A passionate journey through the rich variety of Claudio Monteverdi’s opera arias, secular choral pieces and grander works for strings will feature in a concert that will bring to a close this year’s BOV Opera Festival. This concert will feature I Fagiolini, a British ensemble best known for Renaissance and contemporary music.

400 years after it was written, Monteverdi’s music still moves, shocks and inspires. Intimate miniature dramas are complemented by a powerful section from his first great opera and Renaissance meets Baroque in his very modern “Madrigals of war and love” while his thrilling dance music will have every foot tapping.

The I Fagiolini ensemble is the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award, 2006. Their stylish staged productions of Renaissance and Baroque music-theatre works together with virtuosic performances of contemporary repertoire have won them accolades from the BBC Proms to Soweto and brought this repertoire to both specialist and completely new audiences.

The performance by I Fagiolini will take place on 3 April at the Phoenicia Grand Ballroom. Tickets are available from the Manoel Theatre’s booking office on telephone number 2124-6389 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected].