^{BY ASHUTOSH KHANDEKAR | FIRST PUBLISHED 06 DEC 2025}

Ten years on from their Cambridge debut, The Gesualdo Six continue to redefine choral performance through imagination and collaboration. Owain Park tells Ashutosh Khandekar about the group’s origins and its latest ventures, including a new album celebrating Orlando Gibbons.

I had imagined Owain Park must have a profound connection with Gesualdo, hence the name of the ensemble he founded ten years ago. ‘The honest truth,’ he admits, a little shyly, ‘is that our very first concert happened to be all Gesualdo – and we had to sell some tickets! Nobody else had used his name: it looked good on the poster and it drew a crowd.’ That debut performance, of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday, took place in Cambridge, where Park and a group of fellow choral scholars wanted to try something different. ‘We’d listened to that music but never sung it,’ he recalls. ‘It was exciting – especially in Cambridge, where choirs often have 20 or 30 people. We were six singers, and Gesualdo wrote for six voices. It went from there.’

^{The Gesualdo Six perform Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday, the work they performed in their debut concert in Cambridge.}

From those beginnings, the group’s identity evolved quickly. Park, both organiser and musical leader, found himself running rehearsals and admin. ‘It made sense,’ he says. ‘I had learned to juggle different jobs as an organ scholar – conducting, arranging, programming – and this just brought all those skills together.’ Their first summer tour – ten concerts in nine days – helped them escape the Cambridge bubble and build a following. ‘The programmes were far too long,’ Park laughs, ‘but people joined the mailing list, shared things on social media, and stayed with us. That early support network was what allowed us to grow.’

Comparisons with The King’s Singers, another male vocal group with Cambridge roots, were inevitable. Park is pragmatic. ‘Their distribution is similar to ours, so of course there’s a link. But we do something different. We sound different, we focus on different repertoire, and because we’re not weighed down by half a century of tradition, we can be nimble – exploring less known old repertoire or commissioning new works almost in the same breath.’

So what defines ‘The Gesualdo Six sound’? ‘We focus on maintaining individuality and finding ways for those voices to be compatible,’ Park says. ‘We’re not trying to create one uniform sound. Personality and blend can coexist. I like audiences to be able to follow one voice through the texture – it’s about clarity and character rather than homogeneity.’

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^{The Gesualdo Six perform ‘O send out thy light’, composed by Owain Park, at the Boxgrove Priory in Sussex.}

Alongside performance, outreach has become a cornerstone of The Gesualdo Six’s work. ‘We’re focusing on that 13-to-19 age range,’ Park explains. ‘It’s when people are deciding whether music can be part of their lives. We want to show them what's possible.’ Programming, too, reflects Park’s imaginative approach. ‘Because we’re six voices, we can sing almost anything next to anything and it still feels coherent. The key is pacing and mood. We often build programmes around ideas rather than composers. I want people who haven’t engaged with early music before to feel they don’t need specialist knowledge to enjoy it.’ That inclusive spirit extends internationally. ‘In America, we’ve built a loyal following,’ he says. ‘We were in New York at the famous Manhattan church affectionately known as ‘Smokey Mary’s’ recently – that was our third concert there, and the audience has grown each time. They trust whatever we put in front of them.’

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^{‘Die Nacht’ by Schubert, performed by The Gesualdo Six at St Peter’s Eaton Square in London | video by Andy Staples}

Performance presentation is something Park thinks about deeply. ‘We try to avoid just standing up and singing at people. Much of this music has its roots in processional or monastic traditions, so we might start from another part of the building, or move around, so people’s ears start working before they see us. In churches that’s incredibly effective – it’s about evoking the music's history within the space.’

As the ensemble’s calendar has expanded – from 30 concerts a year to nearly 100 – Park has had to rethink his role, particularly since his recent appointment as Director of the BBC Singers (starting in 2026). ‘It’s not sustainable to do everything myself,’ he admits. ‘We now have a charity to support our education and commissioning work, and within the group the singers are taking on more responsibility. The most powerful thing is letting others share the vision.’

That spirit of collaboration finds its fullest expression in The Gesualdo Six’s new project with the Chelys Consort of Viols, supported by a grant from Continuo Foundation. Following their acclaimed debut together at the Cheltenham Festival, the two ensembles are reuniting for a recording celebrating the life and music of Orlando Gibbons. Entitled Faire is the Rose, the Cheltenham programme explored every facet of Gibbons’s artistry – sacred works from his time at the Chapel Royal, witty madrigals, the bustling urban scene of The Cries of London, and the radiant consort music for which he is beloved. The forthcoming album will also feature three new commissions inspired by Gibbons’s style, alongside pieces by his family and contemporaries, revealing the breadth of a remarkable musical dynasty.

The idea of the sound-world, Park explains, grew from a set of Gibbons verse anthems he had arranged for violin and organ. ‘Then, I was inspired by Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre – it was immersive, and I went four times! You could stand right by the performers and move around them, feeling part of the theatre. I thought we could try something similar. For Gibbons, we placed the singers and instruments among the audience, on platforms. It’s about breaking down the barrier between performer and listener – inviting people into the sound.’

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^{The Gesualdo Six perform ‘This is the record of John’ by Gibbons.}

That sense of shared atmosphere deepens in the partnership with Chelys, whose viols bring what Park calls ‘a luminous warmth’ to the texture. ‘The viols and voices have this extraordinary ability to breathe the same air’ he says. ‘You feel the vibration of the strings and the resonance of the voices as one.’ For Park, the collaboration reflects a wider shift in Britain’s musical landscape: small ensembles working together rather than in isolation. ‘Continuo has been brilliant in creating networks that actually lead somewhere,’ he says. ‘Chelys were already part of their family, and so are we – it felt completely natural to bring those worlds together.’ So the recording will stand as both a tribute to Gibbons and a testament to the creative vitality of today’s Early Music community.

Meanwhile, The Gesualdo Six have no shortage of future plans: a forthcoming album, Wishing Tree, exploring music inspired by nature and love; a new stage work, Death of Gesualdo (16-19 Jan), created with Bill Barclay (‘a powerful piece about Gesualdo’s life and demons,’ says Park); and more performances of Secret Byrd (8-9 May), their immersive reimagining of Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. (The latter two projects are discussed in depth in an earlier interview with Barclay for Continuo Connect.)

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^{To follow up their international hit collaboration, Secret Byrd, Bill Barclay and The Gesualdo Six reunite in 2026 for a major new tour, Death of Gesualdo – a theatrical concert fusing music, puppetry and tableau vivant.}

For Park, what unites all these ventures is storytelling. ‘What we love is when a composer really understands the text – when the music lifts the words off the page,’ he says. ‘That’s what compels us, and what satisfies an audience. Whether it’s Byrd, Gibbons or a new commission, it's all about finding ways for people to connect through sound.’

The Gesualdo Six has a full calendar, with tours across the UK, the USA, and continental Europe. Upcoming UK appearances include a Christmas Choral Weekend for adult singers at Hawkwood College (Gloucestershire), performances of ‘Veni Emmanuel’ in December 2025, ‘Death of Gesualdo’ in January 2026, and ‘Secret Byrd’ in May 2026. For complete listings, visit The Gesualdo Six Continuo Connect Artist profile.