Missa Papae Marcelli at the Tower of London

Spitalfields Music Festival 2026 comes to a close in collaboration with the Choir of the Chapels Royal, HM Tower of London. Masterpieces of polyphony are paired with shimmering organ works, performed in the Tower of London’s historic chapel.

Palestrina was the master composer of the late 16th century, his name and music resonating through history in a way that completely overshadowed his peers. Yet Francesco Soriano – a pupil of Palestrina, and later a colleague – had an equally supreme understanding of polyphony, as evidenced in his arrangement of the Missa Papae Marcelli. Though still rarely heard today, it sumptuously rescored Palestrina’s famous mass some 42 years after the original. Two additional voices expand the musical effects that are possible, making a double choir and an enveloping, antiphonal listening experience.

Programme:
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (arr. Francesco Soriano) Missa Papae Marcelli
Flor Peeters Toccata, Fugue et Hymne sur Ave Maris Stella
Charles Tournemire Introit & Offertoire from L’Orgue Mystique
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Assumpta est Maria

Performers:
The Choir of the Chapels Royal, HM Tower of London
Colm Carey Director
Daniel Greenaway Organ

This concert is dedicated to the memory of Mrs Sylvia Moys.