I Fagiolini
Robert Hollingworth Director

Music from Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spiritual (1640), including music by Monteverdi, Palestrina, Frescobaldi, Giovanni Gabrieli, Viadana, and Donati

One of Britain’s true choral treasures, chamber vocal ensemble I Fagiolini, under dynamic director Robert Hollingworth are as famed for the vibrant theatricality of their performances as they are for their serious scholarship and matchless musicality.

Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers is acknowledged as one of the Renaissance’s musical masterpieces – but the composer compiled a later set of psalm settings in 1640, Selva morale e spiritual, equal to their predecessor in brilliance, colour and drama, but far lesser known.

To celebrate the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth, I Fagiolini expands to take in a specially assembled period instrument ensemble for a spectacular unveiling of the exquisite riches of Monteverdi’s ‘other’ Vespers, alongside fantastical instrumental and choral works by Monteverdi’s collaborators and colleagues.