Monteverdi Choir

Ever since its founding in the 1960s, the Monteverdi Choir has been a leading force in the world of choral music. Through a combination of consummate technique, historically informed performance practice and a strong appreciation for visual impact, the Choir constantly strives to bring fresh perspectives, immediacy and drama to its performances across the world.

In 2022, the Monteverdi Choir has performed a number of successful tours, including works by Mendelssohn and Brahms in partnership with the Berliner Philharmoniker, a programme of music by Bach, Schütz and Schein at prestigious festivals across Europe and most recently Beethoven’s late masterpiece “Missa solemnis” at the BBC Proms, Berliner Festspiele and Wratislavia Cantans. The year culminated in a splendid tour of J.S. Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” in Teatro alla Scala, Chapelle Royale, Château de Versailles, and at our London home, St Martin-in-the-Fields. This performance was livestreamed on Deutsche Grammophon’s new digital platform Stage+.

In 2021, the Choir performed its first live streamed concert; Bach’s St John Passion with the English Baroque Soloists, filmed in Oxford’s historic Sheldonian Theatre. The ensemble returned to live performing in the summer with a programme of Handel and Bach at the BBC Proms and Berliner Festspiele. The Choir ended the year with a tour of Berlioz’s sacred oratorio “L’enfance du Christ”, which included a critically acclaimed performance at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

The Monteverdi Choir accompanied the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in performances of Beethoven’s 9th symphony in Barcelona, New York and Chicago in 2020, forming part of a wider project celebrating the 250th anniversary of the composer.

The Monteverdi Choir has taken part in a variety of projects across different repertoires, ranging from a tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion (performed from memory) with the English Baroque Soloists (EBS) to Berlioz’s “La damnation de Faust” and Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR). It has also performed in several staged opera productions, including “Orphée et Eurydice” at the Royal Opera House (2015), “Der Freischütz” (2010), “Carmen” (2009) at the Opéra Comique in Paris, and “Les Troyens” at the Théâtre du Châtelet (2003). In 2017, the Choir took part in the RPS award-winning “Monteverdi 450” project, which saw them perform all three of Monteverdi’s surviving operas with Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists across Europe and the United States. Amongst its many trailblazing tours was the “Bach Cantata Pilgrimage” in 2000, during which the Choir performed all 198 of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sacred cantatas in over 60 churches throughout Europe and North America. The entire project was recorded and released by the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra’s record label, Soli Deo Gloria, with Gramophone hailing the venture as “one of the most ambitious musical projects of all time”. The Monteverdi Choir has over 150 recordings to its name and has won numerous prizes.

As of May 2023