Nigel Short is a British singer who is the founder and artistic director of the choir

Tenebrae Tenebrae (—Latin for "darkness") is a religious service of Western Christianity held during the three days preceding Easter Day, and characterized by gradual extinguishing of candles, and by a "strepitus" or "loud noise" taking place in total ...

and Tenebrae Consort. He was previously a member of

The King's Singers The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 19 ...

. Short was a chorister at Solihull Parish Church. He then studied singing and piano at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

before singing as a countertenor with a number of ensembles including

The Tallis Scholars The Tallis Scholars is a British professional early music vocal ensemble normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers. They specialise in performing ''a cappella'' sacred vocal music. History The group was formed ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

and

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City o ...

choirs and

The King's Consort The King's Consort is a British period music orchestra founded in 1980 by the English conductor and harpsichordist Robert King (b. 1960, Wombourne). The ensemble has an associated choral group, Choir of The King's Consort. Together, they have m ...

. He then pursued a solo career in opera and oratorio, singing several roles in opera productions in Europe and for the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

and

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and ...

. In 1993 Short, then aged 27, joined

. It was while performing with this ensemble that Short conceived of creating a larger group of singers capable of more "passionate sounds" combined with "the precision of ensembles like The King's Singers", and a more "theatrical" style of performing within religious buildings, involving movement around the performance venue as well as dramatic use of lighting and ambiance. The result was Tenebrae, founded in 2001. The choir was launched that year with a performance of Nigel Short's own composition, ''The Dream of Herod''. The choir has extensively toured to critical acclaim, and won the Choral category of '' BBC Music Magazines Awards in 2012. In 2009 Short was appointed Director of Music at the church of

St Bartholomew-the-Great The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, sometimes abbreviated to Great St Bart's, is a medieval church in the Church of England's Diocese of London located in Smithfield within the City of London. The building was founded as an Augusti ...

, London, where he directed the professional Priory Church Choir. He held this post until 2015. Nigel Short is also a recording producer for

Signum Records Signum Records, also known as Signum Classics, is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997. The label began with a project to make the first recording of the complete works of Thomas Tallis. The artists for the Tallis recordin ...

, producing the albums ''A Choral Christmas'' with the

Rodolfus Choir The Rodolfus Choir was founded by Ralph Allwood in 1984. It is a choir of singers aged 16-23. Many members have previously taken part in Rodolfus Choral Courses (formerly the Eton Choral Courses), though membership of the choir is open to all via ...

conducted by

Ralph Allwood Ralph Allwood (born 30 April 1950) is a British choral conductor, composer and teacher, who currently holds the appointment of Fellow Commoner advising in Music at Queens' College, Cambridge. He was previously the Precentor and Director of Mus ...

''A Choral Christmas'' booklet
Signum SIGCD 257 and ''Invisible Stars'' with the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin conducted by Desmond Earley. In 2021 Short and Tenebrae worked with the

Self-Isolation Choir A virtual choir, online choir or home choir is a choir whose members do not meet physically but who work together online from separate places. Some choirs just sing for the joy of the shared experience, while others record their parts alone and se ...

Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one ...

's 40-part ''

Spem in alium ''Spem in alium'' (Latin for "Hope in any other") is a 40-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed in c. 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. It is considered by some critics to be the greatest piece of English early music. H. B. ...

''. The Tenebrae singers recorded each of the 40 parts, and Short conducted 40 rehearsals of 90 minutes, broadcast live on Youtube and available for choir members to watch again, in July and August. Choir members were invited to contribute recordings of their own contributions, to be edited into a performance to be broadcast in October 2021. The score used was that prepared by Hugh Keyte in 2020 for the Thomas Tallis Society.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Short, Nigel Living people British choral conductors British male conductors (music) Countertenors 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)