'Superb!' - The Times

'The orchestra produced wondrous sounds' - The Independent

'A Beautiful Sound' - BBC Radio 3

Under the dynamic leadership of founder and artistic director, Christopher Monks, Armonico Consort has become one of the fastest-growing arts organisations of its type in the country. Since its debut performance with Dame Emma Kirkby in 2001, Armonico Consort now perform over 50 of its programmes all over Europe, free workshops to over 10,000 children each year, and has over 600 children singing each week in one of its AC Academy children's choirs.

(Photo courtesy of Great Britain Online)

'I've seldom seen children as enchanted with The Magic Flute as they were here'- The Independent

Armonico Consort is, at its heart, a highly talented vocal ensemble staging a wide range of programmes in atmospheric settings. From massive 16th century polyphony including 'Spem in Alium' (Found in the programme Supersize Polyphony) to the sonorous romantic music such as Rachmaninov's Vespers, and from the Bach Passions to Venetian Vespers with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Armonico Consort brings each work to life, providing the audience with a fresh musical experience. These performances are often accompanied by their own orchestra, which features the finest period instrumentalists in the world. The choir also regularly works with other orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philharmonia and The European Union Chamber Orchestra. Armonico Consort performs regularly at pretty much every major festival in the UK, and at venues across the world including forthcoming engagements in France, and the USA  and regularly perform with some of the world's greatest artists including Nicola Benedetti, Natalie Clein, James Bowman, Jennifer Pike, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Crispian Steele-Perkins and Dame Emma Kirkby.

Armonico Consort Education has reached more than 60,000 children in the past nine years, allowing them to experience first-hand the joy of performing live music. Its workshops, complete with specially composed music by Armonico member, and Hollywood composer (credits include Shrek III!), David Buckley, have inspired hundreds of young singers

and have received acclaim from pupils, teachers music authorities and the media. These projects range from 'Musical in a Day’, circus & singing workshops, 'Opera in a Day’ to longer-term projects working with professional singers and school choirs. Our most recent project 'Purcell and Puppetry' is unique, and trains children in a variety of key skills in producing puppet theatre and dance to the highest levels, which they then perform in concert with programme's such as 'Fairy Queen'. In a new venture, working with the Telford and Wrekin Council's Creative Arts Team in partnership with the government's 'Find Your Talent' initiative, we are working to create 6 new choirs of 720 children, and training up 6 new choir leaders. This is a project we plan to replicate in other parts of the country.

Armonico Consort's charitable activities extend to its support of young professional singers starting out on their careers. In the Young Artists Programme, these musicians are offered real opportunities and training intended to equip them for the challenging musical journey they have chosen.

AC Academy was founded in Spring 2008 – Armonico Consort’s major new project for children. With the creation of a 100 strong children's choir, Armonico Consort will set out to appoint the finest instrumental and singing teachers. Eventually the plan is to offer lessons in most fields, and create further ensembles for children to make music together. Uniquely, there are also plans to offer many subsidies, especially to children of parents on limited means. In the climate of continual cuts in government support of the arts in the education system, Armonico Consort sees this project as crucial to the future of music in the country. Quite simply, if children have the talent, they will be given the opportunity, whatever their background. Armonico now hosts AC Academies in Coventry, Stratford, London and Telford and Wrekin.

‘The children and staff loved every minute’ – one of the thousands of comments made in official assessments

Armonico Consort Opera takes its reputation for producing accessible, fun and exciting music to new heights. Full houses at venues across the country has brought Armonico Consort an unprecedented number of bookings at prestigious Festivals such as Mostly Mozart at The Barbican, Bath, Brighton, Bury St Edmunds, Buxton, Chelsea, Norfolk & Norwich and Salisbury. Performances have delighted audiences at major venues including The Bridgewater Hall, Cadogan Hall and Warwick Arts Centre. Its first production, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, was rapturously received by full-house audiences and critics alike, and Mozart’s The Magic Flute with a hilarious new script by Kit Hesketh Harvey, proved just as popular. Armonico Consort Opera’s production of Purcell’s King Arthur again proved a hit at theatres across the country. In a daring concept, the setting of World War I was chosen, and brought a new life to this extraordinary work. The Independent described it as 'wondrous!’. The production of Mozart’s Magic Flute was acclaimed by the Independent on Sunday as ‘Enchanting’ and ‘Excellent!’ The success of Armonico Consort Opera’s productions and its reputation for producing sell out shows has been overwhelming with repeat invitations from most of the country's major venues and festivals. 2008 & 2009 saw the introduction of three new operas into the repertoire. Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, paired with a new adaptation of Lully's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Bill Bankes-Jones' acclaimed production of Barber of Seville across to the UK performing to full houses across the UK and Ireland. In 2010, Armonico Consort Opera will create a novel and spectacular comedy in the form of 'Monteverdi's Flying Circus', in which Kit Hesketh Harvey will take audiences on an hilarious rollercoaster ride of Monteverdi's three operas.

Armonico Consort has recorded seven CDs, including Dixit Dominus, a world premiere recording of the music of Francesco Scarlatti with Dame Emma Kirkby, which was acclaimed as one of the top five choral releases of 2004 by Gramophone Magazine, and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen which was awarded four stars by The Times. Naked Byrd was realeased by the Signum label in late 2009 - an indulgence of the greatest choral music ever written, where composers truly wore their heart on their sleeve. Including Allegri's Miserere Mei and Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium, it marks a new stage in the recording career of the group.  We are delighted to announce that Naked Byrd Two has been released as a limited edition, and will be released internationally by Signum in the new year. There are also plans to record a solo trumpet and soprano CD with Elin Manahan Thomas and Crispian Steele Perkins in 2011.  For a sneek preview of a track from Naked Byrd 2 - go to the 'Listen' page.