Litany for the Whale

"A landmark for Cage" - Gramophone

have been performing, reading, looking at, and listening to John Cage's work for years — I number myself amongst those who consider him to be an important composer and not simply an important influence. One of the earliest Theatre of Voices concerts, at London's Almeida Festival in 1990, was devoted primarily to Cage's music, and, since then, I seem to have been working toward this recording. - Paul Hillier

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THEATRE OF VOICES is one of America's foremost vocal ensembles and annually tours throughout the United States and Europe. Founder and artistic director Paul Hillier created the group to be flexible in number, focusing on three main areas of specialty: medieval and renaissance polyphony, Anglo American folk psalmody (including the Shape Note tradition), and contemporary composers of the "new tonality" school.

The idea for the group was conceived as early as 1989 while Hillier was still artistic director of the Hilliard Ensemble, but looking for ways to expand into different styles of singing while performing the early music of his choice. Under the name Theatre of Voices, he began creating new projects ranging from Proensa, a recital of Troubadour songs to programs devoted to the music of John Cage and Arvo Pärt. Hillier began to form the American nucleus of the present ensemble after moving to the University of California, Davis as Professor of Music in 1990. The group debuted at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in June 1992 is now based in Bloomington, Indiana, where Hillier is director of the Early Music Institute at the Indiana University School of Music.

Theatre of Voices has performed in the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, Radio Frankfurt, the Schauspielhaus Berlin, Vredenburg in Utrecht, the Frick Museum and Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and on Minnesota Public Radio's nationally syndicated program "St. Paul Sunday". In recent years Theatre of Voices has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe including collaborative concerts with Steve Reich & Musicians.

Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices were the subject of a series of six radio shows produced by Washington DC's " Millenium of Music" and syndicated nationally. The BBC program "Behind the Masque" presented an in-depth interview and biography of Hillier that was broadcast in the fall 1996. Hillier's book Arvo Pärt was published in 1997 by Oxford University Press.

Theatre of Voices records extensively for harmonia mundi USA where its recordings of medieval and renaissance music have enjoyed popular success. Recordings include The Age of Cathedrals - music of Perotin and the Notre Dame School (HMU 907157), Cantigas at the Court of Dom Dinis - a collection of medieval Portuguese songs (HMU 907129), Monastic Song - the music of 12th Century composer Peter Abelard (HMU 907209), and the disc of Carols from the Old & New Worlds (HMU 907079) which will be followed up with volume II this fall. Recordings devoted to repertoire of Josquin, Mouton and Lassus will soon be joined by music of Tallis, Byrd and other great composers from the Golden Age of English music. Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices' most recent contemporary music releases have included two highly acclaimed CDs: Arvo Pärt's De Profundis (HMU 907182) (a Billboard Top Ten CD) and more recently Litany for the Whale - a collection of works by John Cage (HMU 907187).