Armonico Consort

	Too Hot to Handel
	Monteverdi's Flying Circus
	Naked Byrd
	Supersize Polyphony
	Coronation of King Henry VIII
	Let the Bright Seraphim

Under the dynamic leadership of founder and artistic director, Christopher Monks, Armonico Consort is one of the fastest-growing arts organisations in the country. Since its debut performance with Emma Kirkby in 2001, Armonico Consort has gained a reputation for presenting innovative, accessible and often humorous programmes.

'I've seldom seen children as enchanted with The Magic Flute as they were here' - The Independent

Armonico Consort is a highly talented vocal ensemble, staging a wide range of programmes in atmospheric settings, from 16th century polyphony to the sonorous Rachmaninov Vespers, the Bach Passions to Venetian Vespers with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble.  Armonico Consort brings each work to life, providing the audience with a new musical experience.  They are often accompanied by Armonico’s own orchestra, which features some of the finest period instrumentalists in the country.

Armonico Consort Opera have created a number of successful and innovative productions.  It’s first, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen directed by Thomas Guthrie, was rapturously received by sell-out audiences and Mozart’s The Magic Flute - with an amusing new script by Kit Hesketh Harvey - proved just as popular.  In 2010 another Kit Hesketh-Harvey collaboration ‘Monteverdi’s Flying Circus’ proved a great success – a deeply moving and, at times, riotous journey through the declining years of one of the most influential and gifted composers the world has ever seen. Their most recent creation, Too Hot to Handel showcases some of Handel’s most beautiful arias and choruses cleverly crafted around a modern love story.

Armonico Consort performs regularly at major festivals across the UK, and have appeared at the Barbican (Mostly Mozart Festival), Brighton Festival, Warwick Arts Centre, Cadogan Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Salisbury Festival and Bath Festival, and have worked with internationally renowned artists including Dame Emma Kirkby, Dame Evelyn Glennie, James Bowman, Crispian Steele-Perkins, Natalie Clein and Nicola Benedetti.

CD releases include Dixit Dominus, a world premiere recording of the music of Francesco Scarlatti with Emma Kirkby (one of Gramophone Magazines top five choral releases of 2004), and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. In 2009, Naked Byrd was released to critical acclaim and 2011 saw the international release of Naked Byrd 2, completing the recording of a concert which  brings together some of the finest music written over the past 9 centuries.

'A Beautiful Sound' - BBC Radio 3

Christopher Monks – Director

As founder and Artistic Director of Armonico Consort, Christopher is a dynamic and innovative conductor and keyboard player. Equally at home with early, classical and modern music, he is the driving force behind Armonico Consort’s success, developing the group from its initial inception as a choir and orchestra specialising in skilled and moving interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque and even modern music, to its latest manifestation as an opera company giving ground-breaking performances with a superb cast of professional singers, dancers, actors and musicians. Along the way, Christopher has established an education programme now reaching out to tens of thousands of young children across the country, and has been instrumental in the creation of the AC Academy choirs.

'Christopher Monks is an accomplished director; his choir is absolutely stacked with talent' - Birmingham Post

Christopher has performed world premieres with internationally renowned musicians such as Evelyn Glennie and the Fine Arts Brass ensemble. He regularly performs with some of the country's finest musicians. He has conducted a range of high-profile orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philharmonia and the European Union Chamber Orchestra, in addition to Armonico Consort's own orchestra. Among his many CDs, his recording of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen was awarded four stars by The Times.

Christopher was organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and studied conducting with David Hill whilst an organ scholar at Winchester Cathedral. As a keyboard player with the CBSO, including a performance of the Saint Saens 'Organ Symphony', he has worked with numerous internationally-renowned conductors.