Fretwork, Iestyn Davies & Nico Muhly
Lineup
About the Event
Launching Nico Muhly’s appointment as Kings Place Composer-in-Focus for 2027, this special concert reunites Muhly with friends and collaborators Fretwork and countertenor Iestyn Davies for a programme exploring the roots of his musical imagination.
Launching Nico Muhly’s appointment as Kings Place Composer-in-Focus for 2027, this special concert sees Muhly join acclaimed viol consort Fretwork and countertenor Iestyn Davies for a programme exploring the roots of his musical imagination.
Spanning five centuries, the programme places music by Byrd, Ferrabosco and Purcell alongside Muhly’s own compositions, drawing connections between Renaissance consort music, English song and contemporary composition. At its heart is the enduring In Nomine tradition, which inspired generations of composers and continues to resonate in Muhly’s work today.
Byrd’s moving Ye Sacred Muses, Purcell’s O Solitude and Fantasia Upon One Note sit alongside Muhly’s My Days, Slow (In Nomine in 5 parts), Four Traditional Songs and Old Bones, illuminating a continuing dialogue between past and present.
Performed by Fretwork and Iestyn Davies, with Muhly himself joining them, the concert opens his year as Composer-in-Focus by revealing some of the traditions, sounds and ideas that have shaped his music.
This event will last for approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes with an interval.
About Fretwork
In 2026, Fretwork celebrated its 40th anniversary with a performance at Wigmore Hall, with Sir George Benjamin, Ian Bostridge, Iestyn Davies and Susan Bickley. Over these decades, they have explored the core repertory of great English consort music from Taverner to Purcell, made classic recordings against which others are judged, and commissioned an entirely new repertory of music for viols.
The list of composers they have encouraged to create new works is like a roll call of the most prominent writers of our time: Sir George Benjamin, Michael Nyman, Sir John Tavener, Gavin Bryars, Elvis Costello, Alexander Goehr, John Woolrich, Orlando Gough, Sally Beamish, Tan Dun, Barry Guy, Thea Musgrave, John Paul Jones, Nico Muhly, Sir James MacMillan and many others.
They have expanded their repertory to include music spanning over 500 years, from the first printed consort music in Venice in 1501 to music written this year. And, in between, everything that can be played on a consort of viols: Byrd and Schubert, Purcell and Shostakovich, Gibbons and Britten, Dowland and Grieg. Recent albums have been devoted to the music of Arvo Pärt, Orlando Gibbons, Nico Muhly and John Jenkins. This year will see the release of discs devoted to French music, À la recherche du temps perdu, and the complete five-part consort music of John Jenkins.
The future holds many exciting projects b