Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610

London Concert Choir and their Music Director Mark Forkgen are looking forward to returning to St John’s to sing Monteverdi’s glorious Vespers of 1610. They will be joined by six excellent soloists – Rachel Elliott and Rebecca Outram (sopranos), Nicholas Pritchard and Bradley Smith (tenors) and Giles Underwood and Colin Campbell (basses) – while the QuintEssential ensemble will contribute the splendidly authentic sound of cornetts, sackbuts and other instruments of the period.

For his Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Monteverdi set a series of psalms, motets and Magnificats from the evening service for Marian feast days. Intimate solos are contrasted with the grandest of choral and instrumental writing, as he builds astonishingly varied and innovative musical structures onto the traditional plainchants. The result is a monumental masterpiece, widely regarded as the most significant work of sacred music before Bach.