Announcing our next concert! 📣🎶
Join us in Oxford next month for a programme of Royal Odes by Henry Purcell: the first celebrating a wedding, the second the fear of a land without music on the death of Charles II.
🎼 The concert also includes one of Purcell’s remarkable laments on the death of Queen Mary, and the odes feature some of his most intricate instrmental writing and renowned airs.
📆 Saturday 6 June, 5-6pm
📍 Exeter College Chapel, Oxford
🎟️ Tickets for this event are pay-what-you-want and seating is unallocated. Paying more for your ticket enables us to keep tickets affordable for everyone.
Find out more at the link in our bio, and book now to secure your place!
Thank you to all who joined us for Lully, Rebel and Delalande this afternoon! It’s always a pleasure to perform to a sold-out audience at the @royalacademyofmusic 🎶🎻
Final rehearsals are underway for our concert at the @royalacademyofmusic tomorrow! This one is completely sold out, but keep your eyes peeled for an announcement soon about our next concert 👀🎶
Ok, so it seems this one is already sold out (sorry!!) but you can join the waitlist for return tickets…
We’re really looking forward to the end of this month, when we’ll be performing a programme of Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Féry Rebel and Michel Richard de Lalande 🎶
📆 Tuesday 28th April, 1pm
📍 Royal Academy of Music
Dietrich Buxtehude - Jesu, meines Lebens Leben
Handel In Italy, 14th February 2026
Enjoy the last chorus section of this beautiful cantata from our concert in February.
Preceding this chorus of Amen, is ‘Jesus, life of my life, Jesus, death of my death’, a profession of total dedication to the Son of God, a text usually set with Passiontide in mind. This cantata would have been written for the Abendmusiken - a series of concerts of sacred music at the beginning and end of the year for Marienkirche in Lübeck, Germany. The Abendmusiken was started by Franz Tunder, Buxtehude’s predecessor as organist, who then continued the tradition from 1668.
We’ve got some big news!! 🥇🎉
This week we competed in the @royalacademyofmusic ’s Nancy Nuttall Early Music Prize, and we’re delighted to share that we won first place 🏆
We loved working on Pelham Humfrey’s By the Waters of Babylon – watch this space for a clip or two from our rehearsals 🎥
POV: you’re Luke’s score 🎶🎹
Less than a week to go until our Couperin concert at @stmaryleboneparishchurch !
If you’ve been wondering what’s going on behind the scenes as we prepare, here’s a glimpse into the organ loft…
🎶 Couperin’s Trois Leçons de ténèbres
📆 Saturday 21st February, 6pm
📍 St Marylebone Parish Church
🗣️ @carolineblairsoprano and @maryam.wocial , sopranos
🎹 @lukethemitchell , organ
Our next concert is fast approaching! Read on to find out more about the repertoire:
French Baroque master Francois Couperin’s ‘Trois Leçons de Ténèbres’ are not only among the finest setting of the texts for the office of Tenebrae, but some of the most refined, intimate, and powerful vocal music ever written. Scored for sopranos and organ, they offer a focal point for an evening of reflection amidst organ improvisation, plainchant, and candlelight, reflecting on the destruction of Jerusalem and pleading for salvation.
Tenebrae services take place in near darkness. After each reading or musical piece, a candle is extinguished, symbolising Christ’s suffering and the gathering darkness before the Crucifixion.
Following tradition, the concert concludes in silence, offering space for reflection and stillness.
🎶 Couperin’s Trois Leçons de ténèbres
📆 Saturday 21st February, 6pm
📍 St Marylebone Parish Church
🗣️ @carolineblairsoprano and @maryam.wocial , sopranos
🎹 @lukethemitchell , organ and director
A glimpse of yesterday’s rehearsal with Maryam and Luke, working on some beautiful Couperin.
This section, on the Hebrew syllable ‘Vau’, opens the second of Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres.
We’ll be performing all three Leçons as part of St Marylebone Festival later this month. Head to their website for more information!
🎶 Couperin’s Trois Leçons de ténèbres
📆 Saturday 21st February, 6pm
📍 St Marylebone Parish Church
🗣️ @carolineblairsoprano and @maryam.wocial , sopranos
🎹 @lukethemitchell , organ and director
A moment of tranquility, recorded in rehearsal at the @royalacademyofmusic last month 🎻
🎶 This excerpt is from the Agnus Dei of Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noël H 9
An extract from the Gloria of Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, recorded at a rehearsal in the Duke’s Hall at the @royalacademyofmusic . We can’t wait to perform more of this music again!
Academy ensemble The @dukesconsort recently performed an all-Charpentier concert in the Duke's Hall 🎼
The ensemble specialises in repertoire from the late-17th century and is made up of period instrumentalists and singers, directed by Luke Mitchell.
Enjoy this extract from the rarely performed 'In Nativitatem Dominum Canticum H416' by Marc-Antoine Charpentier👆
