Thomas Herford 
Tenor

​​2024

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Strozzi: Songs from a Beautiful Mouth

Solomon's Knot

Thomas Guthrie stage director

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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 

• 27 January 2024 - Theater aan de Parade, Den Bosch, NE 

• 4 February 2024 - Wigmore Hall, London

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For more information and tickets, please visit:

https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/

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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

• 1 March 2024 - The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

• 3 March 2024 - The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

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https://monteverdi.co.uk/brahms-ein-deutsches-requiem

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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

• Wednesday 20 March 2024 - Philharmonie, Luxembourg

• Monday 22 March 2024 - St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, UK

• Sunday 24 March 2024 - Chapelle Royale, Château de Versailles, Versailles, France 

• Tuesday 26 March 2024 - Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany

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https://monteverdi.co.uk/handel-israel-in-egypt

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Class of 1685: Handel, Bach, Scarlatti

Solomon's Knot

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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

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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)

• 5 April 2024 - Bachkirche, Arnstadt (Thüringer Bachwochen)

• 11 May 2024 - Stadtkirche Stein am Rhein (Internationales Bachfest Schaffhausen)

• 15 May 2024 - De Singel, Antwerp 

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For more information and tickets, please visit:

https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/

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Handel: Esther

Solomon's Knot

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GF Händel Esther HWV 50a (earliest reconstructible version, 1720)

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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.

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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

• 25 May 2024 - Dom zu Halle (Händel-Festspiele Halle)

• 27 May 2024 - Wigmore Hall, London

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For more information and tickets, please visit:

https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/

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Bach Motets

Monteverdi Choir

Jonny Sells - Musical Director

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• 4 June 2024 - St Martin in the Fields, London

• 6 June 2024 - St Martin in the Fields, London

• 9 June 2024 - Leipzig

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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

• 22 June 2024 - Blytheburgh Church

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Filmed and  produced for BBC4 (Autumn schedule) by Ad Lib productions

Dominic Best film director

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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

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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

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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

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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

• 24 August 2024 - A Night at the Opera

• 25 August 2024 - Mozart Requiem and Hoad With what Sudden Joy

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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

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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

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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

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For more information and tickets, please visit:

https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2024-10-04-monteverdi-vespers/

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Monteverdi's Vespers

Solomon's Knot, singers and players

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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)

• 12 October 2024 - Wigmore Hall, London

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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/

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Bruckner and Gesualdo: Echoing Across the Centuries

Monteverdi Choir

Jonny Sells - Musical Director

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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

• 17 October 2024 - Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford 

• 20 October 2024 - Old Royal Naval College
  Greenwich, London

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For more information and tickets, please visit:

https://monteverdi.co.uk/recent-projects/bruckner-gesualdo

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Haydn Creation

La Nuova Musica

David Bates - Musical Director

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Elinor Rolfe Johnson - soprano

Andrew Staples - tenor

James Platt - Bass

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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

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For more information and tickets, please visit:

https://www.lanuovamusica.co.uk/whats-on/haydn-the-creation

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Bach Motets: International Tour

Solomon's Knot

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Soprano: Zoë Brookshaw, Rebecca Lea
Alto: Kate Symonds-Joy, Nathan Mercieca
Tenor: Thomas Herford, James Robinson
Bass: Jonathan Sells (artistic director), Alex Ashworth

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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

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Sung from memory and without a conductor

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• 29 November 2024 - St George's Church, Montréal (Festival Bach Montréal)

• 4 December 2024 - The Stoller Hall, Manchester

• 6 December 2024 - St Mary's Church, Nottingham

• 8 December 2024 - national Centre for Early Music, York

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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/

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handel Messiah

Academy of Ancient Music

Laurence Cummings - Musical Director (Barbican)

Stephen Devine - Musical Director (Las Palmas)

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Anna Devin - Soprano

Tim Mead - Alto

Nicholas Pritchard - Tenor

Cody Quattlebaum - Bass

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• 16 December 2024 - Barbican Hall, London

• 18 December 2024 - Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, Las Palmas

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2023

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Bach Magnificat

Solomon's Knot

Thomas Herford Solo & Ensemble

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JS Bach (1685-1750)
Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! BWV70
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort BWV60
Magnificat in E-flat BWV243a with Christmas interpolations

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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/

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Bach and Handel - International Tour

English Baroque Soloists

Monteverdi Choir

Sir John Eliot Gardiner - Musical Director

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​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

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Handel: L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

Saturday 21 October - Harris Theater, Chicago

Thursday 26 October - Carnegie Hall, New York City

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https://monteverdi.co.uk/american-tour-october-2023

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St John Passion

Solomon's Knot

Thomas Herford Evangelist, Arias, Chorus

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6 September - Martin Randall Travel @ Bachkirche, Arnstadt

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https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2023-09-06-st-john-passion/

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Les Troyens (Berlioz) - International Tour

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

Monteverdi Choir

Sir John Eliot Gardiner - Musical Director

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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

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https://monteverdi.co.uk/berlioz-les-troyens

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St Matthew Passion - International Tour Part 2

Solomon's Knot

Thomas Herford Evangelist

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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)

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https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/

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Faure Requiem and Poulenc Motets

Polyphony

Stephen Layton

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27 May - Concertgebouw, Amsterdam recorded for Netherlands Radio

29 May - Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden

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Choral Inspirations - Workshop and Concert

Sonoro with Voices of Hope

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20 May - Newcastle, England

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https://www.sonoromusic.com/sonoro-concerts/concert-with-voices-of-hope/

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Coronation of King Charles III

Monteverdi Choir

Choir of Westminster Abbey

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6 May - Westminster Abbey, London

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St Matthew Passion - International Tour Part 1

Solomon's Knot

Thomas Herford Evangelist

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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)

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https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/whats-on/

 

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St John Passion - JS Bach

Archangelo

Finnish Baroque Orchestra

Topi Lehtipu conductor

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26 February - Helsinki Music Centre

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https://www.arcangelo.org.uk/events/arcangelo-and-fibo-bach-st-john-passion/

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Hassan - Fredick Delius

Britten Sinfonia

Britten Sinfonia Voices

Jamie Phillips conductor

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10 February - Milton Court, Barbican, London

11 February - Saffron Hall, Saffron Waldon - Recorded for Chandos

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https://brittensinfonia.com/archived-event/delius-hassan/

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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

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21 January - Concertgebouw, Brugge

https://www.solomonsknot.co.uk/event/2023-01-21-bach-motets/

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2022

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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*

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16 December - National Centre for Early Music, York

17 December - Wigmore Hall, London

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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

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10 & 11 December - Bern Münster, Switzerland

B Minor Mass - JS Bach

Berner Kammerchor

Thomas Herford - Tenor Soloist

Jörg Ritter - Musical director

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10 November - Bern Münster

11 November - Bern Münster

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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

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24th November - Performance 

FILMED FOR MEDICI TV: 

https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/john-nelson-conducts-handels-messiah-english-concert-coventry

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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

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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

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6 October  -  Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

7 October  - Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

9 October  - Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

13 October - Philharmonie, Luxembourg

14 October - Philharmonie, Luxembourg

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https://monteverdi.co.uk/brahms-choral-works-third-symphony

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27 August - 13 September - International Tour

Missa Solemnis - Beethoven

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

Monteverdi Choir

Sir John Eliot Gardiner - Musical Director

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August 31 - Berliner Festspiele @ Berlin Philharmonie

September 7 - BBC Proms @ Royal Albert Hall

September 12 - Wratislavia Cantans @ National Forum of Music

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16-23 August 2022 - Recording at Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire, UK

Motets - George Jeffreys 

Solomon's Knot

Thomas Herford - High Tenor

Jonny Sells - Musical Director

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2 August - Edinburgh International Festival

Fidelio - Beethoven

Philharmonia Orchestra and Voices

Sir Donald Runnicles

Thomas Herford - Philharmonia Voices

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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

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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

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June/July 2022 - International Tour & Recording

Motets by JS Bach and JC Bach

Solomon's Knot

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- 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

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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

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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

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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

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Zwinglikirche Biel - 7 April

Heiliggeistkirche Bern - 9 April

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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

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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.

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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