Date: October 13, 2026
Categories: British Composers, Choral, Concerts, Early Music, Family
Tags: britten, campion, dowland, ely cathedral, kerry andrew, luminatus vocal ensemble, tallis

Tuesday 13th October 2026, 7:30 PM at Ely Cathedral, The College, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4DL.

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Programme
Luca Marenzio – Iste Sanctus
Costanzo Festa – Da Pacem Domine
John Dunstaple – O Quam pulchra es
Jachet de Mantua – O Jesu Christe
Francisco Guerrero – O Domine Jesu Christe
Thomas Tallis – Sancte deus
Tiburtio Massaino – Illuminare Jerusalem
~ Interval ~
Francis Pilkington – Rest, Sweet Nymphs
John Dowland – Weep you no more, sad fountains
Thomas Campion – Never, weather-beaten sail
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry – Songs of Farewell: 3, Never weather-beaten sail
Benjamin Britten – Hymn to the Virgin
Kerry Andrew – Stella Matutina
Arvo Pärt – The Deer’s Cry

Performers
David Bray – Conductor

Luminatus Vocal Ensemble

Programme Note
This concert explores a rich tapestry of great choral music from across Europe. It includes beautiful sacred and secular pieces, including music by the early English master Dunstaple, the Italian Luca Marenzio, and Spaniard Francisco Guerrero. There are glimpses of the genius of Thomas Tallis and a chance to celebrate John Dowland, C.H.H. Parry, Arvo Pärt and Benjamin Britten. This is a wonderful collection of music for the soul, performed by luminatus professional vocal ensemble.

Date: October 23, 2026
Categories: British Composers, Early Music, Festivals, Song
Tags: dowland, julien leonard, purcell, reginald mobley, york concerts

Friday 23rd October 2026, 7:30 PM at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, York, YO10 5DD.

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Programme
Henry Purcell – Hail, bright Cecilia, Z.328 : ‘Tis Nature’s Voice’
John Dowland – Time stands still
John Dowland – Sorrow, stay
Henry Purcell – Music for a While

Performers
Reginald Mobley – countertenor
Julien Léonard – viola da gamba

Programme Note
In an age of rapid technological growth, do we risk losing ourselves to the tools of advancement? Have we shrunk the world and connected ourselves to everything, only to lose connection to each other? In our hyper-connected yet increasingly isolating world, music must express its power to keep us connected to each other. Join Grammy-nominated American countertenor Reginald Mobley, the virtuoso gambist Julien Léonard and the internationally acclaimed specialist of early plucked instruments Brandon Acker for a deeply moving evening that demonstrates, even in the age of algorithms, that art remains our most powerful tool for human connection.

Building on his 2023 Alpha Classics project, Because, Reginald Mobley’s latest album celebrates music’s power not only to keep us tethered but also its innate power to draw us closer together. Solitude invites audiences into a quiet and intimate place, to pause and unplug from the busy world around us, where emotion, feeling, meaning and imagery created by stories reign unopposed.

Beginning with the incredible invocation of ‘Tis Nature’s Voice, Solitude hopes to draw the ear and open the heart through the genius invention of Henry Purcell, the declamatory charm of Samuel Pepys (through the work of the musicians in his employ) as well as the deep melancholy of John Dowland. This spirit is carried to American shores, where Jonathan Woody and Douglas Balliett explore, through ground bass song, the indomitable resilience contained in the fugitive slave narrative of the brilliant African American Haiku poet Crystal Simone Smith. The programme ends with songs arranged by nineteenth-century Black American guitarist, composer and abolitionist Justin Holland, who, as a spiritual successor to Dowland, leaves us with some of the most beautiful melancholic stories to be created and sung in the 1800s.