Archive
2024
Strozzi: Songs from a Beautiful Mouth
Solomon's Knot
Thomas Guthrie stage director
An immersive performance of Barbara Strozzi’s complete First Book of Madrigals (Primo Libro di Madrigali), opus 1. Sung from memory.
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26 January 2024 - Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, Gent
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27 January 2024 - Theater aan de Parade, Den Bosch, NE
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4 February 2024 - Wigmore Hall, London
For more information and tickets, please visit:
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
English Baroque Soloists
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Dinis Sousa - Musical Director
Lenneke Ruiten - soprano
Christian Gerhaher - baritone
Heinrich Schütz: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (Psalm 84)
Heinrich Schütz: Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herren sterben
Johann Christoph Bach: Der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stirbt
Johannes Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), Op.45
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29 February - The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
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1 March 2024 - The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
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3 March 2024 - The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
https://monteverdi.co.uk/brahms-ein-deutsches-requiem
Handel: Israel in Egypt - International Tour
English Baroque Soloists
Monteverdi Choir
Peter Whelan - Musical Director
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Monday 18 March 2024 - Palau de la Musica, Barcelona, Spain
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Wednesday 20 March 2024 - Philharmonie, Luxembourg
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Monday 22 March 2024 - St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, UK
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Sunday 24 March 2024 - Chapelle Royale, Château de Versailles, Versailles, France
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Tuesday 26 March 2024 - Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany
https://monteverdi.co.uk/handel-israel-in-egypt
Class of 1685: Handel, Bach, Scarlatti
Solomon's Knot
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) - Stabat Mater for 10 voices
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - Missa Brevis in A BWV 234
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) - Dixit Dominus HWV 232
Three composers, each of them a defining character of the Baroque, all born in 1685. Since Händel ‘went native’ in England, they can be seen as standing for three different national styles: Italian, German, and English. Some of their most fervent works, sung one-to-a-part and by heart.
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4 April 2024 - St George’s, Hanover Square, London (London Handel Festival)
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5 April 2024 - Bachkirche, Arnstadt (Thüringer Bachwochen)
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11 May 2024 - Stadtkirche Stein am Rhein (Internationales Bachfest Schaffhausen)
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15 May 2024 - De Singel, Antwerp
For more information and tickets, please visit:
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/
Handel: Esther
Solomon's Knot
GF Händel Esther HWV 50a (earliest reconstructible version, 1720)
Handel’s Esther is considered to be the first English oratorio, but the grand London version of 1732 had its roots in a much earlier masque performed in the late 1710s at Cannons.
The body of musicians of Handel’s earlier employer, James Brydges, was more modest, and this early version suits Solomon’s Knot’s chamber performance style perfectly. 10 singers will deliver the work by heart, together with 18 instrumentalists, in a dramatised concert performance.
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24 May 2024 - Musikfestspiele Saar
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25 May 2024 - Dom zu Halle (Händel-Festspiele Halle)
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27 May 2024 - Wigmore Hall, London
For more information and tickets, please visit:
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/
Bach Motets
Monteverdi Choir
Jonny Sells - Musical Director
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4 June 2024 - St Martin in the Fields, London
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6 June 2024 - St Martin in the Fields, London
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9 June 2024 - Leipzig
For more information and ticket information, please visit:
https://monteverdi.co.uk/whats-on
Benjamin Britten: Curlew River
Aldeburgh Festival, Britten Pears Arts
Deborah Warner - Director
Audrey Hyland - Musical Director
Ian Bostridge Madwoman
Duncan Rock Ferryman
Marcus Farnsworth Traveller
Matthew Jones Spirit of the Boy/Acolyte
Daniel Harrison Spirit of the Boy/Acolyte
Albert Bate Acolyte
Willard White Abbot/Leader of the Pilgrims
Thomas Herford Chorus of Pilgrims+small roles
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21 June 2024 - Blytheburgh Church
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22 June 2024 - Blytheburgh Church
Filmed and produced for BBC4 (Autumn schedule) by Ad Lib productions
Dominic Best film director
Monteverdi Madrigals @ Stoke Newington Early Music Festival
Zoe Brookshaw - Soprano
Rachel Ambrose Evans - Soprano
Sammy Mulroy - Tenor/Director
Thomas Herford - Tenor
Ed Grint - Bass
Toby Carr - Lute
Nicholas Mulroy (tenor) returns to SNEMF with some of the leading singers in UK early music - Rachel Ambrose Evans (soprano), Zoë Brookshaw (sorano), Thomas Herford (tenor) and Edward Grint (bass baritone), accompanied by lutenist Toby Carr. Programme includes exquisitely beautiful madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi and Barbara Strozzi.
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28 June 2024 - The Old Church, Stoke Newington
Handel: Israel in Egypt - International Tour: Salzburg Festival
English Baroque Soloists
Monteverdi Choir
Peter Whelan - Musical Director
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21 July 2024 - Haus für Mozart, Salzburg
Southwell Festival - Multiple concerts held at Southwell Minster
Various combinations drawn from the Festival Voices
Marcus Farnsworth - Musical Director Choir
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23 August 2024 - Medieval Masters: Hildegard, Machaut, Bussey
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24 August 2024 - A Night at the Opera
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25 August 2024 - Mozart Requiem and Hoad With what Sudden Joy
CD Recording: Herbert Howells Partsongs
Ikon Choir
David Hill - Musical Director
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Sessions held 12-13 September at St George's Pinner
Monteverdi's Vespers
Solomon's Knot in collaboration with Finnish baroque Orchestra
Sung by memory without a conductor, and in collaboration with a lighting artist
The Vespers combines the exalted and the sensual in a dizzying array of soaring choruses, intricate duets and solos, and instrumental writing so fresh-sounding it could have been composed yesterday.
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4 October 2024 - Temppeliaukio Church, Helsinki
For more information and tickets, please visit:
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2024-10-04-monteverdi-vespers/
Monteverdi's Vespers
Solomon's Knot, singers and players
The Vespers combines the exalted and the sensual in a dizzying array of soaring choruses, intricate duets and solos, and instrumental writing so fresh-sounding it could have been composed yesterday.
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9 October 2024 - West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge (Cambridge Early Music Festival)
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12 October 2024 - Wigmore Hall, London
For more information and tickets, please visit:
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2024-10-09-monteverdi-vespers/
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2024-10-12-monteverdi-vespers/
Bruckner and Gesualdo: Echoing Across the Centuries
Monteverdi Choir
Jonny Sells - Musical Director
Anton Bruckner was born 200 years ago this year. To hear his choral music with fresh ears, we placed his celebrated a cappella motets together with unlikely bedfellows, above all the sacred motets of Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613).
Richard Wagner was one of Bruckner’s musical heroes, and in his motets Bruckner manages to distil a hyper-romantic and highly expressive idiom into a compact form which otherwise eluded both of them.
250 years earlier, Gesualdo was experimenting with ear- and mind-bending chromatic expressionism and enharmonic shifts in a remarkably similar way. Both Bruckner and Gesualdo were outsiders, were strongly led by their Catholic faith, and showed signs of mental instability. The tormented passion of their music seems to reach out across the centuries.
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16 October 2024 - Ely Cathedral
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17 October 2024 - Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
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20 October 2024 - Old Royal Naval College
Greenwich, London
For more information and tickets, please visit:
https://monteverdi.co.uk/recent-projects/bruckner-gesualdo
Haydn Creation
La Nuova Musica
David Bates - Musical Director
Elinor Rolfe Johnson - soprano
Andrew Staples - tenor
James Platt - Bass
In the beginning, there was the Word – but for Joseph Haydn, there was music too: some of the freshest ever written. ‘When I think of God, I can write only cheerful music’, he said, and his oratorio The Creation is powered by a sense of joy that embraces both earthworms and angels. But Haydn’s vision of a universe emerging from chaos also inspired music of cosmic grandeur, and with a group as spirited as La Nuova Musica, a conductor as expert as David Bates, and a truly stellar line up of soloists, this is a concert to light up a November night.
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14 November - St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
For more information and tickets, please visit:
https://www.lanuovamusica.co.uk/whats-on/haydn-the-creation
Bach Motets: International Tour
Solomon's Knot
Soprano: Zoë Brookshaw, Rebecca Lea
Alto: Kate Symonds-Joy, Nathan Mercieca
Tenor: Thomas Herford, James Robinson
Bass: Jonathan Sells (artistic director), Alex Ashworth
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Fürchte dich nicht
Komm, Jesu, komm
Jesu, meine Freude
Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)
Fürchte dich nicht
Lieber Herr Gott, wecke uns auf
Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Friede fahren
Der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stirbt
Sung from memory and without a conductor
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29 November 2024 - St George's Church, Montréal (Festival Bach Montréal)
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4 December 2024 - The Stoller Hall, Manchester
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6 December 2024 - St Mary's Church, Nottingham
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8 December 2024 - national Centre for Early Music, York
For more information and tickets, please visit:
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2024-11-29-bach-motets/
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2024-12-04-bach-motets/
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2024-12-06-bach-motets/
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2024-12-08-bach-motets/
handel Messiah
Academy of Ancient Music
Laurence Cummings - Musical Director (Barbican)
Stephen Devine - Musical Director (Las Palmas)
Anna Devin - Soprano
Tim Mead - Alto
Nicholas Pritchard - Tenor
Cody Quattlebaum - Bass
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16 December 2024 - Barbican Hall, London
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18 December 2024 - Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, Las Palmas
2023
Bach Magnificat
Solomon's Knot
Thomas Herford Solo & Ensemble
JS Bach (1685-1750)
Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! BWV70
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort BWV60
Magnificat in E-flat BWV243a with Christmas interpolations
7 December - Wigmore Hall, London - https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2023-12-07-bach-magnificat/
9 December - St Mary’s Church, Nottingham - https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2023-12-09-bach-magnificat/
Bach and Handel - International Tour
English Baroque Soloists
Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner - Musical Director
Bach: Mass in B minor
Friday 20 October - Harris Theater, Chicago
Monday 23 October - McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton
Wednesday 25 October - Carnegie Hall, New York City
Friday 27 October - Montreal Bach Festival, Maison symphonique
Handel: L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
Saturday 21 October - Harris Theater, Chicago
Thursday 26 October - Carnegie Hall, New York City
https://monteverdi.co.uk/american-tour-october-2023
St John Passion
Solomon's Knot
Thomas Herford Evangelist, Arias, Chorus
6 September - Martin Randall Travel @ Bachkirche, Arnstadt
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2023-09-06-st-john-passion/
Les Troyens (Berlioz) - International Tour
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner - Musical Director
22 & 23 August - Festival Berlioz, La Côte Saint André, Cour du Château Louis XI
26 August - Salzburger Festspiele, Grosses Festspielhaus
29 August - Opéra Royal, Château de Versailles
1 September - Berliner Festspiele, Philharmonie Berlin, Großer Saal
3 September - BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London
https://monteverdi.co.uk/berlioz-les-troyens
St Matthew Passion - International Tour Part 2
Solomon's Knot
Thomas Herford Evangelist
12 June - Nikolaikirche, Leipzig (Bachfest Leipzig)
17 June - All Saints’ Church, Boughton Aluph (Stour Music)
19 June - St James’s Spanish Place, London (Wigmore Hall)
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/
Faure Requiem and Poulenc Motets
Polyphony
Stephen Layton
27 May - Concertgebouw, Amsterdam recorded for Netherlands Radio
29 May - Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden
Choral Inspirations - Workshop and Concert
Sonoro with Voices of Hope
20 May - Newcastle, England
https://www.sonoromusic.com/sonoro-concerts/concert-with-voices-of-hope/
Coronation of King Charles III
Monteverdi Choir
Choir of Westminster Abbey
6 May - Westminster Abbey, London
St Matthew Passion - International Tour Part 1
Solomon's Knot
Thomas Herford Evangelist
7 April - Stadtkirche St Peter und Paul, Weimar (Thüringer Bachwochen)
9 April - Snape Maltings Concert Hall (Britten Pears Arts)
11 April -Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge (Cambridge Early Music)
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/
St John Passion - JS Bach
Archangelo
Finnish Baroque Orchestra
Topi Lehtipu conductor
26 February - Helsinki Music Centre
https://www.arcangelo.org.uk/events/arcangelo-and-fibo-bach-st-john-passion/
Hassan - Fredick Delius
Britten Sinfonia
Britten Sinfonia Voices
Jamie Phillips conductor
10 February - Milton Court, Barbican, London
11 February - Saffron Hall, Saffron Waldon - Recorded for Chandos
https://brittensinfonia.com/archived-event/delius-hassan/
Bach Motets - Fürchte dich nicht
Solomon's Knot
Johann Sebastian Bach
Fürchte dich nicht
Jesu, meine Freude
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)
Fürchte dich nicht
Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Friede fahren
Der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stirbt
Encore: Lieber Herr Gott, wecke uns auf
21 January - Concertgebouw, Brugge
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2023-01-21-bach-motets/
2022
Kuhnau Christmas Cantatas
Solomon's Knot
Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722)
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied *UK premiere*
O heilige Zeit (Cantata for Christmas)
Das alte ist vergangen (Cantata for the Feast of the Circumcision (New Year’s Day)) *UK premiere*
Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (Cantata for the First Day of Christmas)
Frohlocket, ihr Völker, und jauchzet, ihr Heiden (Cantata for Christmas) *UK premiere*
16 December - National Centre for Early Music, York
17 December - Wigmore Hall, London
https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2022-12-17-kuhnau-christmas-cantatas/
York Livestream - https://tickets.ncem.co.uk/en-GB/events/solomon's%20knot%20online/2023-1-24_17.00/ncem%20online?back=2&area=2e74893f-b7ab-ea11-80ec-00505601004c&type=ga
10 & 11 December - Bern Münster, Switzerland
B Minor Mass - JS Bach
Berner Kammerchor
Thomas Herford - Tenor Soloist
Jörg Ritter - Musical director
10 November - Bern Münster
11 November - Bern Münster
19-25 November - Coventry Cathedral
Messiah - Handel
English Concert
https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/john-nelson-conducts-handels-messiah-english-concert-coventryert
John Nelson - Musical director
24th November - Performance
FILMED FOR MEDICI TV:
https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/john-nelson-conducts-handels-messiah-english-concert-coventry
10 November - St Michael and All Angels, Blackheath
Motets by JS Bach and JC Bach
Solomon's Knot
London International Festival of Early Music
https://lifem.org/pages/solomons-knot
2-15 October - International Tour
Brahms Songs
- Nänie
- Ich schwing mein Horn ins Jammertal
- Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang
- Nachtwache 1
- Einförmig ist der Liebe Gram
- Gesang der Parzen
Concertgebouworkest (6,7,9 Oct) & Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra (13,14 Oct)
Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner - Musical Director
6 October - Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
7 October - Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
9 October - Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
13 October - Philharmonie, Luxembourg
14 October - Philharmonie, Luxembourg
https://monteverdi.co.uk/brahms-choral-works-third-symphony
27 August - 13 September - International Tour
Missa Solemnis - Beethoven
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner - Musical Director
August 31 - Berliner Festspiele @ Berlin Philharmonie
September 7 - BBC Proms @ Royal Albert Hall
September 12 - Wratislavia Cantans @ National Forum of Music
16-23 August 2022 - Recording at Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire, UK
Motets - George Jeffreys
Solomon's Knot
Thomas Herford - High Tenor
Jonny Sells - Musical Director
2 August - Edinburgh International Festival
Fidelio - Beethoven
Philharmonia Orchestra and Voices
Sir Donald Runnicles
Thomas Herford - Philharmonia Voices
27-28 July 2022 - Recording at St Jude's on the Hill, London
Choir Concerto - William White
Aurum Vocale
Thomas Herford - Choir and Tenor Soloist
William White - Composer and Musical Director
3 July 2022 - Church of St Gregory, Sudbury, UK
Christ lag in Todesbanden - JS Bach + works by Buxtehude, JM Bach, and others
Brecon Baroque
Thomas Herford - Tenor soloist
Rachel Podger - Musical Director
June/July 2022 - International Tour & Recording
Motets by JS Bach and JC Bach
Solomon's Knot
- Wigmore Hall - June 6
- Aldeburgh Festival - June 12
- Musikfest Stuttgart - June 23
- Martin Randall, Clare, Suffolk - July 6
- Recording made in Bachkirche, Arnstadt - June 25-28
2 May 2022 - St Dunstan's, Mayfield, UK
Mass in G - Vaughan Williams + works by Tallis, Purcell and others
Oxford Camerata
Thomas Herford - tenor soloist
Jeremy Summerly - musical director
15 April 2022 - St Bride's Church, London
Crucifixion - Stainer
The Choir of St Bride's, Fleet Street
Thomas Herford - tenor soloist
Robert Jones - musical director
7 & 9 April 2022 - Biel & Bern, Switzerland
St John Passion JS Bach
Solomon's Knot + Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn
Thomas Herford - Evangelist, Arias and Chorus
Kaspar Zehnder - musical director
Zwinglikirche Biel - 7 April
Heiliggeistkirche Bern - 9 April
19-23 March 2022 - Magdeburg, Germany
Telemann - Donnerode
Solomon's Knot + Les Passions de l'Ame
Concert at Telemannfesttage on 20 March
CD recording made 19-23 March
In Die Donner-Ode, Telemann set the Psalm of David to music in a festive, extrovert way with a prominent role for the timpani, symbolising thunder, as the title suggest. This popular vocal work by Telemann consists of two parts, and is performed alongside some of his late sacred works.
6 March 2022 - Wigmore Hall, London
Bach Brothers
Solomon's Knot
Music by two of Bach’s most notable relatives in the form of motets by his predecessors Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703) and the latter’s younger brother Johann Michael Bach (1648-94). The former was organist at Eisenach, and also organist and harpsichordist to the local Duke: Johann Sebastian described him as ‘a profound composer.’ Johann Michael’s daughter Maria Barbara married Johann Sebastian – a distant cousin; his output of choral works is as distinguished as his sibling’s.
https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/solomon-s-knot-202203061930