Vox Obscura hosts The Gesualdo Six, featuring six of Britain’s finest consort singers, performing Queen of Hearts, a program of Motets and Chansons from the French Court, focusing on European Queens: Anne of Brittany, Margaret of Austria, Anne Boleyn and Mary Tudor. Queen of Hearts addresses and reflects on queens spiritual (the Virgin Mary) and temporal (earthly) in a programme of music largely of the sixteenth century, but spiced with two short works from the twenty-first. Gramophone Magazine described a recent performance as “Ingeniously programmed and impeccably delivered, with that undefinable excitement that comes from a group of musicians working absolutely as one.”
This is a rare opportunity to hear a world-renowned early music ensemble in the excellent acoustics of St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. Get your tickets early to this midweek concert! Works by Brumel, Josquin, Prioris, Mouton, and more.
Wednesday, February 4 @ 7:00pm
St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, Newport, CA (2200 San Joaquin Hills Road, Newport Beach, California 92660)
“Weavers of rich and plangent aural tapestries, The Gesualdo Six meld style and substance with beguiling sure-footedness.” – BBC Music Magazine
The Gesualdo Six is an award-winning British vocal ensemble comprising some of the UK’s finest consort singers, directed by Owain Park. Praised for their imaginative programming and impeccable blend, the group formed in 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories in Cambridge and has gone on to perform at numerous major festivals around the world.
Notable highlights include a concert in the distinguished Deutschlandradio Debut Series, performances at renowned venues including Wigmore Hall (London), Miller Theatre (New York), the Sydney Opera House, and their debut at the BBC Proms in 2023. In 2024, The Gesualdo Six made their South American debut in Colombia, and appeared in Japan, China and Singapore for the first time. The ensemble have collaborated with Fretwork, the Brodsky Quartet, and Matilda Lloyd, and tour a work of concert-theatre titled Secret Byrd with Director, Bill Barclay.
The Gesualdo Six is committed to music education, regularly hosting workshops for young musicians and composers. The ensemble have curated two Composition Competitions, with the most recent edition drawing entries from over three hundred composers worldwide. The group recently commissioned new works from Shruthi Rajasekar and Joanna Marsh, alongside coronasolfège for 6 by Héloïse Werner.
The ensemble have harnessed the power of social media to make classical music accessible to millions worldwide, creating captivating videos from beautiful locations while on tour. The group released their debut recording English Motets on Hyperion in 2018 to critical acclaim. This has been followed by seven further albums (Christmas, Fading, Josquin’s legacy, Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday, Lux Aeterna, William Byrd’s Mass for five voices, Morning Star) and most recently Queen of Hearts. The group’s tenth album, Radiant Dawn, featuring a special collaboration with trumpeter Matilda Lloyd, will be released in August 2025.