Live streamed from Wigmore Hall, London

EXAUDI

EXAUDI is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles for new music. This recital, entitled Chromatic Renaissance, opens with movements from Orlando de Lassus’ first major work and closes with some of Gesualdo’s astonishing chromatic madrigals.

Founded by James Weeks (director) and Juliet Fraser (soprano) in 2002, EXAUDI is based in London and draws its singers from among the UK’s brightest vocal talents.

EXAUDI’s special affinity is for the radical edges of contemporary music, at home equally with maximal complexity, microtonality and experimental aesthetics. The newest new music is at the heart of its repertoire, and it has given national and world premières of Sciarrino, Rihm, Finnissy, Frey, Posadas, Oesterle, Crane, Dusapin, Ferneyhough, Gervasoni, Skempton, Pesson, Poppe, Mažulis and Fox among many others. Through its commissioning scheme, EXAUDI is particularly committed to the music of its own generation, and is proud to champion the work of significant voices including Aaron Cassidy, Evan Johnson, Bryn Harrison, Amber Priestley, Matthew Shlomowitz, Joanna Bailie, Cassandra Miller, Andrew Hamilton, James Weeks and Claudia Molitor.

EXAUDI is also strongly involved with the emerging generation of young composers, and regularly takes part in composer development schemes and residencies such as Voix Nouvelles Royaumont, IRCAM Manifeste Academie and Snape composer residencies, as well as workshops at universities and conservatoires throughout the UK. EXAUDI has particularly strong links with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and City, University of London, where it is an Ensemble in Residence. In 2019 EXAUDI was proud to sign up to PRS Foundation’s Keychange initiative, committing it to gender-balanced programming across its own-promotion concerts and commissions.

An enduring feature of EXAUDI’s programming has been the mixing of contemporary music with the music of the medieval, Renaissance and baroque periods. In 2012 the EXAUDI Italian Madrigal Book project was launched to create new repertoire to stand alongside the masterpieces of Monteverdi, Gesualdo and others; to date major cycles have been commissioned from composers such as Finnissy, Gervasoni and Fox and the project has toured to Italy, France and Luxembourg as well as extensively within the UK. In September 2019 EXAUDI released its first exclusively early music CD, a disc of Gesualdo madrigals, on the Winter&Winter label.

EXAUDI’s many international engagements include Wittener Tage, Darmstadter Ferienkurse, Musica Viva (Munich), Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam), IRCAM (Paris), Festival d’Automne (Paris), Voix Nouvelles (Royaumont), Pharos (Cyprus), Musica (Strasbourg), MAfestival (Bruges), CDMC (Madrid), MITO Settembre (Milan/Turin), Fundaciò BBVA (Bilbao) and Quincena Musical (San Sebastiàn). The ensemble has also collaborated with many leading ensembles including musikFabrik, Ensemble Modern, L’Instant Donné, London Sinfonietta, BCMG, Talea (NY), Helsinki Philharmonic and Ensemble InterContemporain.

Program
Orlande de Lassus (c.1530-1594)
Prophetiae SibyllarumPrologue
1. Sibylla Persica
9. Sibylla Europaea
11. Sibylla Erythraea
12. Sibylla Agrippa
Vicentino (1511-1575)
Musica prisca caput
Elisabet Dijkstra (b.1998)
here, now (world première)
Sylvia Limpaper wings
Luzzaschi (c.1540-1607)
Quivi sospiri
Luca Marenzio (1553-1599)
O voi che sospirate
Christopher Fox (b.1955)
senso commune
Carlo Gesualdo (c.1561-1613)
Itene, o miei sospiri
Madrigali libro sestoDeh, come un invan sospiro
Asciugate i begli occhi
Languisce al fin chi da la vita parte

Monday, May 31, 2021 8:00am ET / 1:00pm GMT
This concert will be available on demand for 30 days after the date of the concert.

To enjoy this concert visit: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk