St Martin-in-the-Fields
Enjoy a candlelit performance of Part I of Handel’s Messiah as St Martin’s Chamber Choir and St Martin’s Chamber Ensemble bring this beloved masterpiece to life. This opening section of Handel’s iconic work tells the story of the prophecy and birth of Christ, featuring some of the most celebrated choruses and arias, culminating in the famous Hallelujah Chorus and the triumphant final Amen.
L’Orfeo: Monteverdi’s pioneering opera, brought to vibrant, heart-melting life by Robert Hollingworth and the virtuoso singers of I Fagiolini.
What better subject for a fledgling artform than the tragedy of Orpheus: the semi-divine musician, whose melodies charmed birds and beasts and could even (or so the poets say) soothe the torments of hell itself? Opera barely existed when Claudio Monteverdi composed L’Orfeo in 1607, and you can still sense the excitement, the freshness and the raw inspiration of an artform that was inventing itself on the hoof. It’s perfect, in other words, for Robert Hollingworth and I Fagiolini – the dazzlingly virtuosic vocal ensemble that thrives on the unpredictability, the emotion and the pure theatre of the baroque.
This concert is part of our 300th anniversary celebrations.
Handel loved Theodora more than any of his other oratorios, and with Iestyn Davies singing in this concert staging with the Monteverdi Choir, you’re about to hear why.
Would you die for faith – or for love? As the Roman authorities crack down on dissident Christians, the virtuous Theodora faces a brutal fate. Her devoted Didymus, meanwhile, must choose between the state, and both their souls. Handel rated his oratorio Theodora more highly than the Messiah, and this heartfelt tale of persecution and martyrdom has often been put on stage. For Christophe Rousset and The Monteverdi Choir it’s a masterpiece, and with a cast that stars Iestyn Davies as Didymus, this dramatised concert performance brings the best of both worlds to a work that Handel himself regarded as his favourite.
This concert is part of our 300th anniversary celebrations.
Join St Martin’s Choral Scholars, Emerging Artists and Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of Andrew Earis, as they present Baroque Classics by Candlelight, a vibrant programme of sacred music from the 17th and 18th centuries. This candlelit concert pairs celebrated masterpieces such as Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir and Bach’s Jesu, meine Freude with rediscovered gems by the lesser-known composers Isabella Leonarda and Caterina Assandra.
Under the shimmering glow of candlelight, St Martin’s Chamber Ensemble, with violinist Hilaryjane Parker, brings masterful Baroque and early Classical music to life. The evening culminates in the vivid brilliance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, framed by the expressive works of Warlock, Boccherini and Whitlock, offering audiences an enchanting journey through some of the most captivating music of the period.
The BBC Singers, conducted by Krista Audere, perform Parry’s Songs of Farewell, his profoundly moving cycle of wartime laments for a lost age. Confronted by both the devastation of the First World War and by his own declining health, Parry poured his response into six luminous choral motets steeped in nostalgia and grief, and widely regarded as some of the most powerful music he ever wrote.
The first half of the concert looks to renewal and the natural world, pairing Caroline Shaw’s Companion Planting with one of Palestrina’s earliest works, his radiant Missa Sicut lilium inter spinas.
Composed during the final year of his life and left unfinished at the time of his death, Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, is a magnificent work, made infamous by the mysterious and intriguing rumours surrounding its origins. St Martin’s Voices and St Martin’s Chamber Ensemble join forces to explore the profound beauty and existential drama of this masterpiece, alongside a performance of Eric Whitacre’s evocative Three Songs of Faith, in a sublime candlelit evening of choral music.
Experience the grandeur of eighteenth-century music as St Martin’s Voices and St Martin’s Chamber Ensemble, under Andrew Earis, present a spectacular candlelit programme of Haydn and Handel. The evening features Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Haydn’s Nelson Mass, combining pageantry, drama, and choral majesty.
Join St Martin’s Voices, under the direction of Andrew Earis, for a sublime hour of unaccompanied choral music, including Allegri’s renowned Miserere, contemporary reflections by Cecilia McDowall and Composer-in-Association Lucy Walker, and the profound beauty of Parry’s Songs of Farewell. This concert offers a journey through the transcendent voices of both historic and modern sacred music.
Finding Harmony: The King’s Singers celebrate St Martin-in-the-Fields’ 300th birthday with all their inimitable warmth and flair.
For 300 years, St Martin-in-the-Fields has been a byword for community – a venue that represents sanctuary and welcome. The King’s Singers don’t go back quite so far, but with more than five decades of joyous vocal music-making under their belt, this extraordinary vocal ensemble could hardly be better equipped to lead the celebrations. In tonight’s concert they trace a history that shows just how powerful singing together has been across the globe. It’s music that inspires unity, whether through songs that reflect the civil rights movement or celebration, and by the sheer joy of singing together in this beautiful and historic venue. Expect vocal classics old and new, plus a few surprises – all performed with that inimitable, life-affirming, King’s Singers swing.
This concert is part of our 300th anniversary celebrations.
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