News

As we get closer to the release date of From Darkness Into Light, we want to share an essay written by Laurie to accompany the liner notes to the CD. There are only so many words a CD booklet can contain,

Fourteen intrepid singers from the USA, Canada, UK, and mainland Europe made their way up the mountain on the first Sunday of July to join Deborah and Laurie in the medieval mountain town of Triora, high in the Argentine mountains

It’s been whirlwind getting this recording together, from finding the music to booking the recording dates and trying to find time to do that thing – rehearse! – but we did it, and we could not be happier about the

Our new choirbook stand is a thing of beauty and ingenuity. Put together from components purchased from eBay, an antiques market, Ikea, and the local hardware store, it is now ready to hold music in choirbook format, large enough for the

 What a thrilling week! Monday, we met at the beautiful Tudor church of St Michael the Archangel in Southampton to rehearse some beautiful new repertoire, which we will be recording at St Michael’s in May this year. This includes a

We would like to invite you to join us this summer in the extraordinary medieval town of Triora, high up in the Ligurian mountains, for a week of convent polyphony.  From 7-14 July, we will be singing, eating, and laughing

Laurie’s book, Women and Music in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara is named in the 2019 finalists’ list for the Association of American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE awards) for books of extraordinary merit that make a significant contribution to a field of study.

Before the Christmas season gets underway, we thought we’d round up our autumn news and give you a few reminders about what’s coming up in 2019. September’s big news was the long-awaited release of Women and Music in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara.

We are so sad this evening to hear the news of Tony Newcomb’s passing. His book, The Madrigal at Ferrara, 1579-1597, was our go-to reference for many years and the inspiration for the projects that led to recordings, concerts, and research

Musica Secreta has, over the past few decades, done concerts in England, Ireland, Germany, France, Croatia, in cathedrals, decommissioned churches, hotel restaurants, and once memorably in a tent in a field. But we have never performed in Italy before, so

As usual, it’s all very busy here at Musica Secreta central, what with performances and workshops being planned, oh and books being published… Well, one book in particular, Women and Music in Sixteenth-Century Ferrara, which is finally out and available from Cambridge University

In anticipation of the publication of my (Laurie’s) book in two weeks’ time, I thought I’d share some of the stories I’ve unearthed and insights I’ve had about Ferrara’s singing ladies and their families.

It feels like a lifetime since I began to write this book but it’s only been, what, nineteen years? Oh, and only four hundred years since the last duchess of Ferrara died in 1618. And finally, finally it is done

Give us a hug, then, and welcome back! Well, that didn’t quite go to plan. I notice that it has been almost exactly a year since the last update on the Musica Secreta blog, for which I apologise.

Well, friends, finally I can start making the scores from the recording available as PDFs.  It’s not quite as I would want it: despite our best intentions, we are having to operate with human intervention rather than making them downloadable