See 7 performances featuring I FagioliniDirector - Robert Hollingworth
Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award, 2005.
I Fagiolini was founded in 1986. Since 1995 it has undertaken a host of innovative productions of Renaissance and contemporary work, all designed around the core idea of how audiences actually receive music, much of which is several hundred years out of context. With director Peter Wilson, it explored Italian Renaissance comedies as well as short French and Spanish pieces from the period. With the same director, it produced a masked version of Handel’s Acis & Galatea and a puppet version of Purcell’s Indian Queen. In 2004 John La Bouchardière’s The Full Monteverdi ran for 88 performances, finishing with a run at the Lincoln Center, New York. It was hailed by The Times as ‘A compelling but upsetting piece of theatre… A bleak but brilliant evening’ and the Guardian as ‘an unforgettable experience’. In 2005, with The Opera Group, they performed Ed Hughes’ The Birds for 10 singers, actor, two instrumentalists and no conductor.
The name I Fagiolini has been misspelt and mispronounced throughout the world, the group visiting some of its most interesting countries, often as ambassadors for the British Council. Particular highlights include Hong Kong, China, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, The Ukraine and the USA. In April 1997 they spent two weeks in South Africa working with a choir from Soweto on a partly improvised album, Simunye. This original and moving project was released by Erato on their crossover label Detour, toured to Europe, South Africa and Bermuda, returning to the UK in May of 2006 for an acclaimed UK tour.
Other collaborations have always been a pleasure: Bach with the OAE and Academy of Ancient Music, ‘Christmas Vespers in Venice’ with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Byrd with Fretwork and Concordia and a new project with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Robert Hollingworth.
More at www.ifagiolini.com
| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 8-Feb-2013 Cadogan Hall | Insalata I Fagiolini at Cadogan Hall |
 I Fagiolini is a vocal group I have been trying to see live for quite a while now, so I was extremely excited to be attending the London offering of Insalata I Fagiolini at Cadogan Hall. Performing early repertoire in a fresh and exciting way is their niche (within a niche, within a niche, as we were informed by director Robert Hollingworth) and tonight we were to be treated to an evening of madrigals, some of which were inventively staged to illustrate the narrative of the text.Read full review... | |
| 14-Dec-2012 St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch | A puppet little match girl passion at Spitalfields Winter Festival |
 December in London doesn’t just mean wall-to-wall carol singing and the Messiah. It also means Spitalfields Music Winter Festival, which can be relied upon to programme something novel for the festive season while still not skimping on the mince pies. Friday night saw the innovative vocal ensemble I Fagiolini perform a remarkably diverse selection of pieces ranging from one by the late Renaissance composer Michael Praetorius, via Bach’s motet Jesu, meine Freude, to David Lang’s the little match girl passion (2007).Read full review... | |
| 22-Aug-2012 Royal Albert Hall | Prom 53: Remarkable vocal variety and colour from I Fagiolini's Italian Vespers |
 The scene is 1612 in Venice: a great battle has been won against the dreaded Ottoman Empire, and in celebration, evening prayers are ordered to be set to music specially composed by the great Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi and others. It's an imaginary scene, of course, actually taking place in this late Prom at London's Royal Albert Hall, and dreamt up by Robert Hollingworth, director of the period ensemble I Fagiolini.
Read full review... | |
