Armonico Consort is a critically acclaimed choir, instrumental ensemble and music charity. It is renowned for inspiring audiences through passionate performances, providing imaginative singing opportunities for young people and helping people living with dementia through the power of music. Armonico Consort began life in 2001, set up by Christopher Monks and a group of university colleagues with a shared passion for music from the Renaissance to Baroque, coupled with the imagination to find new and unusual ways to present concerts. Audiences seemed to love their engaging and innovative approach, and most concerts in the first years sold out. “That gave us the confidence, energy and self-belief to do more; to take more risks with our programming and keep on experimenting” says Christopher. The ideas kept flowing, as did the titles (many of them created down the pub…) including the concert programmes Naked Byrd, Supersize Polyphony, Too Hot to Handel, Monteverdi’s Flying Circus and Baroque around the Block. Although their horizons have broadened to encompass contemporary repertoire and new commissions, Armonico’s signature concerts continue to feature choral masterpieces, rarely heard gems and new musical discoveries from the Renaissance and Baroque, performed in imaginative ways by some of the world’s finest singers and period instrument players. “I’m particularly proud of Supersize Polyphony where we perform 40 and 60-part works by Tallis and Striggio in the round, surrounding the audience, interpolated by the timeless chants of Hildegard of Bingen,” Christopher continues. It was this particular programme which earned the group their first 5 star reviews, from The Times and BBC Music Magazine, and there were plenty more to follow. Most recently Armonico Consort has become the world’s leading authority on the choral works of Francesco Scarlatti – a forgotten member of the famous dynasty. Their recording of his Dixit Dominus and Messe a 16 has been named “Spectacular - the classical music find of the century” by Le figaro, Paris, and the first modern performance of his only surviving oratorio Daniele described as “an exemplary resuscitation” by The Times. Armonico’s education programme – AC Academy – was fundamental from the outset and now encompasses after-school choirs and an in-school Choir Creation programme which has established almost 300 choirs and trained teachers as choir leaders, reaching over 250,000 young people. The programme offers high quality performance opportunities in venues across the country, including the Royal Albert Hall where Armonico’s biggest project to date, It Takes a City for 2000 voices and orchestra, was premiered in 2022.
“Many of these young people have been with the group since the age of 7 and are now singing as AC Academy Scholars alongside the professional singers. It is so rewarding to see how the opportunities we have created have changed them not just as musicians, but as humans, and this drives much of what we create,” Christopher says. The Choir Creation programme has recently expanded through partnerships with Westlands Entertainment Venue Yeovil, and overseas in Kenya, and with Foundaçion Azteca Mexico where the training of new choir leaders will help create the country’s first high level symphony orchestra and chorus. The mental and physical well-being benefits of singing are well established, and Armonico Consort witnessed this first hand through creating a workplace choir for its sponsors Phillips 66 in 2016. New research suggests Baroque music is extremely effective at unlocking memories for those affected by dementia and, with training from the Alzheimer’s Society, Armonico’s Communities programme now includes singing sessions in care homes and the first of what will soon be many community choirs, Warwick Memory Singers. Throughout 2024, Armonico tours the 'Forgotten Scarlatti' – Francesco Scarlatti’s choral masterpieces in brand new editions by Dr Geoffrey Webber – and presents a new semi-staged version of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. The summer also sees the return of AC Academy Does the Royal Albert Hall, a biennial celebration of the Choir Creation programme involving thousands of children. It will include a bespoke musical work by children with special educational needs, feature guest dancers from BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, and what may well be the world’s largest ever performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana with 2500 singers.