Tallis in Wonderland : An aural Fantasy
Following the success of The Full Monteverdi, I Fagiolini's new music-theatre project with Dutch company Artery gets to grip with the fundamental problem of how an audience actually hears Renaissance vocal music. Tallis in Wonderland explores 10 works of genius by Josquin, Gombert, Tallis, Byrd, Gesualdo, Monteverdi and others, finding musical and dramatic routes in to their magical but complex soundworld. Sometimes dismantling and recreating them (with the greatest respect for the music), with sound design through software designed especially for the show, the whole becomes a game for singers and loudspeakers, with singers using the entire auditorium space and interacting with the loudspeakers. The audience is at times surrounded by sound and performers, and at times focused on an intimate moment.
“There is nothing ordinary about a performance by I Fagiolini. These singers have made their reputation by turning their backs on convention - at Aldeburgh's Easter festival, literally so...Their title, Tallis in Wonderland, managed to trump that of the highly successful The Full Monteverdi...the whisperings, the disembodied voices of authority threw the aural focus sharply back on to the resolutely controlled singing.” Guardian (on the premiere, April 2009)
The project will be performed as part of the Spitalfields Festival at Wilton’s Music Hall, London on Tuesday 9th June (performances at 18:30 and 20:30), and on Thursday 16th July during the York Early Music Festival.
