The Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the Vespro della Beata Vergine in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist Baroque ensemble, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic conviction and extensive repertoire, encompassing music from the Renaissance period to Classical music of the 20th century. They often appear with the English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, also founded by John Eliot Gardiner. In 2000, the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's death, the choir undertook the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, performing and recording most of his church cantatas in more than 60 historic churches throughout Europe, and some in the U.S. On 5 March 2014 the Choir celebrated its 50th anniversary with a repeat performance of the Monteverdi Vespers from King's College Chapel, in a live broadcast live by BBC Radio 3. In 2023, it was one of the choirs selected to sing at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla. The Choir together with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique toured Europe with Berlioz's Les Troyens, conducted by Dinis Sousa, in the summer of 2023. The Choir was named ‘Best Choir’ at the Oper! Awards ceremony held at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam on 29 January 2024. In July 2024, it was announced that John Eliot Gardiner was resigning as Artistic Director of the choir.

Bach Cantata Pilgrimage

In 2000 the Choir, with the English Baroque Soloists, undertook an ambitious tour, the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, in which it performed almost all of Johann Sebastian Bach's church cantatas in more than 60 churches in Europe, the UK and the US to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer's death. The dates followed the occasions of the liturgical year for which Bach had assigned his compositions. Some of the churches are connected to Bach's life. Recordings of a number of the cantatas were released by Deutsche Grammophon on the Archiv label. However, most of the recordings made during the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage have been released in 28 volumes on Gardiner's own label, Soli Deo Gloria (recordings released by Deutsche Grammophon will not be released again on Soli Deo Gloria). The series was completed in 2012 with a live recording in London of cantatas for Ascension Day that were performed in Salisbury during the pilgrimage, but were not recorded for technical reasons. It is possible that some cantatas which were not performed during the pilgrimage will be added to the recording project, such as works for the inauguration of the Leipzig town council.

Discography

All recordings mentioned are with the English Baroque Soloists or Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, unless otherwise stated.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Cantatas

Other works

Other composers

Claudio Monteverdi

Alessandro Scarlatti

Antonio Vivaldi

George Frideric Handel

Christoph Willibald Gluck

Joseph Haydn

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Ludwig van Beethoven

Carl Maria von Weber

Franz Schubert

Hector Berlioz

Robert Schumann

Giuseppe Verdi

Johannes Brahms

Other recordings