Tenth Anniversary Celebration
Stile Antico burst onto the musical scene in July 2005 with competition success at the York Early Music Festival, and in a single decade established itself as one of the world’s finest vocal ensembles.
During 2015-16, the group marked its tenth anniversary with a series of celebratory concerts and projects including a birthday concert at the Wigmore Hall (featuring the premiere of a new work by Nico Muhly), landmark European appearances at the BBC Proms and the Bruges, Utrecht and Antwerp Early Music Festivals, and two tours to the USA.
Dearest Stile Antico! Congratulations on your ten, magnificent, harmonious years! May you continue to bring your glorious voices in beautiful song to the world, which so desperately needs it! BRAVI!
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
Harmonia Mundi USA marked this milestone by drawing on Stile Antico’s formidable legacy of prize-winning recordings to create a tenth-anniversary compilation album, Sing with the Voice of Melody, each of whose twelve tracks was selected by a member of the group. The label also celebrated by reissuing Stile Antico’s Grammy®-nominated 2007 debut Music for Compline, the disc through which the group established its international reputation.
Stile Antico has made an outstanding contribution to our international musical life over the past ten years. It has been a huge pleasure to watch the ensemble develop and thrive, year after year. Long may their vital music-making continue to flourish, opening our ears to glorious repertoire in an intimate setting. It has been such an exciting decade and the best is probably yet to come!
John Gilhooly OBE, Director, Wigmore Hall; Chairman, Royal Philharmonic Society
Shortly before the 2005 York Competition
As well as celebrating its work to date, Stile Antico’s tenth anniversary saw the group look to the future with the expansion of the recently-launched Stile Antico Foundation, the creation of bursary for young singers, and a collaboration with DIAMM on the reconstruction of Tudor repertoire.
Stile Antico is one of those ensembles who have the musical alchemy to turn all that they do into gold. And their sound for me is one of the loveliest things in music.
Bob Chilcott, composer and conductor
Stile Antico in 2015: Photo by Andrew Staples
Key Events
5th June 2015: Stile Antico launched its anniversary celebration with a performance of Music for Compline at the Spitalfields Festival. The concert also marked the launch of the group’s compilation album Sing with the Voice of Melody.
16th July 2015: Exactly ten years after its York Early Music Festival competition success, Stile Antico celebrated with a special performance of ‘Music from the Sadler Partbooks’ at the Oundle Festival, in collaboration with AHRC.
27th November 2015: Stile Antico celebrated its birthday at the Wigmore Hall with the premiere of Nico Muhly’s Gentle Sleep, commissioned for the occasion.
15th December 2015: Stile Antico marked the launch of its tenth recording, A Wondrous Mystery, with a performance at the Temple Winter Festival, broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
February 2016: Stile Antico collaborated with the Folger Consort for concerts in Washington DC and New York City.
April 2016: Stile Antico undertook a major tour of the US.
21st May 2016: The Stile Antico Foundation presented a ‘Come and Sing’ performance of Tallis’ Spem in alium in Tallis’ church of St Alfege, Greenwich, led by Bob Chilcott and coached by members of the group.
15th August 2016: A major tour marking the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare had its climax in a BBC Proms performance alongside Fretwork.