I Fagiolini

Why I Fagiolini?

‘If there’s a more enterprisingly theatrical vocal group than this one, I’ve yet to encounter it.’  The Daily Telegraph

‘First-rate musical actors… quite gorgeous…’  American Record Guide

‘I Fagiolini’s ravished and ravishing singers.’   The New York Sun

‘There is nothing ordinary about a performance by I Fagiolini. These singers have made their reputation by turning their backs on convention.’   The Guardian

• I Fagiolini specialises in Renaissance and Contemporary vocal music, commissioning over 30 pieces.

• I Fagiolini performs in a theatrical style that captures the spirit of the repertoire, often working with stage directors
• I Fagiolini works with instrumentalists: Barokksolistene – Bach cantatas (London); Bach Christmas Oratorio (Oslo); Monteverdi (BBC Proms), English Concert – Purcell King Arthur, RLPO – Berio Sinfonia; English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (Monteverdi and more), Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (semi-staged Bach St John Passion), Academy of Ancient Music (Christmas with Bach).

• Projects have included The Full Monteverdi on stage and film (resident at Lincoln Center Festival in 2007); Purcell’s The Indian Queen with puppets; L’Amfiparnaso with masks; The Birds (with The Opera Group), Simunye, with SDASA Chorale of Soweto, circus in cathedrals How Like An Angel with C!rca.

• New music: 30 commissions: longterm relationship with Adrian Williams, Roderick Williams, and other works by Ed Hughes, David Matthews, Ivan Moody, Gabriel Jackson and Daryl Runswick
• Media: the ensemble is regularly on radio, Hollingworth often writing and presenting on BBC Radio 3 (Discovering Music, CD Review, The Early Music Show). The group has released 23 CDs and 4 DVDs.

Unusual projects have included:

• Striggio 40-part mass; the group’s hugely successful Gramophone-award winning world première recording on Decca
• Tallis in Wonderland with director Henk Schut including theatrics, lighting and sound installation (venue-adaptable). This hour show deconstructs Renaissance polyphony and puts the audience in the midst of the soundscape.  Premiered Aldeburgh, 2008.
  
• How Like An Angel – Co-production with Australian Circus company ‘Circa’.
• Betrayal – A polyphonic crime drama  An immersive Gesualdo project
• Berio Sinfonia with RLPO [see film clip] Berio’s cries of london could be performed in the same concert.
• Film screenings of The Full Monteverdi