At previous CRMSS courses, the repertoire has conformed to a given theme, usually based around a national style or a particular composer. The one exception to this was at our very first CRMSS course, back in 2018. At this course the repertoire was selected to represent as wide a range of styles and composers as possible, and to fit the singers who attended CRMSS 2018.
At CRMSS Atlantic 2025, we took this approach again with respect to including music from all composers and national styles. Instead of focussing of a certain type of repertoire, we instead geared our efforts toward preparing the music for our nightly Compline services as well as Choral Evensong and Mass at our host, St Peter's Cathedral, in the heart of Charlottetown PEI.
We learned movements from a Mass Ordinary setting (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus & Benedictus, and Agnus Dei) as well as some motets that were appropriate to the time of year.
We performed music by some of your favourite composers, namely: William Byrd, Tomàs Luis de Victoria, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Orlando di Lasso. There were so many great composers writing during the Renaissance all over Europe: Henricus Isaac, Thomas Tallis, Cipriano de Rore, Josquin des Prez, and others.
What types of singing happened at CRMSS Atlantic 2025?
Choral
As mentioned above, a major focus of our weekend together was on singing together as one choir, preparing sacred a capella music from the Renaissance for performance during Evensong and Mass.
Solo
While the majority of our time was 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 from any time period.
Solo singing and good vocal technique are core parts of any CRMSS course and we offered individual and small group vocal technique sessions to all participants who requested it.
Participants were enthusiastically encouraged to bring their own solo repertoire, and we suggested works 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. While this music wasn't performed at Mass or Evensong, it is nonetheless an important part of the CRMSS experience, and was included in the weekend's schedule.
It is in these small group settings that we can best explore secular repertoire from the Renaissance, and we chose relevant secular repertoire to sing in these contexts.
Singing at these church services was a major focus for our weekend together.
Daily evening church services
On our three evenings together (Friday the 1st, Saturday the 2nd, and Sunday the 3rd) we sang a Compline service at the very end of the day. Compline, sung in English, is a simple service and is largely made up of plainsong, with a few simple motets included for contrast. It is designed not as something pressured or necessarily to be worked towards, but rather as a way of bringing our day together to a peaceful close - precisely as the service was designed to do in its original monastic context. These three services allowed us to come together as a course and to experience the daily rhythm of liturgical music making that formed the wider context for most of the music we will be studying, even if only for three days. Given that CRMSS Atlantic 2025 only lasted for one weekend, these three Compline services had a special meaning for us.
During the weekend, there was one session where we didn't sing! Greg and Sharang led a "Flipped Classroom" quick-fire research session into vocal pedagogy in the Renaissance.
At CRMSS Pacific 2025, Dr. Kate Helsen presented a brief from thorough explainer of the English Chapel Royal.
As part of our Harmonia Caelorum theme at CRMSS Ontario 2025, Dr. Kate Helsen gave a stunning lecture entitled "The Harmony of the Spheres: What?"
in which she explained the basis of the medieval concept and then offered some powerful arguments for how it might apply in our modern scientific world.
Christina Hutten has given two lectures at CRMSS Pacific in 2024 and 2025. These have been fascinating lecture-recitals on various aspects of Renaissance
keyboard repertoire and instruments.
Sarah Poon, who ran CRMSS Pacific 2024's Viol Weekend and organized the Viol Petting Zoo, presented a session designed for non-string players introducing
them to the instrument.
We were again delighted to welcome Dr. Susan Lewis, Vice-Provost (Academic Programs) of Western University and Professor of Musicology in the Department
of Research and Composition at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, to CRMSS Ontario 2025. She gave a talk on the intersections between divine and earthly splendour
through the prism of Roman villa culture in the Renaissance.
A very special "fireside chat" was led by Greg Skidmore, during which he spoke at length with CRMSS Patron and
Director of The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips, about his life, the history of The Tallis Scholars, how Renaissance polyphony works, and much else
besides!
Immediately after a short recital given by the CRMSS International Scholars at CRMSS Ontario 2024, there was an "Ask me anything" session in which our
visitors from the UK were asked about the master's degree course they are studying on, as well as details of their individual journeys into professional singing.
Andrew Pickett gave an updated version of his popular talk from CRMSS 2019 entitled “It's Just Intonation: A practical guide to singing in tune, without
all the drama”.
Dr. Kate Helsen, our CRMSS Academic Lead, gave a lecture that told us the story of how Thomas Tallis’ 40-voice motet Spem in alium came to be, and
how important a player Alessandro Striggio was in that story.
Greg Skidmore led a round-table discussion entitled "Renaissance Music Performance in Canada: Past, Present, and Future". On the panel were David Skulski,
Christina Hutten, Gerald King, Sharang Sharma, and Jonathan Stuchbery. The discussion involved descriptions of early experiments at the beginning of the Early
Music movement, topics related to the current state of post-secondary education in Renaissance music, how to programme Renaissance music for a modern audiences,
and much more.
Our very special guest, Dr. Susan Lewis, Vice-Provost (Academic Programs) of Western University and Professor of Musicology in the Department of Research
and Composition at the Don Wright Faculty of Music gave a talk on her research interests:
Renaissance Garden Culture and the Madrigal in England
Dr. Kate Helsen, our Academic Lead at CRMSS Ontario 2023, gave a talk entitled
William Byrd: Wanted dead, alive, or Catholic
Our CRMSS 2022 Guest Artist,
Robert Hollingworth, gave a talk entitled
Method to the Madness
in which he outlined the history of his group
I Fagiolini, as well as its performance philosophy.
Dr. Kate Helsen
secured special access for us to rarely viewed manuscripts and prints from the Renaissance held in the archives of Western University.
Dr. Aaron James
gave a talk about how musicians in the time of Josquin des Prez actually learned music as students, using a system known as the Guidonian Hand, and entitled
A Helping Hand: Guido, Hexachords, Solmization, and Musicianship in the Renaissance.
Dr. Kate Helsen
showed us how Josquin des Prez was actually a pretty slippery character to pin down - who was he, actually? How many 'Josquins' were there? Her talk was entitled
Josquin: Choose your own adventure.
Dr. Patrick Murray
took us through the process of preparing a piece of Renaissance polyphony for modern day performance in his talk entitled
Anything but ‘Ordinary:’ Bringing a Renaissance mass to life in contemporary performance.
Sharang Sharma
took us through an introduction to some practical methods we can use to help learn the required musical skills to sight-read Renaissance music and chant
effectively.
Dr. Roseen Giles
gave a paper entitled “‘Don't worry, this will sing itself', and other musical fictions" about the practice of
musica ficta.
Andrew Pickett
presented “‘Drop the beat’ - Introduction to the theory and practice of vocal ensemble intonation”.
Dr. Kate Helsen
introduced us to some of her fascinating new research in “What's in a Riff - Chant DNA in modal polyphony”.
Greg Skidmore, Matt Long,
and
Emily Atkinson
took part in a round table discussion led by Dr. Giles entitled “Being a Professional Singer in the UK”, taking questions on every aspect of their professional
lives in the UK.
Lucas Harris
gave a lecture entitled “Musica Transalpina: The madrigal in Italy & England, c1600”
Dr. Kate Helsen
gave us a crash course in Renaissance musical notation with her workshop entitled “Partly Useful: Renaissance notation”
Dr. Troy Ducharme
of the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University wrapped our heads around Gesualdo's wild sounds with “Beyond Rules: Counterpoint Technique, Musical
Meaning, and Style in Selected Works of Gesualdo.”