The Tallis Scholars were founded in 1973 by their director, Peter Phillips. Through their recordings and concert performances, they have established themselves as the leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music throughout the world. Peter Phillips has worked with the ensemble to create the purity and clarity of sound which he feels best serves the Renaissance repertoire. It is the resulting beauty of sound for which The Tallis Scholars have become so widely renowned.
In 2020 Gimell Records celebrated 40 years of recording the group by releasing a remastered version of the 1980 recording of Allegri’s ‘Miserere’. In 2023/24 as they celebrated their 50th Birthday the desire to hear this group in all corners of the globe was as strong as ever. They have now performed nearly 2750 concerts.
2026/27 season highlights include performances in Colombia, the USA, East Asia and a number of appearances in London as well as their usual touring schedule in Europe and the UK. Recordings by The Tallis Scholars have attracted many awards throughout the world. The 2020 release including Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie was the last of nine albums in The Tallis Scholars' project to record and release all Josquin's masses before the 500th anniversary of the composer’s death. It was the winner of the BBC Music Magazine’s much coveted Recording of the Year Award in 2021 and the 2021 Gramophone Early Music Award. Their Gimell release in November 2024 was music by Robert Fayrfax and was made Editor’s choice in Gramophone. 2026 sees the release of their first recording on Linn Records which showcases a body of work written for the group by US composer Nico Muhly. The disc has received great acclaim including being selected as Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s Choice April 2026.
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Nico Muhly: No Resting Place
March 2026
We hear individual voices, husk on tone, swoop on arrival… it humanises music
Gramophone
For anyone wishing to rediscover what an extraordinary instrument the human voice is: here is your record
De Standaard
Phillips directs with his usual poise and intelligence, keeping everything clear and well-shaped. The Tallis Scholars sing magnificently: precise, alert and expressive.
BBC Music Magazine
The album’s opening track, A Glorious Creature, absolutely blasts us with sunshine, while lambent sopranos only add to the sad glow of Recordare, Domine: an earlier dip into Jeremiah’s sorrows. Other pieces, one based on entries from Scott of the Antarctic’s diary, further vary Muhly’s range of moods and textures, all of them finessed into greater eloquence by Phillips’s wonderful ensemble.
The Times
Pärt and Palestrina
St George's Bristol / March 2025
Phillips has described Palestrina as the “most consummate of renaissance composers”: it may surely be said that the Tallis Scholars are the consummate vocal ensemble ... the 10 Scholars immediately brought a shining warmth to the St George’s auditorium, the clarity of the polyphonic lines as notable as their impeccable diction.
The Guardian
'Chant'
Australia tour / October 2025
The tones of the ensemble were so crystal clear and refined, the writers scalp was prickling with delight ... Throughout the concert there was barely any sound from the audience. They were enraptured. Each time a work was complete, there was much applause.
Sydney Arts Guide
The Tallis Scholars are unarguably one of the great treasures of a-capella singing ... Their singing in these was unconstrained and full toned while fastidiously proportioned: subtle gradients of dynamics gave these lovely polyphonic gems fluid life and vigour.
South Australia InDaily
One didn’t have to be a devotee of Renaissance sacred music to be enchanted by the beauty of the sound produced by this ten-voice choir, but for any who weren’t, this concert would certainly have gone a long way towards achieving a conversion ... the unique, ethereal sound produced by the Scholars was mesmerising.
Australia Arts Review
Robert Fayrfax: Maria Plena Virtute
November 2024
This is a most distinguished disc. The singing is immaculate and highly disciplined; one would expect no less from this ensemble.
MusicWeb International
Fayrfax was ... dispatched throughout with the Tallis Scholars' robust clarity, purity and radiance.
The Sunday Times Culture Magazine
Four Fayrfax motets bringing his creative individuality into clear focus ... in this fabulous recording
BBC Radio 3
John Sheppard: Missa Cantate
October 2023
superbly polished, crystalline perfection - aren't we lucky that the singing is as magical as the music - perfect ensemble, impeccable tuning and a recording that allows everything to gleam and glitter - it's hard to believe the ensemble has been with us for half a century now, the sound is still so fresh and bright and new
BBC Radio 3
The mass is a treat for the ears. The Gloria is like a gathering wave, beginning humbly but gradually assembling a weight of sound. The Credo is by turns airy and bright, and then intense and searching. This is the musical equivalent of an ornate stained-glass window with the sun pouring through. The second Hosanna has the cleanness of spring water, tumbling over itself in waves. It is gorgeous.
The Arts Desk
As always, the Tallis Scholars’ performances are pure and technically close to perfection, the use of high keys adding extra brilliance to their already bright sound.
Financial Times
'Spem in alium', and other works by Tallis
Cadogan Hall / June 2022
It goes without saying that the singing of The Tallis Scholars throughout the evening was exquisite, the voices blending perfectly. The cadences were attractively calm as a result of the stability of the voices and their tuning.
Early Music Reviews
Josquin: Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie - Missa D'ung aultre amer - Missa Faysant regretz
October 2020
Tonal purity, articulation, ensemble spirit: everything here is sheer perfection...Phillips’ unaccompanied voices, mostly numbering nine, bring passion and warmth to every note, however complex the counterpoint’s web.
The Times
This is the final disc in The Tallis Scholars’ complete recording of Josquin des Pres’s masses. Perhaps it is just as well, because this reviewer is running out of superlatives for the music itself and for this choir’s performances of it.
Early Music Review
This glossily perfect performance pings with relish and crackles with energy. A superb end to a magnificent cycle of recordings.
Gramophone
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