When Peter Phillips conducted the Tallis Scholars at the Adelaide Festival in March 2020, he had no idea it would be their last performance in front of a live audience for 17 months. Which makes their return to Australia this month especially poignant and especially sweet. Phillips and his crack British choir are touring music connected with the fabled Choir of the Sistine Chapel, including a Tallis Scholars signature work, Allegri’s famous Miserere. It will be a welcome chance to hear a legendary ensemble that is approaching its 50th anniversary with little sign of slowing down.

The Tallis Scholars. Photo © Rodrigo Perez

The concerts, which take place in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, also include music by Josquin, Palestrina, Morales and Victoria, all of them composers with a link to the famous Papal Chapel, a venue that for centuries attracted the finest musicians in Europe. “I did want to guarantee a success,” Phillips laughs, “and it does tend to be when we do the Allegri and pieces related to it. But it’s the thought of the Sistine Chapel that’s so attractive, I think.”

Phillips’ program revolves around six composers...