Francis Steele was born in Liverpool, the son of a docker. Christ's Hospital School nurtured his early musical interests, and while at Magdalen College, Oxford, he studied with David Wulstan and Dr Bernard Rose, two remarkable mentors who combined scholarship with performance. This influence pervaded a singing career spanning nearly three decades, during which Francis sang with and furnished editions for the foremost British ensembles. Travelling and performing extensively, he has developed an intimate practical knowledge of Renaissance repertoire, and his main concern is an imaginative fidelity to musical and verbal text. Francis now lives at La Maison Verte in southern France, where he runs courses advocating this approach; he also coaches groups throughout Europe and in the USA.
Both works are underrated, underperformed, and overdue in
individually published, trustworthy modern editions . . . Francis
Steele's exegesis of Gombert's motet is particularly zealous.
*Jeremy Summerly, Choir & Organ September 2011*
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