Owain Park introduces new commission Midnight Poem

VOLUME 1 - Available on Amazon, iTunes and Spotify TWO VOICES is the debut album from soprano duo Fair Oriana. It celebrates the two singers’ trademark vocal blend and “beautifully clear” sound, with repertoire chosen to represent the variety of their output and the genres they most love. It is divided into four volumes, each exploring a different sentiment: happiness, intrigue, passion and loss. At the core of the recording are Thomas Morley’s little known Twelve Canzonets to Two Voices (1595) a series of intimate and charming acapella duets. These have been divided between the four volumes and are interspersed with other chamber music. For this album four of these canzonets feature viol in place of a tenor voice - instruments taking vocal lines being a common practice at the time. Rooted in their passion for, and specialism in, early music, Two Voices is packed with a variety of styles from Elizabethan song to contemporary commissions, with highlights of medieval, folk and baroque along the way. Many of the chosen pieces feature in their current touring programmes The Trials & Triumphs of Oriana, Silver Baroque and A Noble Thief. Fair Oriana’s programmes tend to combine different genres, typically mixing the ancient with the brand new, and their debut album is no exception! Two Voices - Volume 1 features four of the more playful Morley duets (representing happiness) alongside two additional pieces: Fraser Wilson’s Come live with Me, a new setting of the traditional folk song, and Tobias Hume’s Fain would I change that note, a solo song uniquely arranged here for the two singers in a call and response style. With a melody that cries out for decoration and spontaneity, this was a particular favourite to record! Accompanying each volume as a response to it’s music, and reflected in each cover design, is an original painting by artist Gillian Barrett. Angela Hicks and Penelope Appleyard: Sopranos Harry Buckoke: Viola da gamba Sam Brown: Lute Video: Pixaudio, VOCES8 Records, Sound engineering: Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde, VOCES8 Records Video editing: @JacobEwensRecording

A commission by composer Fraser Wilson for our programme the Trials & Triumphs of Oriana, which sets the text in both Latin and English.

Recorded in the beautiful acoustic of Waltham Abbey Church this is the soprano duet Paratum cor meum deus by composer John Blow. Fair Oriana is a duo made up of British sopranos Angela Hicks and Penelope Appleyard. They are passionate about early music and bringing this to new audiences.

Recorded in the beautiful acoustic of Waltham Abbey Church this is the soprano duet Go ye my canzonets from Thomas Morley's collection of canzonets for two voices. Fair Oriana is a duo made up of British sopranos Angela Hicks and Penelope Appleyard. They are passionate about early music and bringing this to new audiences.