Leading UK choir and instrumental ensemble Armonico Consort has announced its 25th anniversary season which begins in Warwick on Saturday 26 September with a tour, including dates in Malvern and Coventry, of its signature programme of Renaissance and Baroque choral masterpieces.  

Supersize Polyphony 3: Venetian Blinders! is the third iteration of its hugely successful concert format that envelops the audience in a ‘surround sound’ of voices singing up to 40 individual parts.

Supersize Polyphony 3 features music by Venetian master Claudio Monteverdi and explores Venice’s magnetic influence on European composers of the day with a rarely-heard work by Catalan Francisco Valls (Missa Scala Aretina a 16) as well as Thomas Tallis’s spectacular Spem in Alium. The tour also heads to Malvern on Tuesday 6 October, and resumes in 2027 with more Cathedral concerts - opening with a performance in Coventry Cathedral on Tuesday 26 January.

Other 25th anniversary season highlights include a first Wigmore Hall performance of The Forgotten Scarlatti - works by Francesco Scarlatti, a neglected genius of the famous dynasty. Armonico Consort have become leading experts on Francesco Scarlatti’s choral music and their recordings and performances of his Messa a 16, Dixit Dominus and oratorio Daniele, have achieved worldwide recognition.

Later in the Season, Armonico performs some of the works that have become cornerstones of its repertoire over the past 25 years, including Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St Matthew Passion (marking its 300th anniversary), Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and a concert of Mozart’s Requiem and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with soloist Edmund Taylor whose Bellot Ensemble is the current BBC New Generation Baroque Ensemble.  There are also continuing collaborations in Italy, Spain and Mexico.

Armonico Consort was founded in 2001 by Christopher Monks.  Based in Warwick, the critically acclaimed choir, period instrument ensemble and music charity is especially known for its innovative concerts of rarely heard gems and new musical discoveries from the Renaissance and Baroque.  Its education programme, AC Academy, encompasses after-school choirs, a Scholars programme, and an in-school Choir Creations scheme that has established and nurtured over 300 choirs and choir leaders and gives children life-changing experiences of singing with the professionals in venues including the Royal Albert Hall.

Tickets and details are available from the website.