Stile Antico marks its twentieth season by honouring the undisputed master of the style which gives the group its name: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose quincentenary falls in 2025. Palestrina’s stellar career was inextricably entwined with the Papacy and the great churches of Rome for which he composed.

This programme explores the music he would have sung at the Sistine Chapel, the changes in his style demanded by the Counter-Reformation, 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.

“The singing is staggeringly beautiful, the balance meticulous” The Sunday Times