2019 Choral Workshop
** Tickets are no longer available to buy online, but there will be tickets available on the door half an hour before the workshop starts – payment either by cash or cheque **
Time & Date:
3-5.30pm, Sunday 26 May 2019
Venue:
Tithe Barn, Priory Green, Dunster, TA24 6RY
Who:
Rory McCleery | Director, The Marian Consort
Ticket Prices:
£15 including music and refreshments
Running Time:
Two hours, thirty minutes (including tea break)
Programme Info:
Join Rory McCleery, artistic director of The Marian Consort, for an afternoon workshop exploring the music of JS Bach’s lesser-known 1725 version of the St John Passion.
The workshop will begin with a gentle vocal and physical warm-up, and will end with an informal sing-through/performance of the music studied. The 1725 St John Passion contains many beautiful choruses and chorales not found in the ‘standard’ version and we will be exploring these, paying close attention to Bach’s treatment of the German text.
Our workshop is open to all, although some prior choral experience and a familiarity with reading sheet music is recommended. Music will be provided on the day, and can also be sent out in advance as a pdf on request.
Don’t forget to also get your ticket to our Festival performance of the 1725 St John Passion given by The Marian Consort and a constellation of star singers and players the next day!
Artist Biographies
Rory McCleery
‘McCleery elicits performances that glow with golden purity and soul’ (The Scotsman)
‘McCleery, a countertenor and academic as well as conductor, introduced the items with a lucidity combining boyish geniality with quite startling erudition.’ (The Sunday Times)
Rory McCleery began his musical career as a chorister at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh. He gained a double first in music at Oxford University as both Organ and Domus Academic scholar of St Peter’s College, subsequently completing an MSt in Musicology with Distinction.
Rory is the founder and director of The Marian Consort, with whom he performs across the UK, Europe and North America. Under his direction, The Marian Consort has become renowned internationally for its compelling interpretations of a wide range of repertoire, particularly the music of the Renaissance and early Baroque, but also of works by contemporary British composers, and in 2017 was nominated for a Gramophone Award.
As a countertenor, Rory greatly enjoys performing as a soloist and consort singer in concert and recording with ensembles including The Dunedin Consort, Contrapunctus, The Monteverdi Choir, The Sixteen, The Gabrieli Consort, Le Concert d’Astrée, The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The Cardinall’s Musick. Recent solo performances have included Bach St John and St Matthew Passions; Handel Messiah, Dixit Dominus and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne; Pärt Passio; Purcell Come ye Sons of Art, Ode to St Cecilia and Welcome to All the Pleasures; Monteverdi Vespers of 1610; Rameau Grands Motets; and Britten Abraham and Isaac in venues across the UK and Europe. Rory has appeared as a soloist for broadcasts on ARTE, Radio France, BBC Radio 3 and German and Italian radio, and collaborates regularly with the Rose Consort of Viols.
Rory is much in demand as a guest conductor, workshop leader and programming consultant, and has led workshop sessions, study days and singing courses across the UK, Germany, Spain and the USA, working with choirs of all ages and sizes in repertoire from Tallis, Gesualdo, Purcell and Gabrieli to the music of James MacMillan and Howard Skempton. He is a passionate believer in the importance of music education and singing for young people.