'utterly gripping in its mixture of eroticism and violence'  - The Guardian
                                                            'the very embodiment of sprezzatura' - Early Music Today
                                            'technically superb, but in a highly expressive way' - Robert Hugill

2025 CONCERTS
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NEWS
 
The Madrigal Reimagined: engaging young singers

In September 2024, we were invited to give the opening concert at the Roman River festival in Wivenhoe, Essex. This was also a special event, because we were able to involve the Wivenhoe Youth Choir, under the able baton of Ben Vonberg Clark, in the performance. They sang three choruses from Orfeo, which we incorporated into an extended selection from the opera, including readings to fill in the story - it made for a very exciting atmosphere. The young singers were superb and brought fantastic energy and clarity to the performance. They shared some photos of the rehearsal here. We were delighted to read this reaction from the Festival Producer: 
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What an utterly magical evening! I have had all sorts of tremendous feedback. So many people didn't know the music and felt they'd learned a lot while also being entranced by the whole thing. And everyone made a comment about how fabulous the choir sounded, asking how many hours of rehearsal it took.

Inspired by this, we arranged a similar collaboration with Newburgh Primary School in Warwick for our performance at Leamington Music on 25 February. The Leamington Observer wrote:

The town’s Newburgh Primary School’s Choir have been hard at work learning and polishing choruses from what is for them uncharted territory and their contribution was simply a joy. This was without doubt a very brave element to the programming which deserves the praise it gets.

We look forward to further collaborations in 2025-6: watch this space for news of Dido & Aeneas...
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The Madrigal Reimagined
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'A wonderfully satisfying recital'
'expressive dazzle'
'sheer stylistic brilliance'
​- Robert Hugill

Now available on Resonus Classics
Order your copy directly by email here: £12 plus P&P


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IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
OLIVER WEBBER

Visit Continuo Connect to read a thought-provoking interview with MSB director Oliver Webber. You will also find a wealth of information, listings and other special features relating to the world of Early Music. 


​THANK YOU TO OUR

​ SUPPORTERS!


This recording  was made possible by generous grants from Continuo Foundation and Angel Early Music, as well as a number of private donations. We are extremely grateful to these organisations and individuals for their financial support 

The programme features guest artists Hannah Ely (soprano) and Toby Carr (lute), and celebrates the inspired responses of composers and performers to the Italian madrigal. One of our favourite textures from this is the intertwining of voice and strings, heard here in an excerpt from Palestrina's Vestiva i colli. 
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