Paul McCreesh

Paul McCreesh’s performances, whether they are by his own period band or by modern-instrument orchestras, are distinguished by their potent combination of scholarship and sonic impact. Since founding the Gabrieli Consort & Players in 1982, McCreesh has specialised in “liturgical reconstructions”, recreating the music and atmosphere of large-scale Renaissance and Baroque ecclesiastical celebrations in performance and on recordings. The first of these, A Venetian Coronation, won a Gramophone Award in 1990. Since then he has mounted Venetian Easter Mass, Vespers and Christmas services, along with a Lutheran Christmas and Biber’s massive Missa Salisburgensis. He built up a substantial discography on DG Archiv, including Handel oratorios and a magnificent English-language recording of Haydn’s The Creation, before founding his own imprint, Winged Lion, for which he has recorded A New Venetian Coronation and An English Coronation, exploring music associated with the 20th-century monarchy. He’s also undertaken large-scale works such as Purcell’s King Arthur and The Fairy Queen, Haydn’s The Seasons, Berlioz’s Grande Messe des morts, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Britten’s War Requiem.