MUSIC for the Tudors will be performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen at St Albans Abbey next Saturday, April 10. It will be the 10th Choral Pilgrimage by the choir since the notion was first established as a millennium project and they have perfor

MUSIC for the Tudors will be performed by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen at St Albans Abbey next Saturday, April 10.

It will be the 10th Choral Pilgrimage by the choir since the notion was first established as a millennium project and they have performed at the great cathedrals across the UK since.

The Choral Pilgrimage has since expanded to include workshop events and sign-language interpreted performances.

The 10th Choral Pilgrimage will focus on some of the finest music by three leading Tudor composers: John Sheppard, Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. All three composers lived through decades of religious turmoil in mid-sixteenth century England and expressed in different ways their devotion to the Catholic faith.

Harry Christophers said: "These are exceptional works by any standard and I am just surprised that it has taken me so long to finally perform them. Sheppard's Media vite in morte sumus is a staggering achievement not only in its sheer size but also in its expression which, at times, is almost overwhelming.

"But it is Byrd's Infelix Ego which I found to be a revelation; the text is a meditation on the famous Miserere mei Deus psalm written by the Italian friar, Giralamo Savonarola, while he lay in prison only a few days before he was burned at the stake."

He also described Tallis's Miserere nostril as one of the gems of the programme with its brevity belying its complexity.

The performance starts at 7.30pm and 30 minutes earlier there will be a Conductor Encounter, a chance to hear Harry Christophers and some members of the choir talk about the music they will be performing.

Tickets are available from the local box office on 01727 890256 or the national box office on 01904 651 485 or email boxoffice@ncem.co.uk