During its week long tour to Rome and Palestrina, The Renaissance Choir both visited Palestrina’s house and sang in Palestrina Cathedral.
Going to Palestrina’s house was an enormous privilege – it felt a bit like a pilgrimage – and standing in his living room, singing his music, was a truly magical moment. The manager of the museum was clearly very moved.
Later, the choir’s performance in the exquisitely beautiful and acoustically perfect Palestrina cathedral, we believe was simply the best concert the choir has given. We received a standing ovation from the entire audience.
Dr Marco Angelini, (the President of the Palestrina Foundation) said to our MD, Peter: “This is an exceptional choir of the highest quality”. Given the visits of the choral great and the good to the Foundation, this is high praise indeed.
One choir member writes: “The choir had set off early although the driver didn’t seem very sure of the route. We arrived just as a thunderstorm was looming but got to Palestrina’s house where the archives of original scores were kept, just before the storm broke overhead. There was a short rehearsal in the cathedral before the coach took us to Frascati for lunch and a walk about in warm sunshine. Back to Palestrina for a fantastic recital (one of our best despite one restart) in superb acoustics. The choir was presented with some lovely tomes of Palestrina related books before returning to Rome.”
