Monteverdi Choir & Jonathan Sells
Biography Monteverdi Choir & Jonathan Sells
Monteverdi Choir
For over 60 years the Monteverdi Choir has been recognised as one of the greatest and most influential choirs in the world.
Through a combination of consummate technique and historically inspired performance practice, the Choir constantly strives to bring fresh perspectives, immediacy and drama to its performances.
The recipient of many awards, the Monteverdi Choir was named ‘Best Choir’ at the Oper! Awards in 2024 with the jury noting that: “At festivals, on concert tours and in their numerous recordings, this is an ensemble whose quality will always leave the listener speechless.”
Fresh from celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2024, the Choir has a full 2025 with a range of concerts and projects in support of MCO’s expansion of its repertoire and conductor collaborations.
The Choir is playing a crucial role in the opening concert of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, performing John Tavener’s monumental The Veil of The Temple. As the central, and only professional choir performing, the Choir is also providing soloists and joining other choirs throughout the eight-hour performance. The Choir previously commissioned John Tavener’s The World is Burning in 1993 to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
The Monteverdi Choir will be prepared for this epic performance by Jonathan Sells who was appointed the Choir Director in March 2025. He conducts the Choir and the English Baroque Soloists two days later at the Usher Hall for ‘Sing to the Lord a New Song’ featuring a selection of works associated with the Choir by Purcell, Bach and Handel. As Choir Director, Sells will work closely with the artistic planning team and have general oversight of the Choir, as well as conducting concerts throughout each season.
Other highlights in 2025 include Bach with Masaaki Suzuki, Mozart with Pablo Heras-Casado and Handel with Christophe Rousset.
On Good Friday the MCO’s own recording label, Soli Deo Gloria, will release its first new recording since before the global pandemic with Bruckner and Gesualdo motets recorded live in concert in October 2024 conducted by Jonathan Sells. In the Autumn an album will be released of Charpentier with Christophe Rousset that was toured across Europe last December.
The Choir’s anniversary season in 2024 opened with three mesmerising concerts at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw conducted by Associate Conductor Dinis Sousa. These performances were followed by Handel’s Israel in Egypt conducted by Peter Whelan in London and on a European tour; Beethoven’s Mass in C major and Symphony No. 9 in London and Paris; Bach’s sacred motets in London and Leipzig conducted by Sells who then returned to conduct the Choir in performances of sacred music by Bruckner and Gesualdo in Ely Cathedral, Oxford and London.
Founded in 1964 by John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir has released over 150 recordings and won numerous prizes. The Choir and English Baroque Soloists were honoured to perform at the Coronation of their Patron, HM The King, in May 2023, with The Telegraph proclaiming “if the Monteverdi Choir isn’t singing when I get to the gates of Heaven, I want my money back.”
“The Monteverdi Choir has dominated the choral scene worldwide for more than 50 years.” - The Guardian
“Two hours of musical delight...the Monteverdi Choir displayed such effortless virtuosity...leaving the audience in awe.” - Musica (Italy)
Jonathan Sells
is an internationally renowned artistic director, conductor, and singer. A member of the Monteverdi Choir from 2009-2018, Sells made his conducting debut with the Choir and English Baroque Soloists in June 2024. The performances – Bach motets at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London and Bachfest Leipzig – were met with a rapturous reception from audiences and critics.
In October he conducted a programme of Bruckner and Gesualdo with the Choir in Ely, Oxford and the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, which was recorded live in concert for the MCO’s record label, Soli Deo Gloria, for release on 2025.
In 2008 he founded the baroque collective Solomon’s Knot, “one of the UK’s most innovative and imaginative ensembles” and now Resident Baroque Ensemble at Wigmore Hall. As artistic director, he has spearheaded bold projects and fruitful collaborations at top festivals in Europe and North America.
Under his leadership, Solomon’s Knot “set new standards” with productions of JS Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passion, semi-staged by John La Bouchardière at Bachfest Leipzig, Thüringen Bachwochen, Snape Maltings, and Wigmore Hall. On the recommendation of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, he made his Bachfest Leipzig debut as musical director in 2016 with Bach’s Magnificat, later recorded and released on Sony Classical. Solomon’s Knot’s recording of JS & JC Bach Motets was released by Prospero Classical in 2023, and “demonstrates the innermost essence of this music like never before” (Klassisk Musikk).
Leading from within the ensemble, Sells has directed memorised performances including Bach’s Mass in B minor, St Michael’s Day cantatas (BBC Proms), Hunt Cantata and Mass in F major (Bachwoche Ansbach), and Christmas Oratorio (Wigmore Hall), and Handel’s Messiah and Esther (Händel-Festspiele Halle, Regensburg Tage Alter Musik) as well as Dixit Dominus (Bachfest Schaffhausen, Brighton Festival, De Singel Antwerp). In 2025 he will head Solomon’s Knot in the world premiere of Chad Kelly’s new reconstruction of Bach’s Köthener Trauermusik at Wigmore Hall, Tage alter Musik Regensburg, and Bachfest Leipzig.
Sells has a burning curiosity for neglected geniuses of the 17th and 18th centuries such as Johann Kuhnau, George Jeffreys, and Barbara Strozzi, as well as later repertoire: he has conducted Beethoven, Dvorak, Prokofiev, Nielsen, and Varèse, and has worked with choirs from the UK to the Middle East.
