Monteverdi String Band

The Monteverdi String Band has its origin in the sound and style of the early violin consort, using seventeenth-century equipment to create a unique sound ‘quite unlike any that of any other ensemble I know that plays this music’ ­– Robert Hugill. Much of the band’s programming draws on the elaborate cultural milieu of early seventeenth-century Italy: the literary origins of the madrigal, the life of Galileo, and  the private entertainments of the Venetian nobility have all inspired performances.

The band has collaborated with several opera productions at the Brighton Early Music Festival; the 2017 production of L’Orfeo, co-directed by MSB’s Oliver Webber, was praised for its ‘immediacy and vitality that I found breath-taking’ – The Argus; 2023 saw new collaborations with the Taverner Consort (Monteverdi’s Vespers, Herrenchiemsee) and The City Musick (The Count and the Duke, York Early Music Festival).

The ‘Monteverdi String Band in focus’ series offers smaller projects featuring individual ensemble members: in Con Arte e Maestria, Oliver Webber and Steven Devine explore virtuosic traditions of ornamentation. Released on Resonus Classics in 2021, it was described by Gramophone as ‘an intensely perfumed performance: beguiling then joyful, simple then suave’. They follow this with A Thousand Flexible Ways, for voice (Hannah Ely), violin and lute, touring in 2025.

Summer 2024 saw the release of The Madrigal Reimagined, a collaboration with soprano Hannah Ely and lutenist Toby Carr, which explores the varied incarnations of this poignant and fruitful genre. The disc has already made quite an impression on listeners:

‘This is an extraordinary CD … Webber’s carefully planned programme is not only a treat to listen to; it also tickles the imagination’ – Early Music Review

‘A wonderfully satisfying recital that mixes didacticism with sheer vocal and instrumental dazzle’ – Robert Hugill

‘What an utterly magical evening! … So many people didn’t know the music and felt they’d learned a lot while also being entranced by the whole thing’ – audience feedback, Roman River Festival

This programme is also the inspiration for a new venture working with youth choirs, teaching them about Monteverdi and his stories and including them in performances.

For news, photographs, articles and video, and for booking enquiries, please visit our website: www.monteverdistringband.com