Deborah Roberts

For 30 years Deborah Roberts sang with the Tallis Scholars, widely regarded as one of the finest a cappella choirs in the world. Her concerts and recordings with them involved much solo work, but Roberts has also appeared as soloist with other well-known choral groups, including the Deller Consort, London Baroque, Consort of Musicke, and the English Concert. In addition, Roberts is the founder of Musica Secreta, a small vocal group dedicated to the performance of post-Renaissance music associated with women. Roberts serves as the group's music director and also conducts its sister ensemble Celestial Sirens, a group she also founded. She has made acclaimed recordings with both groups that are available from the labels Linn Records and divine art. Her recordings with the Tallis Scholars are available from Gimell Records. Deborah Roberts was born in London in 1952. She studied Renaissance and Baroque music at Nottingham University. From 1978 to 2008 she sang as a member of the Tallis Scholars. During that period she appeared in about 1200 concerts with the group and on more than 60 recordings with them. Roberts was also busy as a teacher and choral conductor during these years and is still active in those capacities. In 1990 she founded, with Tallis Scholars singer Tessa Bonner, Musica Secreta. Under Roberts' direction the ensemble quickly gained recognition, and in 1996 was given the prestigious American Musicological Society's Noah Greenberg Award. 2002 was a particularly memorable year for Roberts: she co-founded the Brighton Early Music Festival, a yearly series of concerts for which she still serves as co-artistic director (with Clare Norburn). Roberts also founded Celestial Sirens that year, an ensemble made up of amateurs and semi-professional singers that, depending on repertory, ranges from eight to thirty performers who often sing with Musica Secreta while maintaining their own schedule of concerts. 2002 was also the year Roberts and her Musica Secreta ensemble drew wide acclaim for their Linn Records CD Dangerous Graces, which was awarded a Diapason Découverte in January 2003. Following her departure from the Tallis Scholars in 2008, Roberts has remained busy teaching workshops at various universities and continues her singing and choral conducting with the Musica Secreta and Celestial Sirens. One project with the ensembles involves performance of convent music in collaboration with historical novelist Sarah Dunant. Roberts' 2009 divine art CD Sacred Hearts, Secret Music offers the fruits of this unusual collaboration.