The Marian Consort (TMC) is an award-winning vocal ensemble known for bold and thrilling performances of music spanning the centuries. Led by founder and director Rory McCleery, TMC is noted for its flexible, intimate approach, with a clarity of texture and subtlety of interpretation that illuminates the music for performer and audience alike. TMC is featured regularly on U.K. and international television and radio (including BBC Two’s recent flagship documentary series Art That Made Us), and has released fourteen recordings to critical acclaim, garnering a variety of accolades and awards including the Diapason D’Or, Presto Classical Album of the Year, and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Recent performance highlights include appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, the BBC Proms, Festival Europäische Kirchenmusik Schwäbisch Gmünd (broadcast on German national radio), Miller Theatre at Columbia University, and Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan Recital Hall (filmed for Japanese television).
Noted for "performances that glow with golden purity and soul," TMC performs music from the twelfth century to the present day, with a focus on championing marginalized and lesser-known Renaissance composers such as Vicente Lusitano, Raffaella Aleotti, and Jean Maillard. Praised for its engaging and innovative programming, TMC also works with living composers through its New Music Program, commissioning extensively alongside mentoring developing composers through the Emerging Voices scheme: TMC has premiered over 30 works to date, and in recent years has commissioned Dani Howard, David Fennessy, Anna Semple, Laurence Osborn, and Electra Perivolaris. In 2024, TMC is a New Music partner with Choir & Organ magazine and a Royal Philharmonic Society Composers Program partner.
TMC is also a pioneer of projects which move beyond the confines of the traditional concert, notably Breaking the Rules, a staged concert-drama based on the life and crimes of Carlo Gesualdo called "daring and vivid" by The Guardian; Lusitano Remixed, a touring surroundsound installation made with Roderick Williams; and most recently Face to Face, a multimedia performance experience combining film, sound art, movement, Italian Renaissance madrigals, and new music by Joanna Ward developed in collaboration with Britten Pears Arts. TMC joins forces with ensembles and soloists of international repute to give concerts, commission, and record: recent collaborations have included Daniel Pioro, Britten Sinfonia, {oh!} Orkiestra, and Illyria Consort.
TMC is committed to inspiring a love of singing and creativity in people of all ages, with a particular focus on children and young people, and leads workshops, performs school concerts, and co-creates new music with partners in West Somerset and Oxford. We have an avid online following, and present performance videos and podcasts online, in collaboration with prize-winning poets, actors, writers, artists, academics, composers, and musicians, reaching an audience of millions.
