Last week, we met for a day to do some filming – it’s always odd to sing Christmas music when it’s still sunny and warm and there are leaves on the trees! We’ve long wanted to do an album of Advent and Christmas music: even though it seems like an obvious undertaking, we’ve never done … Read more
We have the pleasure of announcing three concerts in May and June for our latest project, Mother, Sister, Daughter. First up is an online event for Bloomington Early Music Festival at 1700 UTC+1 (BST) on 23 May 2022, with a pre-concert conversation between Bloomington professor Carolann Buff and Laurie Stras. Our album launch concert is … Read more
We are delighted to be launching a new crowdfunder campaign – our first since 2015 – to help us fund our new recording, Mother, Sister, Daughter. We are looking to raise £6000 to help us ensure that our creatives – musical and technical – are reimbursed appropriately for their time and expertise. We would be … Read more
Our musicians are a wonderful group of people and we’d love you to get to know them better, so we are starting a new feature: Focus on… First up is Katharine (Kate) Hawnt. Kate did her first concert with Musica Secreta in 2002, and her first recording with us in 2007. Her distinctive, rich voice … Read more
On Thursday 16 September, Laurie will be presenting at the WoMuNet (Women and Music Networks in Early Modern Europe) workshop, hosted by the Universidad de Granada. She will be talking about the links between the Biffoli-Sostegni manuscript and Suor Maria Celeste Galilei, the daughter of Galileo Galilei, and how convent of San Matteo in Arcetri … Read more
This past Tuesday and Wednesday we have been rehearsing our new programme for 2022, Mother, Sister, Daughter, which ruminates on women’s relationships, their prayers and the stories they tell each other. We were so privileged to have a wonderful space at Stapleford Granary, as part of their Artist Residencies scheme. Rehearsing in pandemic conditions meant … Read more
Musica Secreta’s score shop includes many works that we’ve prepared for ourselves and our workshops, and it is growing steadily. Choirs all over the world have already included them in their repertoire and recordings – just listen to these wonderful performances of Leonora d’Este motets from the Monteverdi Choir and Elektra Women’s Choir. But we … Read more
Like so many of our colleagues and friends, members of Musica Secreta have found the last twelve months a challenge, and we were unable to find ways to work together. The pandemic has meant that we’ve undergone a significant change in personnel, since our founder, dear friend, and wonderful co-director Deborah Roberts has needed to … Read more
We are so happy that From Darkness Into Light has been shortlisted for the 2020 Gramophone Awards in the Early Music category! Full details of the shortlist are posted here. We’re especially pleased that three out of the six nominations are groups directed by women. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
On 11 April, at this year’s St John’s Smith Square Holy Week Festival, Musica Secreta will be giving the London premiere of the recently discovered complete Lamentations of Jeremiah for Good Friday by Antoine Brumel. This performance is preceded by one at St Paul’s Huddersfield on 9 March – and will be repeated on 1 … Read more
Our latest CD has been receiving excellent reviews since its release in November: Gramophone called it “another superb album” while Early Music Review calls it “revelatory.” We’ve been particularly pleased how reviewers have commented on the quality of the music as well as the performances – we know these are stunning works, and it gave us great pleasure … Read more
In mid-September, Laurie and David Lefeber, CD producer and film-maker, took a lightning trip to Florence to make a short documentary about the manuscript sourced for the CD and concert project, From Darkness Into Light. The resulting film was shown at the CD launch concert at the Brighton Early Music Festival. Since the concert tour will … Read more
We are delighted that Laurie’s book, Women and Music in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara has been selected for the 2019 Otto Kinkeldey Award from the American Musicological Society, which is for a “musicological book of exceptional merit published during the previous year by a scholar who is past the early stages of his or her career.” This is one … Read more
We are getting ready for the big reveal! Next Friday, 25 October 2019, our audience in Brighton will finally be able to hear the Antoine Brumel’s Lamentations of Jeremiah for Good Friday in their glorious entirety: forty-five minutes of searingly beautiful, heart-breaking polyphony. We will also be performing music from the Biffoli-Sostegni manuscript (pictured here), … Read more
It’s like having a new toy that we want everyone to play with! Our new choirbook stand got its first outing at the Friends of Cambridge Early Music workshop, Sisters of Ferrara, on the weekend of 13-15 September. Using some Sibelius-generated scores we sang chant and polyphony from parts, learning all the time about how … Read more