Davies Music now manages concert work for bass Brian Bannatyne-Scott - who sings Arkel for Opera Holland Park's Pelléas this summer. Paul Brough is conducting the BBC Singers at the Festival des Abbayes Vendéennes in June and records with them in July for BBC Radio 3; on 27 June he directs the Britten Sinfonia with Magdalen College Choir in Bach's Magnificat in Oxford.

Gregynog's theme this year of the Pleasure Gardens is explored by the London Handel Players with their programme Music for Mrs Arne with Emma Kirkby on Friday 11 June; the following day Rachel Brown is joined by Katherine Sharman and Terence Charlston for a Musical Breakfast exploring some rediscovered repertoire by Welsh composers such as John Parry - followed by a Georgian-style "taster" lunch www.gwylgregynogfestival.org

Colin Lawson joins the Revolutionary Drawing Room for Hummel's Clarinet Quartet at Vinehall School in Sussex on Saturday 12 June - the programme also includes a Spohr Double Quartet and Brahms' Sextet no.1 – all on period instruments

juice run workshops with Aldeburgh Young Musicians, exploring their voices and discovering how to compose for voices, and culminating in an open session this Friday 4 June http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk/aym/creative-voices

juice are in Marlow for a concert with afternoon tea during the Flower Festival there (Sunday 13 June) and premiere a new piece by Laurence Roman at the St Andrew’s Cabaret in London (Friday 25 June); they'll join Mikhail Karikis for his new experimental opera Xenon at the Whitstable Biennale on Sunday 27 June. http://www.whitstablebiennale.com

They're back at Colourscape in July, on Sunday 4th in Ipswich and Sunday 18th in Gloucester - www.colourscape.org.uk - and give a morning concert at the Harrogate Festival on 28 July

Liz Kenny takes John Blow’s Venus and Adonis to York on Saturday 17 July, with soloists Sophie Daneman and Giles Underwood, and members of the Minster Minstrels Vocal Ensemble as Cupid and Little Cupids – also to be recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio 3 www.ncem.co.uk

Pantagruel's growing popularity in the UK sees them return for concerts at the Winchester Festival on 16 July (Eliza is the Fairest Queen) and Music at Aust on 17 July (Laydie Louthians Lilte) www.pantagruel.de

Pantagruel bring their new programme Nymphidia – the Court of Fairy to the UK, with concerts at The Forge in Camden Town on 29 April, Malvern Baptist Church on 30 April, Southwell Minster on 1 May and the King of Hearts in Norwich on 2 May.  They’ll also be performing at the St Georgs-Kirche in Hattingen on 8 May www.pantagruel.de

Duo Dorado give an evening concert in Southend Borough Council’s series at the Plaza Centre on 23 April, including music by Handel and Purcell and sonatas by their contemporaries William Croft and Joseph Gibbs www.southend.gov.uk/
They return to Croydon’s Fairfield Halls for a lunchtime recital on 4 May

Elizabeth Kenny begins a series of concerts including John Blow’s Venus and Adonis as well as music by Robert de Visée, Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Michel Lambert at the Wigmore Hall on 3 May (to be released on CD by Wigmore Live), with further performances in Southampton on 4 May (with Giles Underwood as Adonis and a girl Cupid from Winchester Cathedral) and at the York Early Music Festival on 17 July

After the success of their Dutch Early Music Network tour and visit to the UK in March, Le Jardin Secret return to the Flanders Festival
www.festivalmechelen.be/

The celebrated Wollaton Antiphonal, a glorious musical manuscript of Latin chant from the fifteenth century, has been lovingly and painstakingly conserved over recent years. Its renewed splendour will be celebrated in a concert of English polyphonic music of the time, sung by the Binchois Consort on 8 May at Lakeside Arts Centre

Shaw House was bought by James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, in 1721 and it has recently been restored – the London Handel Players give a concert on 12 May and a lecture/recital about Handel’s connection with the Duke on 20 May

This year’s Sounds New contemporary music festival has the number 7 as its theme – and juice will give the premiere of The Seventh by Paul Robinson as well as a new work by Anna Snow on 12 May.  There’s another chance to hear their music for the 1916 silent film The Danger Girl with Gloria Swanson on 29 May at Kings Place in London.

The Revolutionary Drawing Room play Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven at Farnham Castle on Friday 28 May in the first event of this year’s Tilford Bach Festival in Surrey

As part of their prize for winning the 2007 Early Music Network Young Artists’ Competition in York, Le Jardin Secret are featured on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on Sunday 10 January.  The programme includes extracts from their two CDs and some specially recorded French songs from their Christmas programme In the still of night as well as interviews with soprano Elizabeth Dobbin and harpsichordist David Blunden.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pkz0f
The programme is also available online via the BBC’s iPlayer for 7 days aftewards.
Le Jardin Secret's new CD, Auf Wiener Art, is Editor's Choice in the December/January issue of Early Music Today

juice perform at the Royal Musical Association’s Research Students’ Conference on Thursday 7 January at York University music.york.ac.uk/rma2010/
On 16 February, juice give a concert and workshop for Manchester Metropolitan University’s Axis Arts Centre www.axisartscentre.org.uk

Miriam Allan joins William Christie and Les Arts Florissants for Purcell’s The Fairy Queen in the new production created for Glyndebourne last summer, with performances from 16 January at the Opéra Comique in Paris.  Miriam also joins Crouch End Festival Chorus for Creation on 10 January at the Barbican Hall.

B’Rock made their UK debut in December with a fantastic Bach concert directed by Gary Cooper at the Wigmore Hall; Julia Doyle joins them for one of their “Lecture Songs” in Brussels, Hasselt and Antwerp 20-22 January.
b-rock.org/programma.php?prId=36

Duo Dorado (violinist Hazel Brooks and harpsichordist David Pollock) give a concert for the Avon Valley Concerts at Ringwood in the New Forest on Friday 15 January – their programme A Baroque Musical Feast is exactly that, with music by Purcell, Handel, Bach, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Corelli and William Croft www.avonvalleyconcerts.com

Alamire’s final Henry’s Music concert in the Christmas Festival at St John’s Smith Square was described as “Heaven” in The Independent; 2010 will see the release of the first CDs in their massive series exploring English music for Obsidian.

Pantagruel’s website has been completely updated – see www.pantagruel.de for news of their forthcoming performances, including Essen-Kettwig on 23 January, and Bochum on 24 January, Mülheim/Ruhr and Neuenrade on 20 & 21 February, and their debut in Denmark on 2 February, at Gammel Estrup in Auning.

Concordia are joined by tenor Nicholas Mulroy for a special Valentine’s Day programme of romantic pages from the great songbooks of William Byrd, John Dowland and Henry Purcell at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on 13 February.
www.rncm.ac.uk

This year’s Festival also includes Arias for Mrs Arne with Emma Kirkby and the London Handel Players (11 March), and Adrian Butterfield directs the London Handel Orchestra at the Wigmore Hall on 28 March in Handel’s 1710 – Venice – Hanover – London with soprano Ruby Hughes, winner of the 2009 Handel Singing Competition www.london-handel-festival.com

Davies Music is delighted to announce the management of the tenor Paul Austin Kelly for both concerts and opera.

Concordia are joined by Robin Blaze and singers from the University of York Chamber Choir for A Carowle for Christmas Day at the York Christmas Early Music Festival on Saturday 5 December – a programme of Elizabethan music for the Christmas season including original carols by William Byrd.
www.ncem.co.uk/cgi/events

Alamire has been central to the Henry VIII celebrations held in the UK and abroad, including projects for the British Library, Folio Society, and David Starkey’s Channel 4 documentary series Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant.  At St John’s Smith Square on Tuesday 15 December they explore the musical entertainments which might have been enjoyed at Richmond by Henry VIII and his wife Catherine of Aragon in the year of his coronation, 1509.
www.sjss.org.uk

Le Jardin Secret present a programme of improvised and traditional instrumental and vocal settings of French and English music for the Christmas season.
www.musantica.nl/EN/agenda.php
www.gcs.org.uk/concert_list.htm

This year’s Messiah performance by Polyphony promises to be a particularly special one: their new recording for Hyperion, also with Julia Doyle, has been attracting rave reviews.

Miriam Allan is off to Australia to sing Messiah conducted by Stephen Layton, Julia Doyle sings Messiah in Oslo, Simon Wall and Jonathan Sells are touring Israel with Christmas Oratorio and Jonathan Sells is singing Messiah on tour with the European Union Baroque Orchestra.

Meanwhile, you can hear juice at the Ustinov, Theatre Royal Bath on Friday 11 December and at The Forge, the new venue in Camden Town in London, on Thursday 17 December.
www.theatreroyal.org.uk/ustinov
www.forgevenue.org/whats-on/

I loved the performances of the late medieval and contemporary ensemble Grand Désir (founded in 2004 by mezzo-soprano Anne Marieke Evers and recorder player Anita Orme della Marta) at the York Early Music Festival’s Young Artists’ Competition and I am delighted to say that they have become Davies Music Artists.  David Denton described them in Early Music Today as “a female trio with that rare and indefinable quality that set them apart from the other finalists…the perfectly focused mezzo voice of Anne Marieke Evers hauntingly beautiful…her accompaniment came from two superb musicians who employed a freedom of expression no other group felt able to risk.”.  This month they are touring on the Dutch Early Music Network, with concerts in Ammerzoden, Deventer, Leeuwarden and Utrecht.
www.oudemuziek.nl/dutch/seizoen0910/desir

New CDs already out include Elizabeth Kenny’s debut solo CD, Flying Horse (Hyperion) and Le Jardin Secret’s second CD Auf Wiener Art for Coro.  Out this month – a Haydn disc for Metronome recorded by Carole Cerasi using an exceptional original fortepiano by Schantz, Haydn’s preferred maker, and Polyphony’s long awaited Messiah, on the Hyperion label, with the Britten Sinfonia and soloists including soprano Julia Doyle: “The music-making here has … the lightness, textures and vocabulary of period style, but there is also the spiritual grandeur … of the great Northern choral society tradition …The soloists are ideal. Julia Doyle is a charismatic Angel/narrator in the pastoral scene, and her embellished recapitulation of 'I know that my Redeemer liveth' is spine-tingling.” (Gramophone, November 2009)

The London Handel Festival is holding its annual Fundraising Dinner at Claridge’s, preceded by a concert at St George’s Hanover Square with soloists Ruby Hughes, winner of the 2009 Handel Singing Competition, and John McMunn
www.london-handel-festival.com

Emma Kirkby joins the London Handel Players for concerts at the Brighton Early Music Festival on Sunday 8 November and for Music at Oxford on Friday 13 November
www.bremf.org.uk
www.musicatoxford.com

Emma Kirkby is a frequent soloist also with London Baroque, and this is another Purcell and Handel anniversary concert; but I for one won’t tire of hearing such wonderful songs as If Music be the food of Love and Handel’s German Arias, especially sung by Emma
www.citymusicsociety.org/Evening.htm

Duo Dorado will be charming the music-lovers of Cardiff on Tuesday 10 November; the Duo has recently made another CD and copies will be available shortly
www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk/english/whatson_detail.asp?ID=2238

Handel House is a venue usually associated with the period performance side of Davies Music, but on this occasion it is playing host to the contemporary vocal trio juice
www.handelhouse.org/news-and-events/live-music

Clare McCaldin gives the world premiere of Stephen McNeff’s Madrigali d’estate at the lunchtime recital series, Royal Opera House, London on 2 November

14 November - Alison Pearce sings Dido and Sarah Dacey of juice sings Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Kingston Festival of the Voice; the programme also includes the premiere of Roger Beeson’s Scene for Dido sung by Alison Pearce; and on 25 November Janet Shell gives a recital
www.kac.org.uk

English Touring Opera’s Handel Festival continues with performances in Exeter, Bath, Aldeburgh and Cambridge – Joseph Cornwell sings Ugone in Flavio and Neil Baker sings Araspe in Tolomeo and Melisso in Alcina
See www.englishtouringopera.org.uk for performance dates and venues

Choral societies using Davies Music/Concert Directory International soloists this month include Hull Bach Choir (Handel Samson), Ellesmere Port Music Society (Haydn Creation), Romsey Choral Society (Elgar Dream of Gerontius), Ealing Choral Society (Handel, Vivaldi, Finzi and Holst), Malvern Festival Chorus (Mozart C minor Mass), City of Birmingham Choir (Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony), Hampton Choral Society (Bach Magnificat), Peterborough Choral Society (Haydn The Seasons), Stafford Choral Society (Britten St Nicolas), Otley Choral Society (Vivaldi Gloria) and the Amici Chamber Choir (Monteverdi, Gabrieli and Mozart’s Vespers)

“I'm delighted to say that all four soloists were brilliant, thoroughly professional, knew their dots and were a breeze to make music with. We never have time for much interpretation on these one-rehearsal get-togethers but they were a great team to have under those circumstances.”  Peter Leech, Music Makers, Harpenden, October 2009

I loved the performances of the late medieval and contemporary ensemble Grand Désir (founded in 2004 by mezzo-soprano Anne Marieke Evers and recorder player Anita Orme della Marta) at the York Early Music Festival’s Young Artists’ Competition and I am delighted to say that they have become Davies Music Artists.  David Denton described them in Early Music Today as “a female trio with that rare and indefinable quality that set them apart from the other finalists…the perfectly focused mezzo voice of Anne Marieke Evers hauntingly beautiful…her accompaniment came from two superb musicians who employed a freedom of expression no other group felt able to risk.”.

Elizabeth Kenny’s solo lute disc, Flying Horse, is named after an anonymous piece in the ML Lute Book, the source of all the music in her new CD.  "one of the best solo lute recordings that I have heard" (www.musicalcriticism.com) "Kenny's passagework is exhilaratingly crisp" (Anna Picard, The Independent)

Pantagruel bring their new singer, Anna Maria Antonius Wierød to the UK for the first time for a concert at the East Finchley Arts Festival in London on 7 October www.eastfinchleyartsfestival.org.uk.  They have a date at the King of Hearts in Norwich on 2 May 2010 and I’d be pleased to receive enquiries for further concerts at that time.

Le Jardin Secret’s first CD, Musique pour Mazarin, was so successful that Coro invited them to make another.  They’ll be launching Auf Wiener Art at a City Music Society concert on Tuesday 27 October at Bishopsgate Hall in London – tickets are free.  Their visit to the UK also includes concerts for Cambridge Early Music in Trinity College Chapel on Friday 30 October, and the Brighton Early Music Festival at lunchtime on Saturday 31 October, as well as a recording for BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show, to be broadcast in December.

The London Handel Players begin October with concerts at the Swansea Festival and Leamington Music with Emma Kirkby, and later in the month they’re at the Birmingham Early Music Festival (17 October) and Palau de la Musica Barcelona (19 October) with Daniel Taylor.

juice began October with three concerts at La Comète in Châlons-en-Champagne, one of which they shared with alphorn duo Stimmhorn.  They have a lunchtime concert at Manchester University on 8 October.

London Baroque is a Making Music Selected Artist for 2010-11, and Concert Royal: Music for Kings is one of the programmes they are offering, including music by Jenkins, Butler, Couperin, Bach, Forqueray and Rameau.

Evelyn Tubb and Anthony Rooley bring A Many-Coloured Coat to Cambridge Early Music
Evelyn and Tony present their programme of songs of love and devotion from Islamic, Christian and Jewish traditions in Cambridge on 24 October www.cambridgeearlymusic.org.

With performances all around the country, beginning in London in mid-October, this is not to be missed – you can hear Joseph Cornwell in Flavio and Neil Baker in Tolomeo and Alcina.
www.englishtouringopera.org.uk.

Clare McCaldin joins the Vienna Piano Trio for a private concert in Vienna to mark the 200th anniversary of Haydn’s death

Julia Doyle joins Arsys Bourgogne and Concerto Köln directed by Pierre Cao for Israel in Egypt at the Philharmonie, Luxembourg (18 October), Théâtre de Champs-Elysées, Paris (19 October) and L’Opéra, Dijon (20 October) – one of a starry line-up of British soloists.

Jill Davies has invited Nicholas Heath to join Davies Music as Opera Associate, developing opera work for the singers of Davies Music and Concert Directory International. Nicholas has many years' experience of the opera world. After studying art and design, he chose to pursue a career in singing, which grew from the Montepulciano Arts Festival in the early 1980s and led in 1993 to a full time contract at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He formed his own opera company Opera A La Carte in 1993 where he has produced, directed and designed over 40 productions as well as devising masterclasses and education programmes within the UK and abroad. Since 2004 he has regularly lectured in Opera Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. He left the Royal Opera House in 2006 to work on a project run by Streetwise Opera and to devote more time to Opera a la Carte. In 2007 he participated in the Clore Cultural Leadership Programme.

Congratulations to Jonathan Sells who has won the Prix Thierry Mermod at the Verbier Festival Academy

Julia Doyle and Jonathan Sells tour Europe with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists:
Julia and Jonny are taking solo roles in Handel's Israel in Egypt conducted by John Eliot Gardiner; performances include the Edinburgh Festival on 3 September and Cadogan Hall in London on 11 September as well as Lübeck, Luzern, San Sebastian, Wroclaw, Pisa and Bonn

Simon Wall joins Iestyn Davies and the Academy of Ancient Music/Richard Egarr for John Blow’s Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell at Cadogan Hall on 7 September, also live on BBC Radio 3

Alamire are giving 3 short concerts at this year’s Kings Place Festival in London on 5 September at 12.30, 1.30 and 2.30pm.  August’s edition of BBC Music Magazine included an article by David Skinner about Henry VIII, and a review of Alamire’s recording with QuintEssential, Henry’s Music: “Mastery in performance, in scholarship and in production creates a sublime listening experience.”

juice give a recital in Barry for the Vale of Glamorgan Festival on 9 September, and the following day they’ve been asked to perform in the premiere of a new symphony by Ross Edwards, The Promised Land.  The following Sunday, 13 September they’re at the Colourscape Festival on Clapham Common
www.valeofglamorganfestival.org

On 11 and 12 September, Le Jardin Secret present their programme of French and Italian music from the court of Cardinal Mazarin at the Flanders Festival (11 Sep, Sint-Niklaas, 12 Sep, Zoutleeuw)
www.festival.be

London Baroque play for Andover Music Club on 24 September with Emma Kirkby:
Emma Kirkby joins London Baroque for a programme of Purcell and Handel, with a little Jenkins and Couperin added to the mix

It’s a busy autumn, and the Brighton and Birmingham Early Music Festivals include concerts by the London Handel Players and Le Jardin Secret
www.bemf.net
www.bremf.co.uk

Pantagruel bring their new singer, Anna Maria Antonius Wierød to the UK for the first time for a concert at the East Finchley Arts Festival in London on 7 October
www.eastfinchleyartsfestival.org.uk

One of the leading vocal consorts in the UK , Alamire has an enviable line-up of some of the finest consort singers under the charismatic directorship of David Skinner.  Projects currently include Channel 4’s series on Henry VIII and a CD and series of concerts, Henry’s Music, celebrating the 500th anniversary of Henry’s accession, at Trinity College, Cambridge (founded by Henry VIII), the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Library in London, in collaboration with QuintEssential

Duo Dorado are giving two concerts of Bach, including some of the violin sonatas and the Italian Concerto, for Chichester Festivities on 2 July and Stratford on Avon Festival’s Midsummer Music on 12 July

Carole Cerasi gives a number of recitals this month, on harpsichord at Handel House on 14 July, on clavichord at Hatchlands Park on 15 July, and at Fenton House on 16 July

The Wild Musician Sings is the title Mark Levy has chosen for Concordia’s 14 July concert at the Wigmore Hall – the programme includes cantatas, sonatas, and Raise, raise the voice, Purcell’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day c.1685

Concordia are giving two concerts at the Mosel Musikfestival – an instrumental programme at the Synagogue in Wittlich on 10 July, and with the King’s Singers in Trier on 11 July

Emma Kirkby sings Purcell and Handel with London Baroque in Cirencester; their next UK concert is on 5 August for the Summer Music Society of Dorset

July singers’ highlights: Miriam Allan continues performances of Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne; Simon Wall sings Handel’s Jephtha at the Haapsalu Early Music Festival, Clare McCaldin is Örzse for the Ryedale Festival’s production of Háry János by Kodály, and Julia Doyle tours the Highlands with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra

I am pleased to announce that Davies Music has taken over the agency Concert Directory International from Nicholson Proud.  Rachel Proud and Paul Nicholson have been running the agency for the past few years since the retirement of Cathy Scott, but the expansion of their other activities mean that they no longer have sufficient time to devote to it.  I am particularly delighted to be working again with a number of singers I have known for a long time, and re-establishing connections with UK choral societies.

Miriam Allan is at Glyndebourne, singing arias in Purcell’s Fairy Queen under the direction of William Christie.  Julia Doyle sings Haydn’s Scena di Berenice with the BBC Philharmonic/Gianandrea Noseda live on BBC Radio 3 on 11 June.  Simon Wall sings Evangelist and Jonathan Sells Christus in the Aldeburgh Festival’s St Matthew Passion, directed by Masaaki Suzuki on 28 June.

I am pleased to announce that I am now working for London Baroque, in the UK only.  London Baroque is one of the Making Music Concert Promoters’ Network Selected Artists for 2010 to 2011 and I will be pleased to receive enquiries from member music societies.

In 2007 juice won second prize at the prestigious Tampere Vocal Music Festival, the only UK ensemble ever to be prizewinners; they’ll be returning this year to perform at the Festival Klubi on 3 June.

Go to www.londonhandelfestival.tv to watch a video made by Brandcast about the preparations, rehearsals and performance of Theodora which opened this year’s London Handel Festival, including interviews with Laurence Cummings, Adrian Butterfield and the soloists.

This year’s Tilford Bach Festival includes Rachel Brown playing Bach Flute Sonatas, with Katherine Sharman and Laurence Cummings on 30 May, and a Bach and Handel programme directed by Laurence Cummings and Adrian Butterfield  www.tilbach.org.uk

QuintEssential join Alamire to celebrate Henry VIII in Cambridge, Oxford and London
2009 marks the 500th anniversary of the accession of King Henry VIII, and the first in a series of celebratory concerts took place at the college Henry founded on 5 May; they’re at the British Library on 24 June

QuintEssential will be the band for Canticum’s performance of the Monteverdi Vespers on Friday 19 June at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.  Please ask for a quote if you need a band for a performance during 2010 – there are three sizes of orchestra available.

Julia and Mhairi sing some of Charpentier’s rare and beautiful Leçons de Ténèbres accompanied by Elizabeth Kenny and Luke Green at the Stour Music Festival in Kent on 26 June at 10.00pm
www.stourmusic.org.uk

I am pleased to announce that I have been invited to take over the agency Concert Directory International from Nicholson Proud.  Rachel Proud and Paul Nicholson have been running the agency for the past few years since the retirement of Cathy Scott, but the expansion of their other activities mean that they no longer have sufficient time to devote to it.  I am particularly delighted to be working again with a number of singers I have known for a long time, and re-establishing connections with UK choral societies.

Go to www.londonhandelfestival.tv to watch a video made by Brandcast about the preparations, rehearsals and performance of Theodora which opened this year’s London Handel Festival, including interviews with Laurence Cummings, Adrian Butterfield and the soloists.

QuintEssential join Alamire to celebrate Henry VIII at Trinity College, Cambridge…
2009 marks the 500th anniversary of the accession of King Henry VIII, and the first in a series of celebratory concerts takes place at the college Henry founded on Tuesday 5 May

juice commissioned a new work from Gabriel Prokofiev for their Wigmore Hall debut last month (funded by the PRS Foundation), and they perform his Simple Songs for a Modern Life with electronics at Gabriel’s nonclassical club night at the Macbeth in Hoxton on Wednesday 6 May

Carole Cerasi plays Bach on the clavichord at the Bath International Music Festival…
Carole has been invited back to Bath to give two recitals on Monday 24 May, of the first book of Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues

Last year juice won second prize at the prestigious Tampere Vocal Music Festival, the only UK ensemble ever to be prizewinners; they’ll be returning this year to perform at the Festival Klubi on 3 June

Tilford Bach Festival: the London Handel Players perform Bach and the London Handel Orchestra is joined by soloists including Daniel Taylor for Handel’s The Choice of Hercules…
This year’s Tilford Bach Festival includes Rachel Brown playing Bach Flute Sonatas, with Katherine Sharman and Laurence Cummings on 30 May, and a Bach and Handel programme directed by Laurence Cummings and Adrian Butterfield  www.tilbach.org.uk

Julia Gooding and Mhairi Lawson sing some of Charpentier’s rare and beautiful Leçons de Ténèbres accompanied by Elizabeth Kenny and Luke Green at the Stour Festival

I am pleased to announce that I have been invited to take over the agency CDI International from Nicholson Proud. Rachel Proud and Paul Nicholson have been running the agency for the past five years and I am delighted to be working again with a number of singers I have known for a long time, and re-establishing connections with UK choral societies.

I have recently been accepted as a member of the International Artist Managers' Association, the worldwide association for classical music management managers and companies. One of the many benefits is the inclusion of my artists in the joint AEAA/IAMA Classical Music Artists Directory, one of the sources for www.klassik.com amongst other websites.

The London Handel Orchestra, directed by Laurence Cummings and led by Adrian Butterfield, will be joined by the London Handel Singers and a fine team of soloists (including John Mark Ainsley, Sarah Tynan, Iestyn Davies and Derek Welton) for the final concert of this year’s London Handel Festival on Handel’s death day, 14 April – Handel’s last oratorio Jephtha.

Concordia join the Ensemble Gilles Binchois, directed by Dominique Vellard for a concert on Sunday 5 April at the Semana de Musica Religiosa de Cuenca, including music by the local composer X. de las Infantas, from the Uclés Library. www.smrcuenca.es

juice have won funding from the PRS Foundation for a commission from the electrifying composer, DJ and producer Gabriel Prokofiev, part of which they performed at their Wigmore Hall recital for the Park Lane Group on Monday 6 April, with the complete work to follow at the nonclassical club night at the Macbeth in East London a month later on Wednesday 6 May.

Elizabeth Kenny is looking for further performances of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis in Summer and Autumn 2010, after a Wigmore Hall concert on 3 May 2010.  Venus will be sung by Sophie Daneman and Adonis by Roderick

Polyphony are joined by the Academy of Ancient Music for their annual performance of Bach’s St John Passion on Good Friday, 10 April, at 2.30pm with James Gilchrist as Evangelist and James Rutherford as Christus.

The London Handel Orchestra also presents an annual Passion at St George’s Hanover Square on Good Friday, with soloists drawn from previous winners of the Handel Singing Competition and including Nicholas Mulroy as Evangelist and George Humphreys as Christus.

Duo Dorado have chosen a programme of English music, including Purcell, Handel and William Croft, for their lunchtime concert in Bristol on 23 April.  Coincidentally they’ll also be giving a recital on St George’s Day 2010, this time in Southend.

I am delighted to announce the management and representation worldwide of the London Handel Players (directed from the violin by Adrian Butterfield) and, in collaboration with Anne-Marie Norman, the London Handel Orchestra (Musical Director Laurence Cummings, Associate Director/leader Adrian Butterfield).  2009 is of course an important year for these ensembles – who are involved in the main concerts of the London Handel Festival, this year running from Handel’s birthday on 23 February (when there’s a performance of Theodora) until the date of his death on 14 April. www.london-handel-festival.com

The Binchois Consort’s most recent disc for Hyperion, in a prize-winning series which has won many accolades, was reviewed in The Observer in December: “...this gloriously performed disc from the eight male voices of the pure-toned Binchois Consort. Contrasting motets and mass propers, works of sublime clarity, are rewardingly interspersed. Who knows - or cares - whether it's even faintly authentic. The results are mesmerising.”   I am very pleased that Andrew Kirkman and the Binchois Consort have joined my list of artists and particularly look forward to working on their new programme of the music of Dufay and the Court of Savoy, the theme of their latest CD.

I have recently been accepted as a member of the International Artist Managers’ Association, the worldwide association for classical music management managers and companies.  One of the many benefits is the inclusion of my artists in the joint AEAA/IAMA Classical Music Artists Directory, one of the sources for www.klassik.com amongst other websites.

I would be pleased to discuss programmes celebrating the many composer anniversaries which fall in 2009, as well as the 500th anniversary of the accession of King Henry VIII.
Concordia – Pastime with Good Company with Clare Wilkinson
Concordia – Mr Purcell’s Youthful Fantazias with Robin Blaze, and The Wild Musician Sings with Sophie Daneman, James Gilchrist and Roderick Williams
Carole Cerasi – Purcell, Handel and Haydn for harpsichord
Carole Cerasi and Julia Gooding – She never told her love: songs by Haydn and Mozart and their London contemporaries
Duo Dorado – 2009 – An English Baroque Anniversary, An Evening with Mr Handel, and Meet Mr Purcell
London Handel Players – a variety of programmes both instrumental and with vocal soloists such as Emma Kirkby, Daniel Taylor and Peter Harvey
The Maresienne Consort – Musical Souls (Chamber Sonatas by Purcell) and Orpheus and Icarus (songs and cantatas by Purcell and Handel with Emma Kirkby)
Revolutionary Drawing Room – Mendelssohn’s exuberant Octet programmed alongside a quartet by Haydn and a rare performance of a Double Quartet by Ludwig Spohr

There are two lunchtime opportunities to hear juice coming up – they’ll be at St James’s Piccadilly for the Park Lane Group on Wednesday 18 February, and performing as part of the City of London’s Free Winter Series at St Anne & St Agnes, Gresham Street on Wednesday 4 March.  juice have just heard from the PRS that they have funding for a new work from Gabriel Prokofiev, part of which will be premiered at their Wigmore Hall concert, again for the Park Lane Group, on Monday 6 April

The Binchois Consort’s next UK concert is for the Georgian Concert Society on Saturday 7 February, at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh.  They’ll be performing Obrecht and the Company of Saints.

Totnes Early Music Society’s programme this spring includes Duo Dorado on Saturday 28 February, with Meet Mr Purcell, and Pantagruel on Saturday 28 March, with Laydie Louthians Lilte.  Pantagruel’s new CD of the same title is now out – let me know if you would like a copy.

In a 2009 anniversaries programme, an expanded Revolutionary Drawing Room will play Haydn’s Op.77 no.1, Ludwig Spohr’s Double Quartet in D minor Op.65 and Mendelssohn’s Octet Op.20 at Tilford Bach Society on Friday 27 February and for Hendon Music Club on Saturday 28 February.  I heard them give this programme at Cardiff University in December and loved the clarity of timbre and the sparkling sound of the period instruments the RDR use.  Let me know if you would like to go to either concert and I will arrange tickets for you.

I am pleased to announce the management of Le Jardin Secret, an ensemble which presents the wonderful treasure of Baroque solo vocal literature accompanied by the full colour and beauty of original continuo and obligato instruments. With soprano Elizabeth Dobbin, the ensemble performs a wide range of 17th and 18th century repertoire with dedicated attention to historical context and to the possibilities of creative continuo playing and improvisation. Musique pour Mazarin, their first CD for Coro, has already sold more than 1200 copies. www.lejardinsecret.com

I came across juice when they gave the premiere of a piece specially written for the opening of the new King’s Place concert hall in London by Mikhail Karikis, when they were joined by Clare Wilkinson.  They present both purely a cappella music or multi-media nights featuring visuals and electronics and are at the forefront of the UK's experimental/classical scene.  They’re involved with a lot of educational work as well as concerts – after a residency at Ulster University in Belfast in November they’ll be at the National Portrait Gallery in London on Friday 5 December at 6.30pm.

New programmes – Evelyn Tubb and Anthony Rooley
After a long while helping Tony with various administrative matters, he has asked me if I’d like to offer some of his lutesong programmes with Evelyn Tubb.  Details of Anatomy of Solitude, a wonderful exploration of the English lutesong, and A Many Coloured Coat, a fascinating survey of music drawn from Islam, Christianity, Judaism and what Tony calls “Platonic” traditions are on their page on this website.

It’s a busy time for The Revolutionary Drawing Room, with concerts in Newbury (Friday 7 November, lunchtime and evening), Walton on Thames (Wednesday 12 November, 1.10pm), The Nave in Highbury (Sunday 16 November, 11.30am) and Cardiff University (Tuesday 9 December, 7.30pm).

The Marésienne Consort are delighted to be performing with Emma Kirkby for a very special concert of early music at the Lighthouse in Poole on Thursday 27 November, with a programme of music from the Elizabethan Golden Age including songs by John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons and William Byrd.  In a veritable feast of early music, the concert will be shared with Red Priest.

Ibi Aziz will give a recital at the Greenwich Early Music Festival on Sunday 16 November on the viol which has been copied from the Richard Meares in the Kessler Collection and which is being raffled to raise money for the Trust – see www.thekesslercollection.com

Pantagruel’s concerts this month include Gulpen in Holland on Sunday 9 November and the Tage Alter Musik in Kelkheim on Sunday 23 November.  They’ll next be in the UK in March, with concerts in London, Cambridge and Totnes.

This year Polyphony give three performances of their celebrated Messiah at St John’s Smith Square, on 21, 22 and 23 December; all the concerts will be recorded for future release on CD.  Polyphony are joined by the Britten Sinfonia and there are performances also in Norwich on 14 December and Ely on 18 December.

Julia Gooding gave two concerts at the Birmingham Early Music Festival, the first with her own group Les Lumières de Ténèbres of some of Charpentier’s Leçons de Ténèbres, and the second with Passacaglia in their programme of music from the 18th century coffee house – also to be heard at the RNCM on 19 November.

Clare Wilkinson joins The English Concert for performances of Handel’s Messiah in Madrid on 2 and 3 December and Paris on 9 December, conducted by Harry Bicket.  She’ll also be singing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio for John Eliot Gardiner in the series at Spitalfields this December/January.

Julia Gooding took her group Les Lumières de Ténèbres to the Basilica in Montserrat in Spain to perform some of Charpentier’s Leçons de Ténèbres on 5 September for Euroconcert Barcelona; they’ll be back for two more performances on 6 and 7 October and then will take the programme to the Birmingham Early Music Festival on 31 October (see www.bemf.net). The regular line-up is Julia with Mhairi Lawson, Paula Chateauneuf (theorbo) and Luke Green (harpsichord), and there will be another performance for Stour Music next June.

The East Finchley Arts Festival takes place at All Saints’ Church in East Finchley, a venue frequently used for recording as it has a lovely acoustic. Duo Dorado – violinist Hazel Brooks and harpsichordist David Pollock - will offer A Baroque Musical Feast, with music by Corelli, William Croft, Vivaldi, Bach and Handel. The festival also offers a rare opportunity to hear Christophe Coin play the viol, with his Lupo Consort on Thursday 9 October – see www.eastfinchleyartsfestival.org.uk

Treason and Dischord is the title of Concordia’s collaboration with The King’s Singers: originally devised for the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, it tells the story of Guy Fawkes and the attempt to blow up the House of Lords, alongside that of William Byrd, highlighting the religious tensions of the time. Recently returned from giving two performances at Wratislavia Cantans in Poland, it can be heard at the Sage Gateshead on Friday 24 October www.thesagegateshead.org

The Revolutionary Drawing Room “These were excellent performances of a repertoire that does not always get the period instruments and style that it deserves” (Early Music Review, August 2008)
The RDR have concerts coming up in Newbury on 7 November, in Walton on Thames on 12 November, and at The Nave in London N1 on 16 November as well as at Cardiff University on 9 December

Carole Cerasi plays in a new series at the Wallace Collection and in Belfast
Inspired by the paintings around her, Carole will give a recital entitled Love in 18th century France at the Wallace Collection on Tuesday 11 November at 2.00pm.  Carole is also giving a lunchtime recital for Music at Queen’s University, Belfast on 16 October

The Lighthouse Arts Centre in Poole have invited The Marésienne Consort to share a concert with Red Priest on Thursday 27 November; the very special soloist with the Consort will be soprano Emma Kirkby

Elizabeth Kenny joins Ian Bostridge for two concerts at LSO St Luke’s on 16 and 18 October, in a programme of songs and recitations of the poems of John Donne; with Corin Redgrave as narrator, and Mitsuko Uchida. Unsurprisingly, these concerts are already sold out.

This year Polyphony give three performances of their celebrated Messiah at St John’s Smith Square, on 21, 22 and 23 December; all the concerts will be recorded for future release on CD

Jonathan Sells was amongst the singers picked out in a recent edition of Classical Music magazine as “names to look out for in the future”

Julia Gooding is giving further performances as Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Philip Pickett in the Canary Islands at the beginning of October; she sings cantatas by Bach and Telemann with the Feinstein Ensemble at St. Martin-in-the-Fields on 25 September and 23 October

Clare Wilkinson joined hip vocal trio Juice for the premiere of a piece specially commissioned from Mikhail Karikis for the opening of the new concert halls at King's Place, near King's Cross in London

Another new group - Revolutionary Drawing Room:
The Revolutionary Drawing Room is a flexible group, based around a string quartet, performing repertoire of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the age of the great European revolutions. Their programmes for 2009 celebrate more anniversaries that year - Mendelssohn as well as Haydn

And a conductor: Sarah Tenant-Flowers - a mentor for BBC2 tv's new Maestro series:
Sarah Tenant-Flowers is one of that rare breed, a female conductor. She's acting as mentor to the actor and comedian Bradley Walsh in the BBC's new show in which eight famous amateurs with a passion for classical music do battle for the chance to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra in front of a live audience of 30,000 at the BBC Proms in the Park as part of the Last Night celebrations on 13 September. The first show is broadcast on 12 August.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/05_may/23/maestro.shtml

Horses Brawl have just been awarded a grant from the Arts Council of England after being selected and put forward by the Escalator Scheme. This means that they will be developing their existing collaboration with Philip Thorby, writing and recording a new album for release early in 2009 and doing lots more touring.

On 11 August Concordia ("gently breathed, beautifully focused playing" The Times, July 2008) will be in Innsbruck with soprano Miriam Allan for a concert at Schloss Ambras; in September they give two performances of their programme with The King's Singers, Treason and Dischord, and three concerts of viol consort music in and around Wroclaw for the Wratislavia Cantans Festival.
http://www.altemusik.at/english/2008_festwochen_vereinigte.php?id=23
http://www.wratislaviacantans.com/programen.htm

On 5 August Elizabeth Kenny will be joined by soloists Sophie Daneman, William Purefoy, Paul Agnew and Giles Underwood for her programme of 17th century courtly masques at Musica Antiqua Bruges

Julia Gooding was Dido for the Chelsea and Buxton Festivals' Dido and Aeneas on 24 June - The Observer said "Julia Gooding is a noble Dido, touchingly restrained in her lament".

Clare Wilkinson and Jonathan Sells sing Monteverdi with I Fagiolini at the Proms...
Clare and Jonny sang the roles of Venus and Pluto in Monteverdi's Il ballo dell'ingrate at I Fagiolini's Prom at the end of July

I'm co-ordinating the raffle of a bass viol which is being made by a group of instrument makers from all over Europe to raise money for The Kessler Collection - see http://www.thekesslercollection.com The tickets are £5 and the draw will take place in January so you have plenty of time to buy your tickets. Email me on for more information.

Another new group - Revolutionary Drawing Room:
The Revolutionary Drawing Room is a flexible group, based around a string quartet, performing repertoire of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the age of the great European revolutions. Their programmes for 2009 celebrate more anniversaries that year - Mendelssohn and Spohr as well as Haydn

And a conductor: Sarah Tenant-Flowers - a mentor for BBC2 tv's new Maestro series:
Sarah Tenant-Flowers is one of that rare breed, a female conductor. She's acting as mentor to the actor and comedian Bradley Walsh in the BBC's new show in which eight famous amateurs with a passion for classical music do battle for the chance to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra in front of a live audience of 30,000 at the BBC Proms in the Park as part of the Last Night celebrations on 13 September. The first show is broadcast on 12 August.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/05_may/23/maestro.shtml

Pantagruel are performing at the Church of St John the Divine, Kew Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW9 2PE on Friday 18 July, the King of Hearts in Norwich on Saturday 19 July, and for Cambridge Summer Music, in Fulbourn, near Cambridge, on Sunday 20 July. Their programme - Laydie Louthians Lilte - is inspired by ballads, ayres and dances from 17th century Scotland
http://www.kingofhearts.org.uk/whatson.shtml
http://www.cambridgesummermusic.com/events/index.php?s=pantagruel

Horses Brawl have just been awarded a grant from the Arts Council of England after being selected and put forward by the Escalator Scheme. This means that they will be developing their existing collaboration with Philip Thorby, writing and recording a new album for release early in 2009 and doing lots more touring.

The Marésienne Consort are joined by mezzo Clare Wilkinson for a concert of Telemann's Paris Quartets and some rare cantatas on Sunday 20 July at the Grosvenor Chapel in Mayfair, London. The Consort's debut CD will shortly be released by Signum Classics - again with Clare, who sings some lovely airs de cour by Sébastien Le Camus, a composer at the court of Louis XIV in France.

Two of my artists play on historic keyboards this month - Duo Dorado's concerts include a recital on 31 July at Fenton House in Hampstead, using their Shudi & Broadwood harpsichord, and Carole Cerasi will play the newly-restored Ruckers harpsichord which is part of the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands Park on 9 July.

QuintEssential will be recording music by Ludwig Senfl with the award-winning Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, directed by David Skinner, in July - they took part in an evensong in Cambridge including a Senfl Mass at the end of May. There's a concert too, at the St Emmeram Church in Regensburg on 9 July. QuintEssential also play at the Przemysl Festival in Poland on 24 July.

Concordia presented their words-and-music show about Elizabeth I (played by Penelope Keith) at the Temple Festival in June, and also played for a special Royal service at the Temple Church, in the presence of the real Queen.

Concordia are joined by countertenor Robin Blaze for John Dowland's Lachrimae and consort songs at the Wigmore Hall on 15 July - they have two Wigmore dates next year too, for their Purcell celebrations, on 13 March and 14 July. On 11 August they'll be in Innsbruck with soprano Miriam Allan and in September they give two performances of their programme with The King's Singers, Treason and Dischord, and three concerts of viol consort music in and around Wroclaw for the Wratislavia Cantans Festival.
http://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/productions/concordia-21187
http://www.altemusik.at/english/2008_festwochen_vereinigte.php?id=23
http://www.wratislaviacantans.com/programen.htm

Simon Wall sang the role of the Sailor in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in Middle Temple Hall in June; he is joined by the Temple Players for Handel and Buxtehude on 10 July.

Julia Gooding was Dido for the Chelsea Festival's Dido and Aeneas on 24 June; there are further performances in Santiago de Compostela on 12 July and at the Buxton Festival on 15 July, all with Philip Pickett's New London Consort.

I'm co-ordinating the raffle of a bass viol which is being made by a group of instrument makers from all over Europe - for photographs of the emerging viol see http://www.bois-lutherie.com. The tickets are £5 and the draw will take place in January so you have plenty of time to buy your tickets. Email me on for more information.

I have taken on three new groups, Horses Brawl, Pantagruel and QuintEssential, all of which I am very excited about.

Horses Brawl gave two concerts at the Bath International Festival of Music, the first of which (with Philip Thorby) was recorded for BBC Radio 3's Late Junction, broadcast on Thursday 5 June and online for a week afterwards - see http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/latejunction/pip/dd3in/

Pantagruel are performing at the Church of St John the Divine, Kew Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW9 2PE on Friday 18 July, the King of Hearts in Norwich on Saturday 19 July, and for Cambridge Summer Music, in Fulbourn, near Cambridge, on Sunday 20 July. Their programme - Laydie Louthians Lilte - inspired by ballads, ayres and dances from 17th century Scotland
http://www.kingstonearlymusic.org/About.html
http://www.kingofhearts.org.uk/whatson.shtml
http://www.cambridgesummermusic.com/events/index.php?s=pantagruel

QuintEssential will be recording music by Ludwig Senfl with the award-winning Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, directed by David Skinner, in July - they took part in an evensong in Cambridge including a Senfl Mass at the end of May. A friend of mine recently told me that the word "quintessential" originally meant the fifth essence or elements (the first four being earth, air, water and fire) - the constituent matter of the heavenly bodies!

Concordia's London dates include Regina Monologues - with Penelope Keith as Queen Elizabeth I - at the Temple 2008 Festival on 5 June and John Dowland's Lachrimae at the Wigmore Hall on 15 July. On 11 August they'll be in Innsbruck with soprano Miriam Allan and in September they give two performances of their programme with The King's Singers, Treason and Dischord, and three concerts of viol consort music in and around Wroclaw for the Wratislavia Cantans Festival.
http://www.temple2008.org
http://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/productions/concordia-21187
http://www.altemusik.at/english/2008_festwochen_vereinigte.php?id=23
http://www.wratislaviacantans.com/programen.htm

Also at the Temple Festival, Simon Wall will sing the role of the Sailor in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in Middle Temple Hall, on 4, 6 and 7 June, and Jonathan Sells gives a lunchtime recital in Temple Church on Friday 6 June

Julia Gooding is Dido for the Chelsea Festival's Dido and Aeneas on 24 June, at Cadogan Hall, and again in Santiago de Compostela on 12 July and at the Buxton Festival on 15 July, all with Philip Pickett's New London Consort

I'm co-ordinating the raffle of a bass viol which is being made by a group of instrument makers from all over Europe - for photographs of the emerging viol see http://www.bois-lutherie.com. The tickets are £5 and the draw will take place in January so you have plenty of time to buy your tickets. Email me on for more information.

I have taken on three new groups, Horses Brawl, Pantagruel and QuintEssential, all of which I am very excited about.

Horses Brawl will be playing at the Bath International Festival of Music on Wednesday 28 May in a late-night series at the Invention Studios, also to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 the following week.

Pantagruel are performing at the King of Hearts in Norwich on Saturday 19 July and for Cambridge Summer Music on Sunday 20 July.

You can hear QuintEssential on BBC Radio, in an Ascension Day service on Thursday 1 May from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London - the Mass this year will be Missa Ego flos campi by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (1590-1664) + other Latin American Baroque delights including Convidando esta la noche (Juan Garcia de Zespedes 1619-1678).

Carole Cerasi is playing at the Bath Festival's Invention Studios series on Friday 30 May - see www.bathmusicfest.org.uk. On 9 July she gives a recital on the Ruckers harpsichord at the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands, near Guildford.

The Marésienne Consort is giving another in their series of concerts at the tiny church of Corpus Christi in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, on Saturday 19 April, which Ibi Aziz (viola da gamba) will be joined by violinist Huw Daniel and harpsichordist Bridget Cunningham to play Bach Trio Sonatas. Tickets available on the door. Ibi is also giving concerts at the Red Hedgehog in Highgate (www.theredhedgehog.co.uk) on 24 April, and, with Tal Arbel, at the Grosvenor Chapel on 26 April. For further details email .

On Saturday 17 May Concordia present Knock'd on the Head, their programme of music by William Lawes and his contemporaries with soprano Elin Manahan Thomas at St John's Smith Square for the Lufthansa Baroque Festival www.lufthansafestival.org.uk; they revive Regina Monologues, their wonderful entertainment about Queen Elizabeth I (played by Penelope Keith) for the Temple 2008 Festival on Thursday 5 June, and on Tuesday 15 July they are joined by Robin Blaze for Dowland consort songs and his Lachrimae pavans - see www.temple2008.org.

Jonathan Sells can be heard in recital with Julius Drake on Friday 6 June and Simon Wall on Thursday 10 July; Simon is also singing the Sailor in Temple 2008's performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at Middle Temple Hall.

Jonathan Sells makes his New York debut with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants in a programme of Lully and Charpentier at Carnegie Hall.

Clare Wilkinson sings Handel's Aci, Galatea e Polifemo for Laurence Cummings and the London Handel Orchestra, and gives a lunchtime recital with a programme entitled Britannia's Invitation with Fleuri Vox.

The Marésienne Consort is giving another in their series of concerts at the tiny church of Corpus Christi in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, on Saturday 19 April, which Ibi Aziz (viola da gamba) will be joined by violinist Huw Daniel and harpsichordist Bridget Cunningham to play Bach Trio Sonatas. Tickets available on the door. Ibi is also giving concerts at the Red Hedgehog in Highgate (www.theredhedgehog.co.uk) on 24 April, and, with Tal Arbel, at the Grosvenor Chapel on 26 April. For further details email . You will also be able to catch Ibi at various Passion performances up and down the country.

Polyphony are this year presenting their annual St John Passion at the Barbican, on Friday 14 March. Conducted as ever by Stephen Layton, their soloists will be Carolyn Sampson, Michael Chance, Ian Bostridge, Roderick Williams and James Rutherford.

Meanwhile Simon Wall is singing the Evangelist up and down the country...
Simon's Passion engagements include Ilkley, Harlow, Peterborough, Edinburgh, Dunblane, Jesus College, Cambridge and (with The Hanover Band) Chichester Cathedral.

On Saturday 17 May Concordia present Knock'd on the Head, their programme of music by William Lawes and his contemporaries with soprano Elin Manahan Thomas at St John's Smith Square for the Lufthansa Baroque Festival; they revive Regina Monologues, their wonderful entertainment about Queen Elizabeth I (played by Penelope Keith) for the Temple 2008 Festival on Thursday 5 June, and on Tuesday 15 July they are joined by Robin Blaze for Dowland consort songs and his Lachrimae pavans.

Miriam Allan is joining Il Fondamento, directed by Paul Dombrecht, for an extensive tour of Zelenka's Miserere, De Profundis and Requiem which begins this month in Spain and Portugal - the final concert is in July in Dresden.

Clare Wilkinson joins the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for Handel's Messiah in a far flung tour visiting New York, Poissy, London - and Bradford-on-Avon.
Clare can also be heard with I Fagiolini in Berlin, singing Bach's St John Passion in Sheffield and Handel's Aci e Galatea at the Temple Festival in London.

Jonathan Sells has won a place on the Académie Européenne de la Musique.
Jonny will be singing at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence with William Christie as part of the Académie Européene de la Musique, where they will perform Purcell's The Fairy Queen.

Polyphony take a programme of Poulenc and Arvo Pärt to the RTE Living Music Festival in Dublin on 16 February – see www.rte.ie/performinggroups/livingmusic/homepage.html. Their most recent CD, of Bruckner's Mass in E minor and motets with the Britten Sinfonia for Hyperion, was picked for an Observer round-up of recordings deserving more attention: "Stephen Layton and Polyphony really understand this music...Ely Cathedral adds a lustre to their wonderfully rich and rewarding sound."

Elizabeth Kenny’s latest release, of Dowland with Mark Padmore on Hyperion CDA 67648 (www.hyperion-records.co.uk) has attracted rave reviews: “Elizabeth Kenny's lute caresses the vocal line, embellishments, colour changes and rhythmic pointing never retarding the flow” (Gramophone); “hard to imagine it being done much better” (BBC Radio 3 CD Review); “Kenny's lute accompaniment is the real highlight, almost as much as her expert construction of the programme...A simply brilliant disc. I can't praise it enough.” (Early Music Review); “the outstanding lutenist Elizabeth Kenny” (The Observer)

Miriam Allan sings with the ensemble Echo du Danube, directed by Viennese gamba player Christian Zincke, in a reconstruction of an English Masque for Accent Records ACC 24185. For more information and to listen to extracts from the CD see www.echodudanube.de.

This month Clare Wilkinson will be in the USA with the Clerks' Group and on 22 February can be heard with Trinity Baroque at the Wigmore Hall for the launch of their latest CD of Bach Motets.
Clare was featured in Opera Now's “Who's Hot” listing: “I was greatly impressed by both the quality of her voice and her eloquent delivery...each time I hear her, her poise, musicianship and beautiful sound have impressed me more” (Clare Stevens).

Simon Wall will be in Holland and Japan this month for 8 man St John Passions with the Netherlands Bach Society. Simon’s new recording of Monteverdi's Vespers is out on Signum Records
(www.signumrecords.com/catalogue/sigcd109/index.shtml): “this terrific CD” (Rick Jones, The Times).

Jonathan Sells' performance with the Early Opera Company at the Wigmore Hall last month (Blow's Venus and Adonis and Purcell's The Indian Queen) attracted critical attention: “...with Mr Sells' smooth, dark bass making a particularly strong impression.”

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