READ OUR STORYAward-winning vocal ensemble redefining early music for a new era
The Marian Consort (TMC) is an award-winning British vocal ensemble that presents bold and thrilling performances of music from across the centuries.
Led by founder and director Rory McCleery, TMC is distinguished by its flexible, intimate approach, with a clarity of texture and subtlety of interpretation that illuminates the music for performer and audience alike. TMC features regularly on UK and international television and radio (including BBC Two’s recent flagship documentary series ‘Art That Made Us’), and has released fourteen recordings to critical acclaim, garnering a variety of accolades and awards including the Diapason D’Or, Presto Classical Album of the Year and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
We champion early music, commission new work, and create projects that broaden access to choral music.
Recent highlights of TMC’s live performance schedule include appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, the BBC Proms, Festival Europäische Kirchenmusik Schwäbisch Gmünd (broadcast on German national radio), the Miller Theatre series at Columbia University in New York and Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan Recital Hall (filmed for Japanese television).
“Singing one person to a part, The Marian Consort give sublimely refined, spacious and impeccably tuned performances.”
Noted for ‘performances that glow with golden purity and soul’, The Marian Consort performs music from the twelfth century to the present day, with a focus on bringing to light and championing marginalised and lesser-known Renaissance composers such as Vicente Lusitano, Raffaella Aleotti, and Jean Maillard. Praised for its engaging and innovative programming, TMC also works with living composers through its New Music Programme, commissioning extensively alongside mentoring developing composers through the Emerging Voices scheme. TMC has premiered over 50 works to date and in recent years has commissioned Dani Howard, David Fennessy, Amelia Clarkson, Laurence Osborn and Electra Perivolaris. TMC is a member of the PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Network.
The Marian Consort offers musical experiences that inspire, educate and challenge our communities of audiences, young people, artists and practitioners.
TMC is also a pioneer of projects which move beyond the confines of the traditional concert, notably ‘Breaking the Rules’, a staged concert-drama based on the life and crimes of Carlo Gesualdo called ‘daring and vivid’ by The Guardian; ‘Lusitano Remixed’, a touring surround sound installation made with Roderick Williams; and most recently ‘Face to Face’, a multimedia performance experience combining film, sound art, movement, Italian Renaissance madrigals and new music by Joanna Ward developed in collaboration with Britten Pears Arts. TMC joins forces with ensembles and soloists of international repute to give concerts, commission and record: recent collaborations have included Daniel Pioro, Britten Sinfonia, {oh!} Orkiestra Illyria Consort, The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble and Manchester Collective.
We share our music-making through concerts and performances; recordings and digital content; and educational workshops and programmes.
TMC is committed to inspiring a love of singing and creativity in people of all ages, with a particular focus on children and young people, and hosts workshops & study days, performs schools concerts, and leads on longer-term education projects with partners both in the UK and internationally. We have an avid online following, and present performance videos and podcasts in collaboration with prize-winning poets, actors, writers, artists, academics, composers and musicians, reaching an audience of millions worldwide.
“The Marian Consort are among the best singers in the world.”
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
“A countertenor and academic as well as conductor … combining boyish geniality with quite startling erudition.”
Rory McCleery
Rory McCleery is an award-winning Scottish conductor, countertenor & musicologist. Internationally renowned for his compelling interpretations of a wide range of repertoire, he is particularly associated with the choral music of the Renaissance and Baroque, and is also increasingly known for his affinity with the music of contemporary British composers. Rory has appeared at prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms and has directed choirs and led masterclasses, study days and workshops in the USA, Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and Italy. He features regularly on radio and television, including the recent BBC2 series 'Art That Made Us'.
Rory is Artistic Director of vocal ensemble The Marian Consort, with whom he performs internationally. With The Marian Consort, Rory has an extensive discography on both Delphian and LINN records, including many first recordings of both new and historic music which have garnered a variety of accolades and awards including the Diapason D’Or, Presto Classical Album of the Year and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. When not researching and conducting, Rory is also active as a countertenor, performing as a soloist with ensembles including the English Consort and Ensemble 1604.
Rory is a passionate advocate for music education and singing for wellbeing, and with his wife, harpist Rachel Wick, is Artistic Co-Director of Dunster Festival in West Somerset, which alongside an annual May weekend of chamber music and vocal concerts also runs an ongoing programme of community engagement and music education work.