Profile

Patrick Allies is Artistic Director of Siglo de Oro.

Patrick began his musical education as a chorister at the Temple Church in London, under Stephen Layton. He sang in Gloucester Cathedral Choir before taking up a Choral Scholarship to study Music at King’s College London, graduating in 2010 with First Class Honours. Patrick went on to postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge where he sang in Jesus College Choir. Patrick is currently a PhD student in Music at the University of Oxford.

While at university, Patrick founded Siglo de Oro, a choir that performs both renaissance and contemporary music. In 2014 the group made its professional debut at the Spitalﬁelds Festival, of which The Financial Times said: ‘Siglo de Oro, under the assured direction of Patrick Allies, performed with vivacity and poise.’ Since then, the group has performed at the Barber Institute, the Holy Week and Christmas Festivals at St John’s Smith Square, and made regular appearances on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune.

Under Patrick's direction, Siglo de Oro has made four acclaimed recordings with Delphian Records. Gramophone described the first disc, which included eight new commissions for choir and saxophone, as 'so invigorating... this one hits you with its character and depth'. The second featured the world premiere of a late-Renaissance mass by Hieronymus Praetorius. BBC Music Magazine made it Choral and Song Album of the Month, and said: 'here is a choir in which all the elements are held in perfect equilibrium. Patrick Allies ponders every note before moulding lines whose suppleness in turn coalesce into a living breathing whole'.

Patrick is in demand as workshop leader, in particular on the subject of the performance of Renaissance polyphony, and has taken up invitations to give sessions for the Thames Valley, Eastern, Midlands and South-West Early Music Forums. He also works regularly as a writer on music, producing programme notes for the Gabrieli Consort and St John's Smith Square.