a cappella choral music.
Prizewinners at two editions of the Tolosa International Choral Competition, the choir is regularly recorded and broadcast on Radio New Zealand Concert. Highlights of its history have included critically-acclaimed performances of Handel’s Messiah and JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St Matthew Passion, as well as frequent collaborations with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Wellington.
Artistic Director
Michael Stewart is one of the foremost choral conductors in New Zealand, as well as one of the country’s leading concert organists. Michael was appointed Music Director of The Tudor Consort in 2007, making him the longest serving conductor of the choir. He is also Organist and Director of Music at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, and Deputy Music Director of the New Zealand Youth Choir.
Under his tenure, The Tudor Consort has further explored the music of the twentieth century, and is proud to have given premiere performances of works by New Zealand’s own Ross Harris, Jack Body, Gemma Peacocke and David Griffiths.