York

York is one of our favourite stops on our Choral Pilgrimage, and we have just had an amazing two day residency there as part of the York Early Music Festival: a concert for primary school children, a BBC Radio 3 Discovering Music recording, a packed-out evening concert in the Minster, and an Insight Day, all based on the music of Sheppard, Byrd and Tallis we are featuring on this year's UK tour. The Insight day set the music in context through lectures and discussions led by Sally Dunkley and John Milsom. John explored the detective work undertaken by musicologists to try and unravel when and for where particular pieces were composed, when the evidence is thin and requires considerable lateral thinking to come to any meaningful conclusions: Thomas Morley was sung in the gardens of the National Early Music centre as part of his explication!

Off to Munich tomorrow for a concert of Victoria in Ingolstadt on Wednesday evening.

Catch up with the latest tour news

The Sixteen were in Lichfield and York in mid-July as part of their 2009 Choral Pilgrimage.

Near sell-out crowds braved the torrential rain to hear the group perform the a cappella Purcell & MacMillan programme ‘Bright Orb of Harmony’.

Before our rehearsal in Lichfield, hundreds of primary school children took part in a matinée performance. Based on a narration telling the story of Purcell’s life they sang pieces from the Pilgrimage programme as well as a rendition of ‘Come ye sons of art’ with actions!

This was the last matinée in a series of four that we’ve presented in collaboration with the National Centre for Early Music and Sing Up.