Event Durham

Orlando Gibbons, whose refined and deeply expressive works represent the pinnacle of Jacobean music, died on 5^th June 1625 at the young age of 41, while travelling to Canterbury with the Chapel Royal to receive Charles I’s bride, Henrietta Maria. His untimely death was mourned across English culture, and we mark the anniversary with the first of two concerts given in Durham in 2025 by legendary viol consort Fretwork.

This programme explores Gibbons’ consort music in 5 and 6 parts, alongside songs and madrigals, performed by the stunning young singer Alexander Chance, described by Gramophone as ‘his generation’s most exciting British countertenor’. The concert climaxes with Nico Muhly’s My Days,a substantial and deeply moving work exploring the melancholy that underpins Gibbons’ style.

This concert has been generously supported by the Radcliffe Trust.