Tallis Festival Tallis Festival The Tallis Festival, hosted by Exmoor Singers of London, forms the Tallis Festival Choir for just one weekend every 12 to 18 months. The Festival always includes Thomas Tallis' Spem in Alium for 40-part choir, but in addition has commissioned new 40-part works by modern composers, as companion pieces to Spem in Alium. In 2007 the Festival was recognised by the BBC for its contribution to new music and highlights from the Festival were broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 28 October 2007. The Festival originated from "Tallis Performance Weekends", held periodically over a number of years. The
Thomas Tallis words of Peter Ackroyd. Tallis was capable of switching the style of his compositions to suit the different monarchs' vastly different demands. Tallis stood out among other important composers of the time, including Christopher Tye and Robert White. Walker observes: "He had more versatility of style than either, and his general handling of his material was more consistently easy and certain." Tallis was also a teacher of William Byrd and of Elway Bevin, an organist of Bristol Cathedral and Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Tallis married around 1552; his wife Joan outlived him by four years. They apparently had no