Southampton's best kept secret
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- Southampton's best kept secret
"Southampton's best kept secret" is how former Anglican Bishop Jonathan of Southampton described Cantores Michaelis. Founded in 2000, the group of choral scholars from the University of Southampton is based at the Anglican city centre church of St Michael the Archangel.
The group specialises in unaccompanied repertoire composed for the Christian Liturgy. The music ranges from Gregorian Chant, Tudor and Renaissance Masses and Motets, to twentieth century composers. The Director of the group is Keith Davis, former Professor at the Royal College of Music and currently Head of Vocal Studies at the University of Southampton.
We welcome Cantores Michaelis to St Boniface church, Shirley, once during each University term to sing a Mass setting within the context of a Mass.
On 20 June, they accompanied our Sung Mass in honour of St Alban, the first martyr of England. The setting of the Mass chosen was Mozart's Coronation Mass, first performed in 1779. This was interspersed with Gregorian Chant of the day and two motets: Jakob Handl's Pater Noster (Our Father) and William Byrd's Iustorum animae (The souls of the righteous).
We look forward to welcoming them back again in the autumn. Keep a look out in the Events section of this website for their next date.
Visit cantoresmichaelis.org.uk for their latest news, biographies and samples of their music. The group also has a CD available for sale.
In this section
- Southampton's best kept secret