One of the foremost vocal chamber ensembles active today, New York Polyphony is renowned for its innovative programming ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions. On Sky of my Heart, the selection spans over four hundred years of musical history and bears witness to this vocal ensemble’s commitment to discovering and developing new works that augment its core early music repertoire.

Some of the works performed here deal with the essential themes of life, death and the afterlife and have been inspired by personal bereavement (Smith) or by the impact of Covid confinement (Moravec). Others are steeped in a spiritual atmosphere, whether religious (Byrd, Moody, Tavener and McGlade) or meditative (Naito). The contemporary works, some of which were written at the behest of New York Polyphony, are firmly rooted in the rich history of plainsong, while at the same time featuring some very contemporary harmonies.

The vocal ensemble is joined by LeStrange Viols in three pieces: My Days by Nico Muhly, a ritualised tribute to the early 17th-century English composer Orlando Gibbons, The Silver Swan by Gibbons himself, which brings the programme to an appropriately quiet and poignant close, and Byrd’s Agnus Dei. The viol ensemble adds a colour that is both appropriate for Gibbons and original in its treatment of sound.