Back to artist

Gramophone Editor’s Choice April 2026 : CD MUHLY No Resting Place
… , this marks the first time Phillips and his ensemble have left their home turf of Renaissance polyphony on recording: a vote of confidence in Muhly’s music that’s abundantly justified by the results. ….  The Tallis Scholars don’t share The Sixteen’s anonymising unity and beauty of sound in this repertoire.  We hear individual voices, husk on tone, swoop on arrival.  Elsewhere we might think of these as imperfections but here it humanises music that brings its own distance and abstraction : a marriage of earthly and spiritual that seems the natural counterweight to the Palestrina, the Tallis, the Josquin where they began. Alexandra Coghlan – Review in full

Town Topic’s Princeton: 15/04/2026: The Tallis Scholars at Princeton University Glee Club
The Tallis Scholars set a tone of excellence for the evening with their trademark pure tuning and clean diction.
…The opening two movements of the Victoria Missa quickly settled into the trademark well-blended Tallis Scholars vocal palette, with the long melodic lines spinning out into the hall. Several movements were introduced by plainsong, and tenor Tom Castle took his time with the chant lines. Diction was crisp as Phillips led the ensemble in building volume consistently.    … The type of well-blended singing and purity of vowels heard from the Scholars takes years to develop, and Thursday’s performance of Victoria’s Missa O Magnum Mysterium showed that precision is one of the hallmarks of the Tallis Scholars choral experience..….. In both Pärt’s Tribute to Caesar and Virgencita, The Tallis Scholars found an appropriately stark and open sound, cleanly executing chord clusters and creating the most dramatic effects of the concert in the final work. Nancy Plum – Review in full

Dallas News 15/04/2026: Tallis Scholars deliver glories of Renaissance choral music
British chamber choir performed 16th-century works and newer ones in Dallas recital - Thanks to extensive tours and numerous recordings, the Tallis Scholars is one of the most celebrated British chamber choirs….
The choral sound throughout was finely focused and tuned and boldly projected …. With reserved gestures, Phillips shaped everything sensitively and expressively. The group’s renown was validated yet again. Scott Cantrell – Review in full

Klassiek-Centraal 11/04/2026: Traditie in transformatie, of hedendaagse polyfonie van Nico Muhly
Met de release van dit album markeren The Tallis Scholars onder leiding van Peter Phillips een significante verschuiving in hun repertoire-keuze. Door hun vertrouwde terrein van Palestrina en Josquin te verruilen voor de hedendaagse idioom van Nico Muhly, leveren zij een prestatie die zowel spiritueel als diep menselijk aanvoelt. …
De samenwerking tussen Muhly en Phillips resulteert in een album dat de grenzen van de traditionele koorexecutie opzoekt zonder te breken met het verleden. …Het is een technisch veeleisende catalogus die aantoont dat de vocale precisie en flexibiliteit van The Tallis Scholars ook buiten hun vertrouwde kader standhouden. Een essentiële luisterervaring voor zowel liefhebbers van polyfonie als van hedendaagse muziek.  Helena Gaudeus - Artikel

De Standaard, 26/03/2026 : CD : Nico Muhly No Resting Place – The Tallis Scholars lijken voor Nico Muhly’s stijl gemaakt  
… Muhly is zelf koorzanger, en dat hoor je. Maar de magie voltrekt zich wederzijds: de stemmen van The Tallis Scholars lijken voor Muhly’s stijl gemaakt. Filmisch is het, sprookjesachtig en verheven. Wie wil herontdekken wat een buitengewoon instrument de menselijke stem is: hier is uw plaat. Sofie Taes -Artikel

OnlineMerker 18/03/2026: D No Resting Place - Music of Nico Muhly
…Die Tallis Scholars agieren in diesem komplexen Geflecht mit einer gewohnt mustergültigen Intonation. Jeder Einsatz sitzt, jede Dissonanz schneidet präzise in das Bewusstsein des Hörers, ohne die ästhetische Kontrolle zu verlieren. …. Peter Phillips führt sein zehnköpfiges Ensemble durch diese emotionalen Wellentäler mit einer Hingabe zum Text, die man in dieser Intensität selten erlebt. Dirk Schauß - Resenzion

MusicFrames 16/03/2026: D No Resting Place - Music of Nico Muhly
Translation: The British choir The Tallis Scholars presents a stunningly beautiful change in repertoire with their new album No Resting Place, featuring works by Nico Muhly… The vocal flexibility of The Tallis Scholars is unprecedented. All the compositional delights as just described are performed with great suppleness. …The result is outstanding. The choir, duet, and solo parts are performed organically, with an occasional bigger role for the sopranos, who, in the high register, make the melody sparkle brilliantly like a crown. No Resting Place is a captivating album with captivating compositions where The Tallis Scholars reveal their innermost thoughts! Mattie Poeles – Review in full

Pizzicato 13/03/2026: CD No Resting Place - Music of Nico Muhly - No Beeindruckende Ersteinspielungen
Translation - …, The Tallis Scholars are such an impressive ensemble, with their vocal mastery and choral sound, that stylistic and music-historical barriers are no obstacle. ….The British ensemble performs the finely woven, multi-layered choral works with nuance and balance, wonderfully differentiating between the various musical and linguistic levels. The clarity of the voices – actually eleven soloists – gives the music a natural flow and rhetoric. The sound becomes denser as different levels are brought together, and then sensitively fanned out again without any showmanship; recitative sections merge with hymnal passages to form a unique symbiosis.
In this combination of Nico Muhly and The Tallis Scholars, contemporary choral music becomes an event. Guy Engels – Review in full

Choir & Organ 13/03/2026: CD No Resting Place - Music of Nico Muhly
Musically and philosophically, these searingly beautiful, painful meditations truly are Lamentations for our current troubled times
….It goes without saying that all the performances are exemplary, with the Scholars’ characteristic perfect blend, tuning and clarity of diction. Director Peter Phillips admits in his introductory note that, coming quite late to the idea that contemporary music could sit successfully alongside Renaissance polyphony, he really wanted a piece from Arvo Pärt but discovered that Pärt was no longer accepting commissions. The skill and imagination exhibited in this marvellous album prove how fortunate he was to have turned instead to Muhly. The association has borne very abundant fruit. Clare Stevens – Review in full

The Hardwick Gazette 16/12/2025: Tallis Scholars perform medieval works
…The audience responded with a well deserved standing ovation for a truly memorable performance that highlighted the well-integrated artistry of the singers. Hardwick Gazette - Review in full

Panm360 13/12/2025: An Evening of English Music for The Virgin Mary… and Christmas!
…, The Tallis Scholars offer us a magical moment, suspended by the sacredness of the venue and the singing, and the precision of a meticulous performance. The singers blend together in a single, subtle flow, without grand gestures or movements, reflecting each performer’s ease in their role. After a unanimous ovation from the audience, the ensemble treats us to an encore by composer Jean Mouton, which touches on a lower register and leaves us hanging for the rest of this more than successful winter evening. Chloé Rouffignac – Review in full

Resmusica 5/11/2025: Palestrina-Pärt : 400 ans de polyphonies avec les Tallis Scholars à Tourcoing
…Depuis plus d'un demi-siècle, The Tallis Scholars, toujours dirigés par leur fondateur Peter Phillips, représentent la perfection de l'art vocal a capella. Rondeur des voix, précision des timbres, transparence des architectures, l'ensemble britannique est une référence absolue dans l'art de la polyphonie.
…Les dix voix des Tallis Scholars, dans leur élégante pureté, apportent cette transparence de vitrail aux différents motets comme dans la Missa Brevis de Palestrina. Malgré l'ascèse de cette musique, tout ici n'est que lumière et sérénité.
...Pour The Tallis Scholars, que ce soit dans Palestrina ou dans Pärt, l'art polyphonique est intemporel, voix unies pour un même moment de grâce. Jean-Marc Petit - Article

Limelight-Arts 13/10/2025 Completing their 11th Australian tour, the “rock stars of Renaissance vocal music” deliver a sublime survey of chant over a thousand years
…The second half opens with The Tallis Scholars’ signature piece, Allegri’s Miserere mei, Deus. Here, Phillips indulges in some well-judged spatialisation, placing part of the choir in the back of the Concert Hall and tenor Tom Castle in a box overlooking the concert podium. The resulting surround sound is spellbinding, and the audience rises to its feet at the conclusion in ecstatic applause.…. des Prez’s Praeter rerum seriem brings the proceedings to a close, praising Mary as the Mother of God and bearer of divine mystery.
Yet again, the audience rises as one, cheering wildly. Little wonder The New York Times saw fit to dub The Tallis Scholars the “rock stars of Renaissance vocal music”.
Phillips rewards the eager crowd with an encore, Purcell’s anthem Hear My Prayer, O Lord. Bringing the English Baroque into conversation with chant, mysticism and modern minimalism, it serves as a benediction at the end of the program – an emotional, deeply human plea amidst suffering that culminates in a wonderfully dissonant and relentless crescendo as the choir sings, “… and let my crying come unto Thee.”   In a word, sublime. Jansson J. Antmann - Review in full

InDaily.com.au 10/10/2025: Back in Adelaide for their 13th visit, The Tallis Scholars again showed why they are the gold standard in choral singing
…it is the quality of their singing that sets them apart. The Tallis Scholars are a ten-member outfit, and each singer has the clearest, most delectably tuned voice. That was one of the first things one noticed in this program of sacred music from Hildegard von Bingen to Arvo Pärt. Those four sopranos and four males are pin-point in accuracy,……it is the spirit of their singing that makes this UK group truly distinctive. A hushed and reverential approach is not for them. They sang out with striking force in Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla’s Deus in auditorium. The tenors sounded like trumpets, and the full ensemble responded with huge resolve. This seventeenth century composer, who was born in Spain but moved to Mexico during the middle of his career, was clearly no shrinking violet. Neither is Phillips, it would seem. Rather than moulding this choir’s sound in a controlled manner, he releases their voices in a full, open way.  Graham Strahle -   Review in full

Arts Review.com.au 9/10/2025: The Tallis Scholars in Llewellyn Hall /Canberra
…From the opening notes of 16th century Catholic priest, Juan de Padilla’s glorious vesper, Deus in adiutorium which commenced the program, the stunning accuracy of the acapella singing, the vocal textures which made it possible to identify individual voices within the sound, and the unique ethereal sound produced by the Scholars was mesmerising.
As with Padilla’s opening composition, Arvo Pärt’s Tridion was performed by the full choir conducted by Phillips. It included an electrifying passage in which the sopranos reached a top Bb for an impassioned prayer “that our souls may be saved”.
Gregoria Allegri’s Misere mei, Deus  - … Magical.
Throughout the concert it was almost possible to hear the purring from the blissed-out audience, which erupted into rapturous applause as the last notes of Josquin des Prez’s Praeter rerum seriem faded. … Bill Stephens OAM -  Review in full

Resmusica 3/07/2025: Les Tallis Scholars et l’Ensemble Clematis lancent avec ferveur et panache le festival de Namur 2025 - Les Tallis Scholars splendides dans Palestrina et Lassus
…Malgré les changements d'effectif inévitables au gré d'un demi-siècle d'existence, l'ensemble a conservé son identité sonore si typique : pureté très british des voix, absolue perfection d'intonation, équilibre parfait entre pupitres, transparence de la trame polyphonique, précision rythmique, optimale articulation agogique sont au rendez-vous. L'expression demeure toujours fervente et modulable. pouvant passer de la désolation prostrée à la contagieuse jubilation.
Missa super ut re mi fa sol la à six voix de Palestrina - … Nos interprètes en magnifient la portée expressive par une plénitude sonore souvent flamboyante (brillantissime Gloria, ou exaltant Sanctus) mais jouent ci et là la carte de l'intimisme au gré du Credo (le Cruxifixus), du Benedictus (distribués tous deux en quatuor soliste ) ou encore de l'ineffable et planant Agnus Dei conclusif.
….: les Tallis Scholars en exaltent les contours mélancoliques et les entrelacs harmoniques avec une délectation contrite. Le sommet absolu de ce concert demeure toutefois le doloriste Timor et Tremor de Lassus, livré de manière cinglante et sublime, au gré de ses madrigalismes surprenants et de son écriture harmonique et rythmique alambiquée..Benedict Hévry -  Article

The Guardian 31/03/2025: Inspired pairing of Palestrina and Pärt brings shining warmth and clarity
…, the 10 Scholars immediately brought a shining warmth to the St George’s auditorium, the clarity of the polyphonic lines as notable as their impeccable diction. …, the Scholars’ use of dynamic and tonal colour, as well the attention to changes of metre, vividly achieved. After the Kyrie’s gentle plea for mercy, the Gloria was indeed gloriously rich. … Their singing of Pärt had the same implicit authority. …And presenting settings by both Palestrina and Pärt of the Nunc Dimittis, highlighting their expressivity and the common commitment to the meaning of the text, made for a symbolic connection.. Rian Evans - Review in full

Chicago Classical Review 10/12/2024: Tallis Scholars evoke Christmases past at St. James Cathedral
…Esoteric though this repertory may be, you would have to look far and wide to hear it interpreted with such immense authority as the Scholars bring to it. In the resonant yet clear acoustics of St. James, their sound resonated with a smoothness of blend, purity of intonation and lucidity of line that have been a hallmark of the Tallis sound and style since its founding in 1973 as one of the pioneering ensembles of the early music movement. John von Rhein – Review in full

Gramophone November 2024: CD Fayrfax Maria plena virtute
Here Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars present the four great votive antiphons of Fayrfax’s maturity – vast works in five voices, each lasting a quarter of an hour and showing the most astonishing economy of means. He chooses to present them with only two singers on each voice, …. …., these are probably among the world’s best singers for this kind of music; and they now have enormous resources of experience. As always, The Tallis Scholars run effortlessly like a Rolls-Royce; and everything seems unchallengeably in place. David Fallows –Review in full

Ritmo January 2024 : Sheppard Missa Cantate - *****
… The Tallis Scholars despliega en este disco todas las cualidades a las que nos tiene acostumbrados : un sonidao compacto y poderoso, como la de una maquina que podria hacerse oir hasta las estrellas, pero que jamas traicionaria la esencia de la obra que tiene en atriles por usar un efecto innecario … Juan Fernando Duarte Borrero

top