O clap your hands

Info & track listings

Orlando Gibbons was born in 1583 in Oxford. When he was 5 years old the family moved to Cambridge, where he became a chorister at King’s College from 1596 to 1598. He became a student there a year later and took his BMus degree in 1606. He probably sang as a Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal from about 1603, remaining in service there as an organist, eventually becoming the senior organist by 1625.

He took his DMus at Oxford in 1622, and was appointed Organist of Westminster Abbey in 1623. He died suddenly in 1625. His small output of sacred music was written exclusively for the Anglican Church.

The Choir of Manchester Cathedral consists of 16 trebles (boys and girls) and 9 lay-clerks who are all professional singers in and around Manchester. In addition to singing the choral services in the Cathedral, the choir takes on a number of outside engagements as well as making frequent tours.

The choir can also frequently be heard on radio and television programmes. The Rose Consort of Viols takes its name from the the celebrated family of viol-makes whose work spanned the growth and flowering of English consort music. With its unique blend of intimacy, intricacy, passion, and flamboyance, the repertory forms the basis of the Rose Consort’s programmes.