2026 Festival Closing Concert - Songs of Light and Devotion - Life, Death and the Passion of 17th century Italian music

Take a deep-dive with ensemble e21 into the rich, evocative music of 17th century Italian composers with Claudio Monteverdi, Luigi Rossi, Giovanni Rigatti and Domenico Mazzocchi. This concert offers a glimpse into the richness of the Italian baroque, the beauty of its music brought to life with instruments and voices. The texts of this music, so important to composers of the time, sought to move listeners with their highly affective poetry, whether through exploring the spiritual reflections of Claudio Monteverdi’s late sacred music, the desperate pangs of the mortal life and the longing for heavenly release in the oratorios of Luigi Rossi, or the ecstatic beauty of Rigatti’s psalm settings. This program will bring together many fine musicians, including Kate Macfarlane, Stella Horvath, Samantha Anderson-Mayes, Timothy Reynolds, Joshua Morton-Galea, Lizzy Welch, Stephanie Eldridge, Linda Kent, Laura Vaughan, Hannah Lane and John Weretka, under the direction of singer-director Stephen Grant.