St Mary’s Church, Warwick will ring with young voices on Tuesday 25 February when Newburgh Primary School Choir joins the Monteverdi String Band in the next concert of the Leamington Music Winter Season.

The Monteverdi String Band takes its inspiration from the sound, style, and repertoire of the early violin consort, using seventeenth-century equipment to create a unique sound. They have given several concerts in St Mary’s Church for Leamington Music over the years and this time bring their new programme, The Madrigal Reimagined, with soprano Hannah Ely and Toby Carr on lute and theorbo. This fascinating evening explores the blossoming and transformation of the Italian madrigal as reflected in diverse settings from solo voice and lute to a full string band. We will discover every facet of the madrigal’s transformative journey from gentle part song to one of the dramatic cornerstones of opera.

Monteverdi’s powerfully poignant settings nestle with virtuosic ornamental reworkings of madrigals, instrumental preludes, and canzonas by Rore, Palestrina, Bovicelli, and Caccini to create miniature scenes, framed by short, topical readings from the worlds of music, dance, and theatre.

The first half of the concert features the young choir in four choruses from Monteverdi’s opera, L’Orfeo as part of Leamington Music’s Education & Community Programme which provides live music and performance opportunities for youngsters across the county. The choir’s director, Ron Binnie, has been working with the young singers over the past weeks to prepare them for this special performance and said, “As you can imagine music from this period is quite foreign to their ears but they have responded beyond my wildest dreams and sound absolutely amazing!”

The concert begins at 7.30pm, and Leamington Music continues the new element to its series in St Mary’s this year, inviting the audience to look ‘Behind the Music’ with a free pre-concert talk at 6.45pm.

The Leamington Music Winter Season runs until mid-March and has twenty-one events in all, having begun in September with an exhilarating six concerts from the Brodsky Quartet of all fifteen Quartets by Shostakovich. The season goes on with bi-monthly concerts of string quartets, early music, choral music, Indian Carnatic music, and a special Family Concert; the season also features along the way works by black composers, women composers, and living composers for some new discoveries alongside familiar favourites to ensure there is something for everyone.

Tickets for Leamington Music concerts are available on the website, by calling 01926 334418 or in person at the Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington and the Court House in Warwick. Look out for special concerts for children, students, and the under-35s.