Marking 2023’s cultural milestones
posted on 09/06/23
2023 presents huge opportunity for cultural celebration, not that MRT requires any excuse, with three quite contrasting tours: Sir Christopher Wren, The Thomas Tallis Trail and Celebrating Picasso.
Sir Christopher Wren, 26–30 September 2023
Revel in the ‘reticent grandeur’ of the works of England’s most famous architect. The tour takes place over five days and will trace Wren’s oeuvre from his first major buildings, Pembroke College Chapel in Cambridge and the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, through to his last great masterpieces, to the Royal Hospital at Greenwich and St Paul’s Cathedral. Along the way we see a selection of his churches in the City and Westminster, visit off-limits parts of St Paul’s, travel out to Hampton Court and attend a concert at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The tour is led by Simon Bradley, distinguished historian of English architecture and author of a forthcoming study of Wren.
Our celebration of Sir Christopher Wren is not limited to just one tour. In October, there is a series of three webinars by Simon Thurley, former head of English Heritage and a highly engaging speaker. The titles of this series will include:
– Mon 2 October: A guilded youth
– Mon 9 October: Patrons, politics and popularity
– Mon 16 October: City, court and country
Furthermore, in July Martin Randall will be leading two culture days that are dedicated to Wren’s City churches & of course St Paul’s.
The Thomas Tallis Trail, 20–22 October 2023
Martin Randall Festivals are delighted to collaborate with The Tallis Scholars once again. We cannot conceive of a more fitting way to mark their 50th anniversary than with four concerts taking place in the four of the buildings where Thomas Tallis was known to have worked: Hampton Court, Dover College, Canterbury Cathedral and Waltham Abbey.
“The relationship between Martin Randall Travel and The Tallis Scholars is one of the most fruitful in our history. After their first appearance in our Naples festival in 2006, we have engaged them nearly every year since, in Italy, Portugal and England. They have been the mainstay in all four iterations of the Divine Office festival in Oxford, performing in all eight of the monastic hours over a twenty-hour period. The 2023 iteration will be the third of The Tallis Trail.” – Martin Randall.
Celebrating Picasso, 21–29 November 2023
A biographical tour exploring the life and honouring the works of the 20th century’s most influential artist. Led by hispanist and renowned Picasso expert Gijs van Hensbergen, the tour will include a host of special exhibitions: The Echoes of Picasso (Malaga), Picasso, the Sacred and the Profane (Madrid), Miró–Picasso (Barcelona) and more. Alongside these memorable exhibitions, the tour seeks to centre its appreciation of the artist at the sites of inspiration, experience café culture in Málaga’s Café Chinitas and the infamous Els Quatre Gats.
