Tenebrae

Nigel Short, formerly of the King's Singers, created the professional chamber choir Tenebrae to pursue a more adaptable approach to performance. Short and Barbara Pollock launched the ensemble in 2001, with Short continuing as artistic director from the beginning. Its first London appearance took place that same year and featured Short's The Dream of Herod, a work that also appeared on the choir's debut recording issued soon afterward. Concerts are presented entirely by candlelight, with singers moving through the venue, a practice that prompted Short and the choir to handle all lighting requirements internally. The repertoire spans Renaissance polyphony and newly commissioned scores from composers such as Judith Bingham, Owain Park, and Roderick Williams, beginning with Joby Talbot's Path of Miracles in 2005.

Tenebrae maintains an extensive schedule of international tours while remaining active across the United Kingdom, collaborating with groups including the London Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, and Academy of Ancient Music. Its 2012 recording of Victoria's Requiem Mass of 1605 received BBC Music Magazine's Best Choral Performance Award, an honor repeated for the 2016 release Brahms, Bruckner: Motets. The ensemble earned its first Grammy nomination that year for Music of the Spheres on the Bene Arte label. In 2017 Tenebrae inaugurated an annual Holy Week Festival at St. John's Smith Square, presenting its own performances alongside those of ensembles and artists such as the BBC Singers, Voces8, and violinist Lana Trotovsek. The Associate Artist program supplies mentorship for emerging professional singers, and additional workshops serve amateur musicians, ensembles, and students at disadvantaged schools. Three albums appeared in 2018, among them A Walk with Ivor Gurney recorded with the Aurora Orchestra, mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, and narrator Simon Callow. Further recordings arrived in 2022 with When Sleep Comes, featuring saxophonist Christian Forshaw, and the Christmas collection In Winter's House, both issued on Signum Classics in keeping with much of the choir's catalog.