Guy James: Emerging ensembles
Event details
Guy James, a founding member of The Gesualdo Six, details how the acclaimed vocal ensemble investigates interacting traditions across renaissance Europe in their programming. Discover how their new Emerging Ensembles scheme explores what it means today to be an ‘early musician' in areas such as:
- Research - How do we use technology to connect with scholarship and push boundaries?
- Collaboration - How can we learn from the existing body of talent and experience across the globe, and how do we share ours?
- Vocal Technique - How can the voice explore a large range of expressive potential and how can we best train, practice and develop our art?
This event is presented by the National Centre for Early Music.
About the speaker
Guy James is a founding member of The Gesualdo Six. Alongside this work, he has developed a passion for the music, language and history of Italy, and has enjoyed performing regularly with the Italian Ensemble Odhecaton, directed by Paolo da Col, including for their 2020 collaborative recording project with The Gesualdo Six ‘Giosquino’, which was awarded the Diapason D’Or. He read Natural Sciences with a speciality in Organic Chemistry at St. John’s College, Cambridge and sung as a choral scholar at the neighbouring Trinity College under director Stephen Layton. After graduating, he performed and toured with a range of other choirs and ensembles including Amici Voices, Magnificat, and The Gabrieli Consort and has deputised regularly with many London choirs including those of Westminster Cathedral, the Temple Church, and Westminster Abbey.
Since 2020, he has enjoyed taking more responsibility for early music research in the group and directed our Josquin’s Legacy and Queen of Hearts projects, researching, editing scores, and organising programmes for G6 and giving pre-concert talks. He directs his own music project: Chapel Perilous, which has explored music for countertenor and chamber ensemble, with a programme of works by ‘Holy Minimalist’ composers such as John Tavener and Arvo Pärt. Other recent solo appearances have included Handel’s Messiah with the Academy of St. Martin’s in the Fields, Bach’s B Minor Mass in Exeter Cathedral and also his Christmas Oratorio with the Warsaw Philharmonic, works by Purcell and Blow in Turin, and a recital of Gloucestershire songs for Remembrance.
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