Renaissance Back to School: Music for Learning and Scholarship
Tutor: Stéphanie Dyer
All Saints Church, Parish Centre Main Hall, Hoole Road, Chester CH2 3HZ
VOICES & INSTRUMENTS A=440
BOOK ONLINE BY 22 AUGUST 2026 for early bird discount
All singers and instrumentalists are welcome: winds – cornetts, curtals, recorders, sackbuts and shawms – and string players, plus continuo who can bring their own instruments. Modern string, wind, and brass players are also warmly invited, provided they can read concert-pitch notation and blend sensitively with the group.
The inspiration for this workshop comes from the historical engine rooms of Renaissance music: the university towns, collegiate chapels and elite choir schools across Europe where the great masters first learned – and later taught – the intricate art of polyphony. In the 16th and 17th centuries, music was part of the Quadrivium, studied alongside arithmetic, geometry and astronomy.
This workshop brings a diverse European repertoire to Chester, focusing specifically on substantial works that double as masterclasses in compositional design, and exploring how major figures used structural devices, imitative canons and acoustic layouts to challenge and delight singers and players alike. The day will be balanced between technical problem-solving and the immediate satisfaction of putting the music together; rather than saving everything for a massive sing-through at the end of the day, we will work through each piece sequentially, building to a satisfying, full run-through of each work as we go.
In the morning, we will warm up our ears, voices and instruments with Palestrina’s definitive textbook model of clean eight-part line management, before moving into a fascinating side-by-side study of Josquin’s iconic six-part ‘Praeter rerum seriem’ and Sethus Calvisius’s clever 1603 Protestant text adaptation, focusing on structural rhythmic security and a seamless ensemble blend. In the afternoon, we will tackle Alonso Lobo’s brilliant double-choir ‘Ave Maria’ – where four of the eight voices are derived from the other four – and Hassler’s magnificent twelve-voice triple-choir texture, shifting our focus to multi-choir spatial awareness, antiphonal echoing and sensitive dynamics. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the brilliant minds behind these structurally stimulating works.
Repertoire list
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Surge, illuminare, Jerusalem (Italy, 1575) – 8 voices (Double Choir)
Josquin des Prez & Sethus Calvisius: Praeter rerum seriem (Flanders / Germany, c. 1505 & 1603) – 6 voices
Alonso Lobo: Ave Maria (Spain, 1602) – 8 voices (Double Choir)
Hans Leo Hassler: Duo Seraphim clamabant (Germany/Venice, 1615) – 12 voices (Triple Choir)
The expected timetable is as follows, but may be subject to minor changes on the day.
10.00 Registration and tea/coffee
10.30 Morning session (with short comfort break)
12.45 Lunch break
14.00 Afternoon session (with tea/coffee break)
17:00 Conclusion
Venue
All Saints Church Parish Centre, Main Hall, Vicarage Road, Hoole, Chester CH2 3HZ
The church is easy to get to by car. From the south, come via the A55 and take the exit marked A56 for Chester. From the north, come down the M53 and take junction 12 marked A56 Chester. Continue on the A56 towards Chester, following signs for Hoole Road Hotels. The church is on the left hand side and is accessed from Vicarage Road. Click here for the link on Google Maps.
There is parking in the church car park, and on street parking on Vicarage Road and Hoole Road – sometimes the car park can get busy if there are other events on at the same time. We will be using the main hall for this workshop, which has its own double door entrance to the right of the church.
The venue is a 15 minute walk from Chester Rail station.
There is a Costa Coffee within walking distance, as well as cafes and shops in Hoole Village, about 5 minutes away from the church, heading into town and towards the station.
Please join as a member before submitting your workshop application form.
Workshop fees
Please book as soon as possible – apply by 22 August to benefit from the early bird discount. All applications should be received by 29 August so we can prepare sufficient scores for all participants (please contact us if you can only apply after this date).
- £20 for NWEMF members (and other EMF members) before 22 August (£25 if booked after this date)
- £25 for non-members before 22 August (£30 if booked after this date)
- £5 Full-time students
Payment details
Please send the appropriate workshop fee by bank transfer to:
Account Name ‘N W E M F’ (include the spaces between each letter)
Sort code 09-01-56
Account number 79658106
Payment reference – “12Sept” followed by your own surname
You can also pay by cheque made payable to “NWEMF” (no spaces between letters) or by cash – either bring it with you on the day (let us know that you intend to do this), or send it to the Treasurer (email treasurer@nwemf.org for the address). You can also contact the organiser, Kirsten Flores, directly by email at nwemf.chair@gmail.com.
Please complete the online application below (please complete a separate form for each person attending).
If you are attending as a family, please complete only one form, and in the “Any other information” box, add the names and voice/instrument for each person attending, along with note of the total due.
Your place on the workshop will not be confirmed until payment has been received.
Thank you – we will be in touch shortly
In the rare event that any technical issues persist after a few attempts, simply email Kirsten with the required information to nwemf.chair@gmail.com.
If you would prefer to download and print the application form, click here.
The Tutor
Trombonist Stéphanie Dyer enjoys a multifaceted career as a historical performance specialist, modern musician and educator. Born and raised in South Wales, Stephanie studied at King’s College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music, London, and Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland. She performs with the internationally renowned historic brass group His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, of which she has been a member since 2016; and is principal trombone of the Orkest van de Achttiende Eeuw (Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century) in the Netherlands, one of the most distinguished period-instrument orchestras in the world.
Stéphanie’s performance activities are exceptionally diverse: equally at home on the concert platform, in theatres and in commercial studios, she featured in the BBC One Songs of Praise Christmas Special 2024, ‘Candlelit Christmas’. In theatre, she can be heard in the West End (Wicked, The Book of Mormon) and in major touring productions (Miss Saigon, Mary Poppins, Mean Girls). She holds the trombone chair for the highly anticipated 2026 UK premiere production of the Broadway hit Something Rotten! at the Manchester Opera House, and recently served as trombonist and cover conductor for Disney’s Aladdin (UK/Ireland Tour, 2023–25). Her extensive discography spans historical performance projects to video game soundtracks.
A devoted teacher, Stéphanie is Baroque Trombone professor at the Royal Academy of Music and teaches trombone at the University of Cambridge. She is also a passionate workshop leader across the UK and internationally, including for the regional Early Music Fora (2021–), Beauchamp Adult Early Music Course (2024–) and Colchester Early Music (2026), the International Early Music Summer School in Ścinawka Górna, Poland (2017–), the Warsaw Sackbut & Cornett Festival (2021–) and for Alta Capella Vianensis in the Netherlands (2022–).
