Saturday's concert at St Mary's University Church, was given by the Madrigirls, a gifted female trio who specialise in unaccompanied 16th-century madrigals, but are happy to vary the menu with traditional Irish and a touch of Gershwin.

They are classically trained, though I notice that only Kate Tomlin is a music school product (The Royal College) and has a string of operatic credits to her name. Heloise Pilkington and Alexandra Brown seem to have approached the Madrigal originally through their studies in literature and art. As a trio, therefore, they sound much more like the (highly accomplished) amateurs for whom these works were written than a group of professional opera singers. On the other hand, many opera companies would envy the way the three voices blend - it's a long time since I heard a Figaro in which the Countess, Cherubino and Susanna came together to produce so sweet a sound. Their repertoire is also timely and interesting in itself. While a dozen prestigious vocal groups busy themselves with sacred music of the Renaissance, its secular music - the chanson, the Italian Frottola, and the truly international madrigal - is still much neglected. The Madrigirls' dazzling example - in French, Italian and English - showed that this fine three-part writing, in which each part follows its own line, produced the most varied masterpieces. In Jannequin's Ce moys de Mai we heard a piece by a French composer who followed his king, Franois I, to Italy, while pieces by de Wert and Bell'haver reminded us that it was in Italy (particularly Venice) that the Franco-Flemish tradition reached its height.

If one had forgotten that England was musically as sophisticated as anywhere in Europe at the time, Morley's enchanting setting of It was a lover and his lass brought home the fact. In a different mode, the Madrigirls' setting of Danny Boy showed off their dramatic flair and excellent diction.