EXAUDI presents a portrait of love, with work by Festival featured musician Cassandra Miller, as well as Michael Finnissy, Monteverdi, Gibbons and Elisabeth Lutyens.

We are excited to welcome back Aldeburgh Festival regulars EXAUDI, “An extraordinary ensemble of vocal virtuosi” (Sunday Times), whose programme blends contemporary and old masters with characteristic flair.

EXAUDI explain: “Colourful & striking, Finnissy’s show-stopping Cipriano is a study of the agonies of the flesh in the throes of temptation. Lutyens’ Ben Jonson setting Verses of Love is a playful, sensuous delight, and Cassandra Miller’s Guide turns a Southern Baptist hymn into ardent waves of pious yearning. In between, Marenzio and Monteverdi probe the pleasures and pains of Renaissance desire, and Gibbons rebukes our worldly delights and turns our mind to the anticipation of divine love.”

Michael Finnissy:
Cipriano (15’)
Marenzio:
Dura legge d’amor (7’)
Marenzio:
Quell’augellin che canta (2’)
Monteverdi:
Sfogava con le stelle (4’)
Monteverdi:
Quell’augellin che canta (2’)
Elisabeth Lutyens:
Verses of Love (6’)
Gibbons:
O, that the learned poets (3’)
Gibbons:
Songs (arr. James Weeks) (world premiere) (8’)
Cassandra Miller:
Guide (13’)
Deftly convincing performances of dizzyingly complex works
5 Stars

The Guardian

12 musically superb and technically accomplished singers

New York Times