The Gesualdo Six to Perform ‘Fading’ at Church of St. Mary the Virgin

The Gesualdo Six will perform "Fading" on Nov. 12, 2026 at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

The British vocal ensemble announced the one-night program as an evening built around the ancient service of Compline — the liturgy that marks the close of the day and the onset of night. The title "Fading" takes its cue from that threshold between light and darkness, framing the concert as a musical meditation on day's end.

What will the program include?

The concert traces a line between two eras of sacred vocal writing:

• Renaissance polyphony by Thomas Tallis, Carlo Gesualdo and John Sheppard
• Contemporary reflections by Sarah Rimkus, Joanna Marsh and Gerda Blok-Wilson

The pairing places sixteenth-century masters alongside living composers, setting the dense harmonies of the Tudor and Italian polyphonic traditions against newly written responses. Carlo Gesualdo, the ensemble's namesake, is known for chromatic writing that has drawn sustained attention from modern composers — making him a natural bridge between the program's historical and contemporary halves.

Compline itself, the service at the heart of the program, belongs to the oldest traditions of Western liturgy. Its association with nightfall gives the concert its structural arc.

Who are The Gesualdo Six?

The Gesualdo Six is an award-winning British vocal ensemble directed by Owain Park. The group maintains one of the busiest touring schedules in its field, performing more than 100 concerts each year across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia.

The ensemble's repertoire spans Renaissance polyphony and contemporary music, and "Fading" continues that dual focus. The choice of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin as venue aligns with the program's liturgical source material.

Why does this concert matter?

For audiences tracking the intersection of early music and new composition, "Fading" offers both in a single evening — Tallis and Sheppard alongside Rimkus, Marsh and Blok-Wilson, under a director whose ensemble has made this synthesis its signature.

The Nov. 12, 2026 date gives listeners more than a year's notice for a program that condenses four centuries of sacred vocal writing into one Compline-inspired service.