T-CLASSIC
← All performances
St Martin-in-the-Fields

St Martin-in-the-Fields

Choral Concert

Venetian Christmas – St Martin-in-the-Fields, London

Date
Thursday, 17 December 2026
Time
19:30
Duration
02:00
Venue
St Martin-in-the-Fields
Address
Trafalgar Sq, London WC2N 4JJ, UK
City
London
Price range
10 £ – 80 £

About this event

This concert presents a programme of seventeenth-century Venetian sacred music, conceived as a recreation of the Christmas Eve celebrations at St Mark's Basilica in Venice. The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists perform works by Giovanni Gabrieli, Heinrich Schutz, Claudio Monteverdi and Alessandro Grandi. Structured around the liturgical forms of Vespers and Mass as celebrated on Christmas Eve, the programme interweaves psalms and a grand Magnificat with Monteverdi’s Messa a 4 and instrumental sonatas. Gabrieli’s polychoral brilliance is heard in canzonas, the pioneering Sonata a 8 ‘pian e forte’, and a Magnificat for fourteen voices; Schütz’s Christmas motet Hodie Christus natus est reflects Venetian influence; Monteverdi’s Dixit Dominus Secondo, Confitebor tibi Domine, Beatus vir Primo, and Messa a 4 anchor the service. Harpsichordist-conductor Francesco Corti leads the performance, with the English Baroque Soloists on period instruments.

Cast & creative