The Edinburgh University Renaissance Singers will be giving a concert this Thursday at St Lawrence Collegiate Church in Birgu at 7:30pm. Entrance is free.
Established almost 60 years ago, Edinburgh University Renaissance Singers (EURS) grew from an informal madrigal group made up of students and staff of Edinburgh University to an established choir today. It is a multigenerational choir with an age profile ranging from 18-year-old first year students to longstanding and more recent members in their sixties to seventies. Working as a choir allowed the members and their director to indulge their music passion and delve into the archives to find fascinating repertoire and bring it to life at a time when interest in early music was gradually increasing.
EURS sing mainly a cappella choral music, mostly sacred, from the Renaissance period. Under their current director, David Coney, and previous directors, they have given first performances in modern times of works which have been uncovered in the course of their research, often recreating them in their liturgical context and always exploring the historical context in which they were composed.
Recent concerts have included repertoire celebrating Palestrina and his influence on contemporary and later composers including Bruckner (Celestial Harmony), music performed in Renaissance Scotland, Scottish or otherwise (Palaces and Priories), and music by women composers from Renaissance and Baroque Italy (Carols from the Convents).
The focus f their programme Thursday is very much on Palestrina, following the 500th anniversary of his birth last year. For the occasion St Lawrence Church is putting on display a copy of Palestrina's First Book of Masses from 1572, which is one of the exhibits in the Church Museum. Their tour in Malta continues with a concert in St Paul's Basilica in Rabat on 10 April, singing Mass at St John's Co-Cathedral in Valetta on 11 April and in St Paul's Cathedral in Mdina on 12 April, with a final concert in St Paul's Anglican Pro-Cathedral in Valetta.