The Marian Consort - United Kingdom

The Marian Consort is an award-winning British vocal ensemble that presents bold and thrilling performances of music from across the centuries.

Led by founder and director Rory McCleery, The Marian Consort (TMC) is distinguished by its flexible, intimate approach, with a clarity of texture and subtlety of interpretation that illuminates the music for performer and audience alike. TMC features regularly on UK and international television and radio (including BBC Two’s recent flagship documentary series ‘Art That Made Us’), and has released fourteen recordings to critical acclaim, garnering a variety of accolades and awards including the Diapason D’Or, Presto Classical Album of the Year and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Recent highlights of TMC’s live performance schedule include appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, the BBC Proms, Festival Europäische Kirchenmusik Schwäbisch Gmünd (broadcast on German national radio), the Miller Theatre series at Columbia University in New York and Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan Recital Hall (filmed for Japanese television).

Noted for ‘performances that glow with golden purity and soul’, The Marian Consort performs music from the twelfth century to the present day, with a focus on bringing to light and championing marginalised and lesser-known Renaissance composers such as Vicente Lusitano, Raffaella Aleotti, and Jean Maillard. Praised for its engaging and innovative programming, TMC also works with living composers through its New Music Programme, commissioning extensively alongside mentoring developing composers through the Emerging Voices scheme. TMC has premiered over 30 works to date and in recent years has commissioned Dani Howard, David Fennessy, Anna Semple, Laurence Osborn and Electra Perivolaris.

TMC is also a pioneer of projects which move beyond the confines of the traditional concert, notably ‘Breaking the Rules’, a staged concert-drama based on the life and crimes of Carlo Gesualdo called ‘daring and vivid’ by The Guardian; ‘Lusitano Remixed’, a touring surround sound installation made with Roderick Williams; and most recently ‘Face to Face’, a multimedia performance experience combining film, sound art, movement, Italian Renaissance madrigals and new music by Joanna Ward developed in collaboration with Britten Pears Arts. TMC joins forces with ensembles and soloists of international repute to give concerts, commission and record: recent collaborations have included Daniel Pioro, Britten Sinfonia, {oh!} Orkiestra, Illyria Consort, ECSE and Manchester Collective. 

 

TMC is committed to inspiring a love of singing and creativity in people of all ages, with a particular focus on children and young people, and hosts workshops & study days, performs schools concerts, and leads on longer-term education projects with partners in both the UK and internationally.