Archives: Performances

One of my proudest achievements has been the creation of the AC Academy Scholarship programme, which supports talented young people and helps them develop both their musical potential and their ambitions. This Autumn, four of our choral scholars will be studying at Oxford and Cambridge simultaneously—an achievement that surpasses that of most schools in the

I only discovered Bach’s immense Christmas Oratorio in my 20’s and was completely blown away by how it was impossible to listen to without a smile. As in his Great Mass in B Minor, the Christmas Oratorio follows Bach building a work made of his own greatest hits, incorporating many moments of his earlier genius,

When I created our Carols by Candlelight, I wanted to capture the warmth and intimacy of the carol services I grew up with: the comfort of familiar favourites, the excitement of discovering new music, and, of course, an essential helping of Rutter. Above all I wished to restore a spiritual and Christian heart to the

A MESSAGE FROM CHRISTOPHER MONKS ABOUT OUR 25TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT! My musical journey started with Monteverdi and the Venetian Schools. That has inspired so much of what we have gone on to develop at Armonico Consort and has never ceased to inspire me and our musicians. The sharp eyed will notice that within the programme

This was the programme that first made our name, back when we were still students. We made a rather rough early recording with Dame Emma Kirkby, which marked the beginning of our international touring career. Twenty years later, Geoffrey Webber revisited and re-edited the works, and our record label invited us to re-record the programme.

We first performed this back in 2005 with James Bowman and Dame Emma Kirkby – it was as much a masterclass in performance as it was Baroque interpretation. Since then, we’ve refined our own distinctive and highly engaging, entertaining approach to this masterpiece. It has become our most frequently performed programme worldwide, though this is

To me, Bach’s St Matthew Passion stands alongside my other all-time favourite work…his Great Mass in B Minor. In both, Bach’s profound faith and extraordinary insight into human nature are evident in every bar. Calling it ‘genius’ barely does it justice, and although I have conducted the work more than 20 times, each rehearsal and

I have long wanted to include Purcell’s smaller anthems in performance, and this programme provides the perfect opportunity to do so. It is particularly rewarding to be able to showcase these works through our outstanding AC Academy Scholars, who bring such freshness, skill, and sensitivity to the music. Their performances allow these anthems to come

In my mid-teens, two concerts made a lasting impact on me – the first was watching Nigel Kennedy do quite crazy things with the violin in Vivaldi’s masterpiece, and the second was playing organ continuo for the first time in a school performance of Mozart’s Requiem at the same time the film ‘Amadeus’ came out.

Unable to come to our live concerts? Explore our brand-new On Demand concert series featuring some of the Consort’s favourite early music repertoire now available for you to experience at home.