Three weeks, countless scores, and a whirlwind musical pilgrimage from Cambridge to Venice! Last month, Armonico Consort’s founder director Christopher Monks took time out for research and study – which included viewing original scores by Monteverdi and Vivaldi – and returned with more than enough musical inspiration to shape the next five years.
Christopher writes:
I am sitting in the lounge at Venice airport, writing up the copious notes made during the last three weeks of a mini sabbatical trying to order and make sense of the incredible amount of information I have gathered and other things that I discovered.
My challenge was to create a programme for Armonico Consort covering the next five years to 2030 which would drive forward our mission and dream of bringing little known baroque music (often on an epic scale) to the masses. The place to start was logical – where my studies began – in the music faculty of the University of Cambridge.
Surrounded by piles upon piles of scores and all the information I needed at arm’s reach, I delved into music, composers and extraordinary moments of music history – it was here I listened to and created a very long list of music – some of which will eventually find its way into our concerts.
Where to continue my investigations was obvious – it should be where my passion for baroque music came from – Venice – most specifically Monteverdi and the other incredible musicians hosted by the most astonishing city in the world.
On the way, I stopped off in Milan and Vicenza where I met with our new Italian agents who will be working to introduce our concerts of Francesco Scarlatti’s music to concert halls across Italy, finally taking this forgotten genius home.
One of the most extraordinary moments was at Venice Conservatoire where I was permitted access by the wonderful Director Francesco Earle to some of the original scores of Monteverdi and Vivaldi and a multitude of other Venetian composers including Legrenzi who wrote with the same virtuosic frenzy as Francesco Scarlatti. The handwritten manuscript you see in the video is that of Vivaldi’s own pen, which he actually played from! Some of these scores have only just been rediscovered,  and we hope to get them edited and introduce these too in our future programming – Supersize Polyphony 4 & 5 are on their way!
Thank you to all the musicians, agents and academics who have so generously given me their time over these past weeks.
Oh, I discovered some fantastic Valpolicella Ripasso from the Veneto. More than once.
Finally, I made a little time for something I have not done for 25 years – played the organ. It is the last century when I last played properly at Winchester Cathedral and as keyboard player in the CBSO, so I was curious to see if I still could. I crept down to the brand new Skrabel organ at the church close to my place in Lyme Regis and did something I never thought I would do again – organ practice. A little rusty at first and definitely cobwebby, but I really did learn it properly back then, and can just about do it now – so enjoy the little bit at the end,  you certainly aren’t going to be hearing it live any time soon!
Running Armonico Consort is an astonishing privilege, and having reached 25 years – something I never even thought about when we started it in 2001 – it is also incredibly exciting to be able to create new programmes which will challenge the musicians and audiences, and find more and more ways in which to intertwine our AC Academy programmes across the UK with the professional concerts, performing at the highest levels which has the truly brilliant effect of introducing huge new audiences to classical concerts. It also has the somewhat awesome side effect of inspiring thousands upon thousands of young people every year through something which belongs to us all – music.
Christopher Monks, May 2026
