The Gesualdo Six was formed in 2014 by conductor and singer Owain Park at Trinity College, Cambridge, for a performance of Carlo Gesualdo's Tenebrae Responsories. The group immediately enjoyed singing together and began to attract other bookings; within its first three years of existence, it performed more than 60 concerts. Park remains the director, serving as both a separate conductor and has sung with the ensemble as a bass or baritone; the other members are countertenor Guy James, tenors Joseph Wicks and Josh Cooter, baritone Michael Craddock, and bass Sam Mitchell. The membership has remained consistent since the group's founding, except that Andrew Leslie Cooper performed as a countertenor between 2019 and 2021. The Gesualdo Six became a major presence at British festivals, including the Temple Winter Festival, the Brighton Early Music Festival, and the Holy Week Festival and Christmas Festival at St. John's Smith Square. The group has toured continental Europe, including appearances in such less common places as Poland and Monaco, as well as making many appearances around the United Kingdom. It has often performed in concert with local ensembles, offering choral workshops to singers in the places they visit. Along with St. John's Smith Square Hall, The Gesualdo Six curated composition competitions in 2016 and 2018, which attracted hundreds of entries.
In 2018, The Gesualdo Six made its recording debut on the Hyperion label with the album English Motets. Attuned to social media, the group has notched high view counts for some of its tracks. The group has continued to perform music by Gesualdo but has also performed and recorded English music and Renaissance music from the European continent; its repertory includes music from the Middle Ages to the present. The Gesualdo Six has continued to record for Hyperion, issuing the albums Christmas (2019), Fading (2020, a collection of early and contemporary music inspired by Compline services), and Josquin's Legacy (2021). ~ James Manheim, Rovi