2025

A Quiet Night: English End-of-day Exhortations, Elaborated with Music

10 May , Jubilee Church

17 May, Prinsep St Presbyterian Church

Sung Compline was a daily event at college and noble chapels, and often English composers wrote their best music for Compline, making an intimate and soothing end to the day. We present polyphony for Compline by English composers such as Sheppard, Byrd, Tallis, Tye, and White, interspersed with chant from the Sarum rite for context.

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Beyond Palestrina: Sacred Songs from the Renaisaance

21 June, Church of Immaculate Conception, Penang

When we think of polyphony and early music prior to the Baroque period, one name often stands out: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. As we celebrate the 500th anniversary of his birth this year, join Cappella Martialis in exploring the broader landscape of Renaissance music, beyond the works of its most iconic figure. Discover how Palestrina’s compositions were deeply influenced by Franco-Flemish polyphony, which can be arguably regarded as the first true international musical style. From England to Spain, immerse yourself in the distinct regional styles that together form the rich tapestry of Renaissance sacred music.

A Quiet Night: An Anglo-Iberian Compline

23 August, St Joseph's Church (part of the Singapore Night Festival)

In late Mediaeval and Renaissance England, Sung Compline was a daily event, and often composers wrote their best music for Compline, with the mix of chanted psalms and polyphonic hymns making for an intimate and soothing end to the day. To supplement our historical journey, we have added liturgically complementary Iberian music in honour of St Joseph's Portuguese heritage, and contemporary English music to show how the tradition has developed since.

On the Way to Bethlehem: Christmas from Eastern Lands

30 Nov &  1 Dec, Jubilee Church and Queenstown Lutheran Church

In an age where much is heard about decolonizing and anti-Imperialism, it is often forgotten that Christianity is not, at its heart, a ‘Western’ religion. In this presentation, we take the listener on a musical journey far from the centres of Western Christendom. From the East Slavic lands, where the Slavonic-texted music of Bortniansky and his heirs resounds through the great urban centres of L’viv, Kyiv, Moscow, and St Petersburg, we move eastward to the Balkans, where the native musical traditions of the Bulgars, Serbs, Roumanians, Wallachs, combine with influences from Byzantium and Russia. With Byzantine chant we enter the historically Hellenophone lands of Greece, Anatolia, and the Arabophone Levant, back to Bethlehem where it all began.