About Us
“I have long admired the world-class performances of this wonderfully talented organisation.” His Majesty King Charles III, Patron of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras
We change the way the world hears classical music.
For more than 60 years, Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras (MCO) has challenged convention, transformed performance practice and redefined audiences’ relationship with classical music.
By the mid-20th century, the music of the Baroque and Classical eras had been so transformed by the performance practices of the Romantic and Modern periods as to be almost unrecognisable to its composers, had they been alive to hear it. By studying original manuscripts and contemporaneous texts, trying to understand the composers’ intentions, and thereby stripping away centuries of assumption, MCO helped spark a movement that reshaped classical music around the world. What began in 1964 became a new artistic standard.
Today, we continue to lead that conversation. Our work is never finished. Every score offers another question to ask, another layer to uncover and another opportunity to reveal something audiences have never heard before. Combining exceptional scholarship with extraordinary musicianship, we bring together the world’s finest specialist performers and the next generation of artistic leaders to keep rediscovering the music that defines our culture.
The Journey Continues.
MCO’s journey continues as our choir and period instrument ensembles develop close, long-term relationships with a select group of specialist lead conductors, each focussing on a distinct artistic strand. Blending their specialist expertise with the established experience of the MCO ensembles, these partnerships are already yielding exceptional artistic results both on the concert platform and on record.
Artistic Strands:
Handel with Christophe Rousset
Renowned harpsichordist and conductor, Christophe Rousset combines scholarship, theatrical instinct and sheer musical energy in a way that feels completely natural with our ensembles, and we are just at the beginning of a journey that began with Messiah in 2025, and continues with Theodora this year, and further Handel oratorios and instrumental works for several years to come.
Rossini with Jakob Lehmann
Rossini is a composer new to MCO, and relatively unexplored on period instruments, and so it is exciting to be performing and recording his work with the brilliant young Rossini specialist Jakob Lehmann. Jakob has an infectious ability to reveal both the elegance and the drama in this repertoire, and we are delighted to be exploring it together over several seasons. We started with the Stabat Mater in 2025 and continue with the Petite messe solennelle in 2026.
Early Romantics with Pablo Heras-Casado
Pablo Heras-Casado will continue to bring us expertise in period-instrument performance of 19th-century repertoire. Pablo is an artist who is constantly asking new questions of familiar repertoire, which makes him an ideal partner for us. Following our hugely successful debut project together in 2025 (Mozart’s Requiem and Schubert’s Symphony no. 5), we will mark Beethoven's 200th anniversary with MCO's first performances of Fidelio.
J.S. Bach with Masaaki Suzuki
Needless to say, we shall keep returning to the music of J.S. Bach, which is in the Monteverdi Choir’s DNA: it is no exaggeration to say that this ensemble has shaped the modern world’s understanding of this music. In an electrifying collaboration that first came together for a concert of Bach’s cantatas of 1725 in 2025, we continue this journey of exploration with one of the foremost authorities on Bach, Masaaki Suzuki. Our next focus is upon the St Matthew Passion, with a major US tour in 2027.
Annual report
Please visit our Charity Commission page to view our most recent Annual Report.
Patron: HM The King
Jakob Lehmann conducts Rossini with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
The Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique rehearsing Mozart, Schubert & Bach with Pablo Heras-Casado
The Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists rehearsing the programme for 'Sing to the Lord a New Song' in the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul, Greenwich, with Jonathan Sells
The Monteverdi Choir performing Bruckner: Locus Iste