Entertainment

‘Rolls-Royce of British a cappella’ to perform at Seabury Hall

Making its Maui debut Thursday, Nov. 5, at Seabury Hall, VOCES8 has earned acclaim as "the Rolls-Royce of British a cappella ensembles."

Renowned for its versatility and exquisite vocal harmonies, the ensemble performs a repertoire that includes early English and European Renaissance music, traditional folk songs, classic jazz and contemporary pop. Its collaborations include performing with music legend Paul Simon and multi-Grammy winner Jacob Collier. The ensemble collaborated with Simon on his seven-movement acoustic album, "Seven Psalms."

"It was amazing," recalled VOCES8 co-founder and artistic director Barnaby Smith. "We're classically trained musicians, and if someone puts a score in front of us, we sing the notes and bring it to life, but he writes his music at the guitar. So then the whole thing becomes a much more invested, creative process, writing music together. It was just very good fun."

With Collier, they sang on the opening track of his album "Djesse Vol. 1," and on his 2024 album "Djesse Vol. 4." on "Box of Stars Part 2."

"He's another very interesting mind," said Smith. "It's fascinating the way he works with intonation and all of his crazy ideas. It was a wonderful collaboration."

Presented by Maui Choral Arts, Seabury Hall and the Wave of Harmony Foundation, the Grammy-nominated group is one of the world's top streaming classical vocal groups.

The Times of London praised, "Close harmony singing doesn't get much more flawless than this." Gramophone Magazine noted, "The singing of VOCES8 is impeccable in its quality of tone and balance. They bring a new dimension to the word 'ensemble' with meticulous timing and tuning."

Their "Let's Fly Away," Seabury program will celebrate the extraordinary breadth and versatility of the human voice, with works by English Renaissance composer William Byrd, Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Austrian sacred music composer Anton Bruckner, and Estonian choral composer Arvo Pärt.

More modern selections include music by Rodgers and Hart, Ben Folds, Bobby McFerrin, and Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence."

"With eight people in the group, we have very varied interests," said Smith. "And variety is the spice of life. People come, say, to hear Byrd, and then they hear Paul Simon, and they weren't necessarily expecting to enjoy it, or vice versa. They came to hear Paul Simon, and they heard William Byrd, and they didn't realize they'd enjoy it."

The ensemble features sopranos Savannah Porter and Virginia Grabovsky; altos Katie Jeffries-Harris and Smith; tenors Blake Morgan and Euan Williamson; baritone Christopher Moore; and bass Dominic Carver.

Smith explained there's something magical about bringing eight voices together.

"It sits somewhere between a choral sound, which is a sort of blended homogeneous sound, and a more vocal ensemble sound where you can pick out the individual voices," he said. "Eight is quite nice because, traditionally in sacred choral music, there's four voice parts. There's the soprano, the alto, the tenor and the bass. So by having eight, you get what's called a double choir, which, across choral music history, has quite a lot of relevance."

Founded by brothers Paul and Barnaby Smith, who were both former choristers at London's Westminster Abbey, the ensemble came up with the group name almost by accident while preparing to compete in a music competition in Italy, which it ultimately won.

"I was having a bad day," Smith recalled. "If you told me I'd be sitting here 20 years later still doing it, I might have called it something people could say and spell. We wanted something that sounded sort of Italianate Latin. It's supposed to sound Italian, but it's actually Spanish."

Their critically acclaimed albums include "Paul Smith: Revolutions," which won the 2026 Opus Klassik Award in the choral category, "Bach Motets," "A Purcell Collection," and "Aces High," which featured jazz and pop selections, and songs from the "James Bond" soundtrack.

Along with the concert, they will hold a masterclass for Maui's high school choral singers Friday afternoon.

"As well as starting our vocal ensemble, we also created a music charity," Smith explained. "We felt that the vocal ensemble was a vehicle for creating a platform upon which we could raise the alarm about music education. Without organizations like ours, eventually there would just be none left."

Smith said that one of the nice things about going to a vocal concert is its real, genuine human-to-human contact. "There are no instruments, nothing like that in the way. It's obviously a mixed repertoire, so there's something for everybody."

VOCES8 will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, at Seabury Hall. Tickets are $10 to $55, with 50% off for students. ArtsForAll accessible pricing is available. The workshop will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday at Seabury Hall.