Voces8

The Lost Birds is a soaring elegy for the loss of bird species due to human activity. Composed and conducted by Christopher Tin and featuring Voces8 and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tin's new requiem is a celebration of birds - as symbols of beauty, hope, peace and renewal - but it also mourns their absence.

Brand new works and covers from renowned Composers of Film, Electronic And Alternative Contemporary Classical Music; Hildur Guðnadóttir, Ólafur Arnalds, Nainita Desai and A Winged Victory For The Sullen. This new collection of meditative and otherworldly choral recordings transcends genres and features six brand-new compositions interspersed with eight newly arranged covers from renowned composers. In this space-inspired concept album, VOCES8 leads listeners on an introspective journey beyond our world, inviting them to escape for an hour of contemplative and calming music. The voices of VOCES8 are intermingled with ethereal strings, harp, bowed vibraphones and, in one of the new compositions, a sample of the Sputnik satellite.

Grammy-winning composer Eric Whitacre is releasing a brand new album with world-renowned VOCES8 - his `dream vocal group' - for the first time. With Eric conducting throughout, it includes a world premiere recording of his new piece, All Seems Beautiful to Me, as well as a new recording of one of his most popular pieces - The Seal Lullaby. The album also features the 12-movement cantata, The Sacred Veil, with text by Eric's long-time friend and collaborator, Charles Anthony (Tony) Silvestri.

LUX’ is a luminous selection of pieces spanning over 400 years: from Thomas Tallis and Gregorio Allegri to Massive Attack (Teardrop) and Ben Folds (The Luckiest - which appeared on the soundtrack for Richard Curtis’s film About Time) sung . The album includes popular classics such as Allegri’s Miserere and Elgar’s Nimrod along with Paul Mealor’s Ubi Caritas, commissioned by Prince William, which was sung at the Prince’s wedding to Catherine Middleton in 2011.

VOCES8 looks toward home for a breathtaking journey around the British Isles with music that crosses boundaries of both geography and musical genre. The breadth on offer is staggering: Radiohead’s anthemic “Pyramid Song” emerges as a new choral classic and Clannad’s “Theme from Harry’s Game” is haunting in its newly crafted harmonic richness. But the ensemble reaches back, too—a once-lost folk song from the abandoned island of St Kilda (“Soay”) adds mystery, while Tavener’s “Song for Athene,” perhaps best-known from the funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales, is a throwback to 1997 and a nation in grief. And the original works by British and American composers are simply ravishing. There’s passion and conviction here, and a choral blend that carries each note skyward.

Roxanna Panufnik’s ongoing mission to build musical bridges between different faiths was inspired by the birth of her first child in 2002, when she started to reflect on the world she was bringing her baby into. Religious conflict and wars caused by it are constantly in the news – but we rarely hear enough about the affirmative aspects of our many faiths, such as the phenomenal beauty of the varied cultures surrounding them. By exploring these cultures, Panufnik has been able to unearth a bounty of stunning chant and verse and has been brought closer to her own personal spiritual beliefs.