PAW Festival welcomes back the vocal ensemble Stile Antico, as it marks its twentieth season by honouring the undisputed master of the style that gives the group its name: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose quincentenary falls in 2025.

This programme explores the music he would have sung at the Sistine Chapel, the changes in his style demanded by the CounterReformation, his tragic personal life, and his influence on his successors. The repertoire is sumptuous, including several of Palestrina’s most beloved and timeless motets, gems by other leading composers active in Rome, and a new work by leading British composer Cheryl Frances Hoad, written especially for this programme.

“It’s never a good idea to miss a concert from this British vocal ensemble: there are no finer singers of early music”
NEW YORK TIMES