This afternoon I am enjoying a virtual performance by the early music choral ensembles, Stile Antico, presented by the Boston Early Music Festival.
Stile Antico is one of the world’s finest vocal ensembles, renowned for vibrant and expressive performances of music from the Renaissance. The concert was posted on the Boston Early Music Festival website this afternoon at 3:00 pm Honolulu time and will remain on the BEMF YouTube channel until March 12, 2021, giving all of you an opportunity to hear this fantastic group.
I have been fortunate to hear Stile Antico twice in person, once at a previous Boston Early Music Festival (“Another day at First Lutheran“), and once at the Three Choirs Festival in England (“Died and gone to heaven!”)
Here is a description of the all-Josquín program:
The Golden Renaissance: Josquin des Prez
Working without a conductor, the intensely collaborative singers of Stile Antico have won acclaim as one of the world’s most vibrant and expressive vocal ensembles. They return to BEMF for a virtual performance celebrating the North American release of their new CD for Decca Classics, titled The Golden Renaissance: Josquin des Prez. Marking the 500th anniversary of the composer’s death, this sumptuous program of highlights from the recording features Josquin’s superb Missa Pange lingua and several of his best-loved motets and chansons.
In a way, I’m grateful to the pandemic for saving people like me, an early music aficionada, from having to travel the 5,083 miles to Boston to hear the concert. I can sit comfortably in my living room to watch the concert on my big screen TV without having to get on a plane, find a hotel, dress up, and get myself to Jordan Hall (where undoubtedly they would have booked to perform).
And Stile Antico did not have to travel to Boston either, with the risk of endangering their health they recorded the concert at All Saints West Dulwich church in London.
If you look at the program closely, you will see that three of the women have the same last name: Ashby. Yes, they are all sisters—Helen and Kate Ashby are identical twins both singing soprano and sister Emma Ashby sings alto. Brother Nick Ashby is a singer in the famous Kings Singers. There is yet another sister at home who sings but not professionally. Isn’t that amazing?!
Helen Ashby
Soprano
Helen sings with a variety of ensembles in the UK including the Oxford Camerata, Brabant Ensemble and The King’s Consort. She is also a member of the choir of St Margaret’s Westminster, London. She has recently taken up the post of Singing Teacher to the choristers of Westminster Cathedral. She studies with Jenevora Williams. When not singing, Helen is usually researching upcoming Stile tour locations to find the best restaurants.
Kate Ashby
Soprano Kate enjoys a busy career as a professional singer specialising in early music. She performs with groups such as The Brabant Ensemble and Chapelle du Roi, and regularly records film soundtracks with London Voices. She studies with Berty Rice and teaches singing at Orchard House Prep School. In addition to singing, Kate is a joint Artistic Director of the Oxford Early Music Festival.
Emma Ashby
Alto
Emma sings regularly with various ensembles in the UK, including the Tallis Scholars, the Brabant Ensemble and the Oxford Camerata, and increasingly enjoys working as a soloist. As well as enjoying the busy touring lifestyle of a choral singer, she is passionate about teaching both singing and cello, which she does privately and at Summer Fields school in Oxford, where she lives.
Actually I have heard of the Ashby sisters for years through Vreni Griffith, longtime chorister, travel companion and now my Spanish tutor. I think she met the twins twenty years ago when they were just teenagers (aged 13 or 14) at Dartington, where there is a choral festival every year. Vreni says that when they were young, she remembers them as “perfect sightreaders,” even with very difficult music. She said when they were younger, no one could tell the twins apart. Now, however, Helen parts her hair in the middle, and Kate parts hers on the side.
Of course, musical talent has a tendency to run in families. Consider the family of Johann Sebastian Bach. For years I heard there were 57 professional musicians in Bach’s family, but now I understand there might be a couple hundred.
And in my own family, I think I am fairly confident in saying that all my siblings, my parents, every single uncle and aunt, and every single cousin on both sides of the family took music lessons—that would be a collection of perhaps 50-60 people!
Some families have all the fun!
