The Sixteen's Blog

Hong Kong skyline

The Sixteen’s tour to Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand has begun.  Following a smooth journey (courtesy of Cathay Pacific) the choir and some of the orchestra have arrived in Hong Kong.  The rest of the orchestra arrives tomorrow, ready for our Handel concerts on Friday and Saturday in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Initial forays to local restaurants have been made, and plans are afoot for trips on the Star Ferries and the Peak Tram tomorrow, despite the rather overcast (but not cold!) weather.

Harry’s media schedule grows apace: the only way we could fix one interview for Australia on Friday was to time it as a phone call when he is in a taxi to the RTHK studios here in Hong Kong.  The attention is, of course, satisfying nonetheless, and we anticipate two big audiences here for Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Messiah.  More news tomorrow.

New Zealand String Quartet

We are off to Wellington soon to give two concerts in the New Zealand International Arts Festival on 1 and 3 March, so we are pleased to recommend a reciprocal event at one of our favourite venues in London, Kings Place, where we are performing Brahms and Schumann on 15, 16 and 17 March.

The New Zealand at Kings Place festival  showcases the Wellington-based New Zealand String Quartet on 29, 30 and 31 March.   As well as Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schubert, you can explore Chinese and New Zealand composers Tan Dun, Gae Ping, Jack Body, Michael Norris, Ross Harris, John Psaths, and Gillian Karawe Whitehead.

So, six concerts at Kings Place, by The sixteen and the NZSQ.

Call 020 7520 1490 for ticket details.

Heffers Sound in Cambridge

Blackwells in Oxford

For some reason, photos of window displays of our new CDs seem to excite a response from our Facebook followers, with ‘likes’ often exceeding photos of the choir in action!  Not sure what this means, but here are two recent examples from our CD retail partners in Cambridge and Oxford, showing our new recording of Josquin, Brumel and Lassus. These retail outlets, staffed by experts, need supporting!

This recording contains all the repertoire from our Choral Pilgrimage tour this year, which starts in Winchester Cathedral on 13 April.

Just a week now until our tour to Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne and Wellington starts.  There will be regular blogs during the tour (and not just photos of shop windows).

Genius of Illumination CD

We are all off to the British Library in an hour or so for tonight’s concert by The Sixteen as part of the Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination exhibition.  I am afraid the concert sold out long ago, but the exhibition runs for another 33 days. Anybody who saw BBC 4′s documentaries about the manuscripts (presented by Dr Janina Ramirez) will doubtless realise this is a must-see exhibition.

We have produced a CD for the British Library of related music, available from our shop.

The British Library is running a competition for UK residents – you can find details on their Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts blog (cool title): the prize is a trip to France, from where, of course, many of the manuscripts on display were ‘lifted’ by former kings and queens……

CORO label manager Cath Edwards meeting with Jordi Puertolas from Harmonia Mundi Iberia

Just back from Midem in Cannes, the annual record industry convention, a melting pot of labels, distributors, aggregators and digital platforms.  Non-stop torrential rain throughout, so the umbrella street traders were doing well.  Some personal highlights included seeing an extract from our BBC 4 Sacred Music: God’s Composer programme as part of the BBC’s showreel, shown to public service broadcasters from around the world; the Gramophone Magazine reception at the Carlton Hotel, halfway through which the weekly UK charts came in (extraordinary how many people get this information by twitter!) and our Renaissance CD on Decca Records was still at no.1; and lots of meetings with our distributors from 25+ of our key export territories.  The food wasn’t too bad either…