Stile Antico

Stile Antico is a British vocal ensemble specializing in a cappella performances of Renaissance polyphony and early Baroque sacred music. Founded by alumni connected with Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the Royal College of Music, the group has performed at major festivals and venues and recorded for labels including Harmonia Mundi and Decca. Its members have affiliations with choirs and institutions such as King's College Choir, The Sixteen, Monteverdi Choir, and Tallis Scholars.

History

Stile Antico emerged in 2001 from singers who trained at Oxford University, Cambridge University, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Royal College of Music and who performed with ensembles including The Sixteen, Monteverdi Choir, Tallis Scholars, Gabrieli Consort, and Oxford Camerata. Early engagements included appearances at the BBC Proms, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Aix Festival alongside choral residencies at St Martin-in-the-Fields and tours to Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Musikverein. The ensemble's collaborations extended to organizations such as English National Opera, Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Festival, Royal Albert Hall, and broadcasters including the BBC and Deutsche Grammophon for live broadcasts and studio projects. Through residencies at institutions like King's College, Cambridge and work with directors from Oxford University Press and producers from Harmonia Mundi, the group cultivated a reputation that led to invitations to international festivals such as the Monteverdi Festival, Aix Festival, Ravinia Festival, and the Tanglewood Festival.

Musical Style and Techniques

The ensemble's approach draws on practices associated with composers and centers represented by figures such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, William Byrd, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Thomas Tallis, Josquin des Prez, Heinrich Isaac, John Dunstaple, Cristóbal de Morales, Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Gabrieli, Alfonso Ferrabosco, Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti, and Gregorio Allegri. Performance techniques emphasize attention to original sources preserved in repositories including the Vatican Library, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Archivio di Stato di Venezia. Their vocal blend, tuning choices, and use of historical pronunciation engage with scholarship from scholars and institutions such as Nicolò Perotti, Edwin Evans, Alfred Einstein, Bruce Dickey, David Fallows, Howard Mayer Brown, and centers including Royal Holloway, University of London, King's College London, Royal College of Music, and University of Oxford musicology departments. Interpretive techniques reference treatises and sources associated with Gioseffo Zarlino, Girolamo Mei, Zaccaria Sertori, Caccini, and archival material from San Marco, Venice and the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Repertoire and Notable Works

Repertoire emphasizes Renaissance mass cycles, motets, and psalm settings by composers and works tied to institutions and events such as Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli, Tallis's Spem in alium, Byrd's Mass for Four Voices, Victoria's Officium Defunctorum, Josquin's Missa Pange lingua, Lasso's motets, Allegri's Miserere, Morales's settings, and Monteverdi's sacred works. Programs and recordings often juxtapose pieces from manuscript sources like the Farnaby Manuscript, the Dow Partbooks, the Eton Choirbook, the Lobos Codex, and the Cancionero de Palacio with madrigals and early Baroque motets by Giulio Caccini, Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz, Michael Praetorius, Felice Anerio, Orlande de Lassus, Adrian Willaert, Jacobus Clemens non Papa, and Jacob Handl. The ensemble has commissioned new settings and reconstructions linked to festivals such as the Cheltenham Music Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, and projects with publishers including Oxford University Press and Faber Music.

Performance Practice and Interpretation

Stile Antico's interpretive practice draws on historically informed performance principles advocated by scholars, conductors, and institutions such as Julius Caesar (actor), Dolmetsch, Nicolò Zingarelli, David Hill, Harry Christophers, John Eliot Gardiner, Christopher Hogwood, Roger Norrington, and ensembles including The Sixteen, Monteverdi Choir, Tallinn Chamber Choir, Huelgas Ensemble, and Ensemble Gilles Binchois. They adapt pitch standards, temperament systems, and articulation derived from research at Royal College of Music, University of Oxford, King's College London, and the British Library, consulting facsimiles from the Vatican Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Interpretations aim to balance clarity of polyphony with expressive rhetorical devices found in sources connected with Zarlino and Caccini while responding to performance contexts at venues like Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Cadogan Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and cathedrals including Westminster Abbey and York Minster.

Recordings and Reception

The ensemble's discography on labels such as Harmonia Mundi, Decca Classics, Erato, and Hyperion Records includes award-winning titles that garnered attention from institutions like the Gramophone Awards, the BBC Music Magazine Awards, and Grammy Awards nominations. Critics in publications tied to organizations such as The Guardian, The Times, The New York Times, Gramophone (magazine), and BBC Music Magazine have cited their recordings of works by Palestrina, Tallis, Byrd, Victoria, Josquin des Prez, and Allegri for clarity and blend. International tours brought reviews from venues and festivals including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Sydney Opera House, and Berlin Philharmonie, and broadcast features on networks like the BBC and NPR. Their albums have been shortlisted by panels from Gramophone Awards and BBC Music Magazine and included in year-end lists from outlets such as The New Yorker and The Telegraph.

Category:Early music choirs Category:British choirs