The People’s Purcell reunites tenor Michael Slattery and La Nef to perform some of the most beautiful music by Henry Purcell (1659-1695).

Though grounded in the baroque tradition, the vast body of work by Purcell is fertile ground for musical explorations. The People’s Purcell invites listeners to hear this music in a new way. Set with shruti box, archlute, cittern, flute, nyckelharpa, baroque violin, viola, cello, and viola da gamba, Purcell’s baroque songs take on a different flavour in these new arrangements by Michael Slattery, Grégoire Jeay, Seán Dagher, and Amanda Keesmaat. As with their previous album, Dowland in Dublin (ACD22650), La Nef and Michael Slattery take inspired creative liberties with Purcell’s music.

“Over time, I have learned to hear the profundity in the subtleties as well as the sheer variety of Purcell’s musical language, each time with renewed pleasure. With this album, we invite listeners to discover Purcell in a light that we believe he would have appreciated,” says Sylvain Bergeron, artistic director of La Nef.

Founded in 1991 in Montreal, La Nef creates, produces, and distributes concerts, multidisciplinary and multimedia shows, physical and digital albums, musical tales, and CD-books. Its wide-ranging repertoire includes ancient and early music, the music of oral traditions, world music, and experimental and contemporary approaches to musical creation.