The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras (MCO) have announced their 2025–26 season, which includes international tours, site-specific productions, and collaborations with a new group of conductors. It is the first full season to be programmed since Gardiner’s formal resignation in July 2024, following a year in which he had already been absent from public engagements after an incident in August 2023.
The season includes concerts across major European venues, the ensemble’s first foray into Rossini’s music, a new recording conducted by Christophe Rousset, and a staging of Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas beneath the hull of the Cutty Sark.
Touring programmes and new collaborations
The season begins in September with concerts in London and Rimini conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. Making his debut with the group, he leads the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in Mozart’s Requiem, Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, and Bach’s motet Singet dem Herrn.
In October, conductor Jakob Lehmann joins the ensemble for a Rossini programme at Cadogan Hall — the first time MCO performs music by the composer. The concert includes scenes from Ermione and the Stabat Mater, with a cast including Ana Maria Labin, Beth Taylor, and Alasdair Kent.
Later in the year, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists return to Handel’s Messiah, a work they have not toured in over three decades. The programme, conducted by Christophe Rousset, will travel to Paris, Milan, Rome, and London in December, with soloists such as Ana Vieira Leite, Dame Sarah Connolly, Andrew Staples, and William Thomas.
In March and April, Peter Whelan leads the St John Passion by Bach, with performances in London, Barcelona, and Budapest. And in May, Dido & Aeneas will be staged beneath the Cutty Sark, in collaboration with Trinity Laban. The production is described as immersive, using the ship’s dry-dock setting to create a site-specific version of Purcell’s opera. Jonathan Sells conducts.
Another London venue — the newly restored Great Hall at St Bartholomew’s Hospital — becomes part of the ensemble’s calendar in November. A concert of Baroque repertoire will mark the opening of this 18th-century space, which reopens after a major restoration supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The group’s educational initiatives also continue, particularly the Apprentice Programme and its partnership with Trinity Laban. Dame Sarah Connolly and Mark Padmore are named as new ambassadors for the programme.
In addition, the group releases a new album on its SDG label in September: Charpentier: Baroque Christmas, recorded live in 2024 and conducted by Christophe Rousset.
Institutional transition
Founded by John Eliot Gardiner in 1964, the Monteverdi Choir — along with the English Baroque Soloists (1978) and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (1989) — became central institutions in the development of historically informed performance in the UK. Gardiner’s leadership spanned more than six decades.
In August 2023, the conductor withdrew from public appearances after reportedly striking a singer backstage during a performance. He remained absent from all engagements, and in July 2024, officially resigned from his roles within MCO. Since then, the organisation has worked with a group of conductors who had already begun appearing regularly with the ensembles in recent years.
Gardiner has since launched a new ensemble, the Constellation Choir & Orchestra, which made its debut tour in late 2024 with concerts in Vienna, Hamburg, and Luxembourg. In interviews, he has spoken publicly about undergoing therapy and completing a new biography of Monteverdi.
The 2025–26 season reflects a moment of continuity and reorganisation for the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras — with established repertoire alongside new collaborations and touring projects.
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