The vocal ensemble Stile Antico will perform April 4.
Stile Antico, one of Britian’s premiere vocal ensembles, will perform in a concert for St. Matthew’s Music Guild at 8 p.m., Friday, April 4. Due to January’s devastating fires in Pacific Palisades, this concert will take place at St. Augustine by-the-Sea Church 1227 Fourth Street, Santa Monica.
The concert, “The Golden Renaissance: A Journey through some of Stile Antico’s favorite music,” brings together diverse styles of sacred choral music that flourished around Renaissance Europe.
Masterworks by Englishmen William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tallis and John Taverner will be presented along with seasonal and ceremonial music by Praetorius, Guerrero, Palestrina, Allegri, Wert, Desprez, Morales and Victoria. The concert closes with a new work, commissioned by Stile Antico from Huw Watkins, The Phoenix and the Turtle, on texts by Shakespeare.
Based in London, Stile Antico’s twelve members have thrilled audiences on four continents with their fresh, vibrant and moving performances of Renaissance polyphony. Stile antico is an Italian term that means “old style” or “ancient style” and describes a style of musical composition that was popular in the 16th century.
Since its 2009 debut at the Boston Early Music Festival, the ensemble has enjoyed frequent tours in the United States and Canada. The group has received three Grammy nominations and performed live at the 60th Grammy Awards in 2018.
This year Stile Antico will have gala performances at Wigmore Hall, the Boston Early Music Festival, and for AMUZ Antwerp. The group also marks the five hundredth birthday of Palestrina, the quintessential master of the stile antico, with a series of concerts and the release of a new album for Decca Classics.
Tickets are $45 or Music Guild Season pass. Parking is available in the Santa Monica public Parking Structure 1 across the street from the church. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit: MusicGuildOnline.org.