One of Italy's finest Baroque ensembles, Concerto Italiano is cherished for its vivid, urgent yet subtle performances that display a rare expressive flexibility. Under director Rinaldo Alessandrini, the group brings a rich programme of exquisite Italian music to the Festival, contrasting instrumental pieces by Marini, Uccellini, Merula and Castello with dazzling madrigals by Monteverdi, including the highly moving Lettera amorosa and the hugely emotional miniature opera Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, in which a Christian knight unknowingly defeats his beloved in battle.