CRMSS x I Fagiolini

At our first week-long CRMSS Atlantic course, we're very excited to be linking up with an established professional ensemble for the first time. CRMSS Atlantic 2026 is, therefore, "the I Fagiolini CRMSS course"! I Fagiolini is one of the UK's leading vocal groups specializing in one-per-part singing as well as dramatic and innovative presentations of Renaissance repertoire - sacred and secular. All of the staff will be made up of members of the group, and Robert Hollingworth, its founder and director will be with us for the whole week.

La Bella Italia: Music from the birthplace of the Renaissance

I Fagiolini is well-known for its interpretations of Italian madrigal repertoire, in particular the work of Claudio Monteverdi and Carlo Gesualdo. In order to make use of their unique expertise, our repertoire theme at CRMSS Atlantic 2026 will be "La Bella Italia: Music from the birthplace of the Renaissance". We can interpret this widely, but this is music very familiar and dear to the members of I Fagiolini who will be at the course.

To Monteverdi and Gesualdo, we'll add Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina of course, but also Tomas Luis de Victoria (who studied and worked in Italy and was personal friends with Palestrina), Luca Marenzio, and perhaps even Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini on the solo singing side of things. Also we can include traveling musicians from northern Europe who were influenced by their time in Italy or indeed made their names working in Italian capitals: Cipriano de Rore, Josquin des Prez, and Orlande de Lassus among many others.

The Italian madrigal was so influential throughout Europe from the early decades of the 16th century through to the birth of the Baroque. This repertoire will be a special focus at CRMSS Atlantic 2026.

If your own Italian diction isn't in tip-top shape, fear not! As well as being world-leading performers of this music, all of the staff members at CRMSS Atlantic 2026 are expert teachers as well, and diction is one of their obsessions. Italian is a lot easier than it looks on the page and the pronunciation of the language itself is lyrical and lends itself to excellent singing. You'll love this deep dive into the language, the culture, and sunshine, and coffee, and the passion of La Bella Italia!

Choral

A major focus of the week's work is singing together as one large choir, exploring larger scale, mainly sacred a capella music of the Renaissance. The specific repertoire chosen will depend on the distribution of voices amongst the course participants.

We will also divide the participants into two (or perhaps three) smaller chamber groups which work separately, and look at different repertoire from what is covered in the tutti group.

Solo

While the majority of our time is spent preparing ensemble music in choral and small group contexts, good solo vocal technique is of course essential for good singing. This applies to music written in any style and during any time period, including the Renaissance.

Solo singing and good vocal technique are core parts of CRMSS and we believe that solo and ensemble singing can sit comfortably side by side, one informing and enhancing the other.

Participants are enthusiastically encouraged to bring their own solo repertoire written before 1630.

Consort singing: one and two per part vocal chamber music

Any serious amount of time spent getting to know the music of the Renaissance must include small-ensemble singing. The tutors will chose groups and assign them repertoire before the week begins, sending out scores and reference recordings so participants can prepare in advance and come with one or two pieces already learned.

It is in these small group settings that we can best explore secular repertoire from the Renaissance. We believe it is of particular importance that the secular music of this period be covered, as it provides a more vivid picture of the sorts of musical lives these musicians actually lived, be they composers or singers or both.

As with solo repertoire, there will hopefully be opportunities to work on small ensemble music that participants bring themselves.

The pre-formed small groups will all be at least two-singers-per-part. Everyone will be allocated into one of these small groups, and perhaps more than one if numbers allow. There may also be time set aside for even smaller, one-per-part consorts to form and experiment with other repertoire, both on an ad hoc basis and under the direction of a member of staff.