The Lambeth Choirbook

The Music
The library at Lambeth Palace holds this extraordinary volume of choral music, compiled in around 1500. This workshop will explore some of the gems of this collection, including mass movements by Robert Fayrfax and Nicholas Ludford, and an astonishing Magnificat setting that has remained anonymous. The music is written in a grand style using a range – across the whole choir – of more than three octaves. The individual pieces themselves present a great variety of textures before building to thrilling tutti conclusions.

Patrick Allies
Patrick began his musical education as a chorister at the Temple Church in London, under Stephen Layton. He sang in Gloucester Cathedral Choir before taking up a Choral Scholarship to study Music at King’s College London. Patrick went on to post-graduate study at the University of Cambridge where he sang in Jesus College Choir.
While a student, Patrick founded the early music vocal ensemble Siglo de Oro, of which he is Artistic Director. The group made its professional debut in 2014 at the Spitalfields Festival, and has since given concerts across the UK, and at festivals in Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Malta.
Under Patrick’s direction, Siglo de Oro has made two acclaimed recordings with Delphian Records. The latest disc featured the world premiere of a late-Renaissance mass by Hieronymus Praetorius. BBC Music Magazine made it Choral and Song Album of the Month, and said: ‘here is a choir in which all the elements are held in perfect equilibrium. Patrick Allies ponders every note before moulding lines whose suppleness in turn coalesce into a living breathing whole’.