Composer, conductor, bass singer and organist Owain Park is the leader of acclaimed British vocal ensemble the Gesualdo Six. Since forming in 2014, the group has rapidly earned a reputation for its seamless blend of male voices and innovative programming, often comprising a cappella works taken largely from the Renaissance and the present day. This repertoire is explored further on Lux Aeterna (‘eternal light’), the group’s sixth recording for Hyperion Records, but is thematically organised around musical responses to grief, mourning and loss. 

Neil Cox (b. 1955) Donna McKevitt (b.1970) and Sir John Tavener (1944-2013) use texts originating in the early church for their settings, which sit easily alongside works by Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585), William Byrd (1540-1623) and Cristóbal De Morales (c.1500–1553), whose glorious Communio Lux aeterna gives this collection its name. 

Other works include Owain Park’s Sequence: In Parenthesis, written to commemorate the centenary of WWI, which incorporates spoken excerpts from a lengthy narrative poem by Welsh poet David Jones, in addition to snatches of popular songs of the day, to unnerving effect....