Prom 50 – The Sixteen Sings Tallis’s Spem in Alium

Part of the BBC Proms.

Leading professional chamber choir The Sixteen returns to the Proms with Artistic Director Harry Christophers for a late-night musical meditation bridging the Renaissance and the present day. Thomas Tallis’ magnificent 40-part motet Spem in alium and Sir James MacMillan’s contemporary companion piece for the same forces, Vidi aquam, are the twin pillars of a concert that also includes music by Tallis’ Tudor contemporaries Byrd, Sheppard and Tye, as well as John Tavener’s radiant A Hymn to the Mother of God and Gorecki’s hypnotic choral prayer Totus tuus.