Biography

Alamire (not to be confused with the American ensemble Capella Alamire) is a vocal consort whose focus has been medieval and Renaissance-era music. The group generally emphasizes sacred music rather than secular. Alamire (pronounced ala-MEER-ay) was founded in London in 2005 by David Skinner, a co-founder of the popular early music group The Cardinall's Musick, for whom he served as co-artistic director from 1989-2004. Alamire's name has rather cryptic roots: it is derived from composer and music copyist Pierre Alamire (born Peter van den Hove), who, in turn, had adopted his surname from symbols used by the 11th century Italian monk and music theorist Guido d'Arezzo. In 2005, Skinner established the Obsidian label in conjunction with Martin Souter, musical director of The Gift of Music label. 2007 was the year of Alamire's first recordings; among them was a disc entitled Philippe Verdelot: Madrigals for a Tudor King. It featured just six singers (one mezzo, three tenors, and two basses) and one instrumentalist on lute and gothic harp. The ensemble's number can range depending on repertory but usually features nine to 12 singers, led by director Skinner. Alamire often uses instrumentalists in concerts and recordings, in particular, members of the early music group Fretwork. Alamire regularly appears in concert throughout the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. and has made several recordings, available exclusively from its label, Obsidian; the first, Thomas Tomkins: These Distracted Times, appeared in 2007. Alamire made its American debut in 2008 at Case Western Reserve University. The following year, the group was selected to open festivities held at the British Library on June 11 to mark the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Henry VIII. The concert, which also featured the early music instrumental group QuintEssential and gothic harpist Andrew Lawrence-King, offered works by Verdelot, Robert Fayrfax, and John Taverner. Also in 2009, Alamire, in the spirit of the ongoing Henry VIII celebrations, made a successful recording, Henry's Music, that featured works both by Henry VIII and several written for him by Taverner, Sampson, Fayrfax, and others. In 2011, Alamire began a project to release 30 albums of English church music over the following ten years. The series began with the album Cantiones Sacrae 1575, which contained motets by Tallis and Byrd. In 2015, the orchestra earned the Gramophone Award for Early Music for The Spy's Choirbook. The group moved to the Inventa label in 2019 and issued an album of motets by Hieronymus Praetorius. Alamire followed that up in 2020 with a recording of John Sheppard's Media Vita in morte sumus. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alamire recorded a pair of albums devoted to publications of music by William Byrd; Byrd 1588: Psalmes, Sonets & Songs of sadnes and pietie appeared in 2021, and Byrd 1589: Songs of sundrie natures followed in 2023. ~ Robert Cummings & James Manheim, Rovi