Sebastian Comberti makes a welcome return to SVF with a programme bringing together three of the greatest 19th-century sonatas for violoncello and piano, written roughly 40 years apart.

This special concert, promoted by Gainsborough’s House in association with SVF, celebrates Sonia Wronkowska’s extraordinary discovery of at least 25 unknown viola da gamba sonatas by Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-87) from the collection of Count Joachim Carl von Maltzan.

Our traditional December concert focuses on one of the greatest and best loved Christmas works, Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s ‘Messe du minuit pour Noël’. In the second half, we explore Christmas music from early 17th-century Germany and Spain to 19th-century Yorkshire, ending with John Foster’s famous setting of ‘While Shepherds watched their flocks by night’.

A programme that brings together some of the greatest Baroque music for viola da gamba and harpsichord, with extraordinary pieces for solo harpsichord. J S Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue has been a favourite with virtuoso keyboard players ever since it was written, while Handel’s monumental Chaconne in G is one of his greatest keyboard works.

We continue our ‘Bach spring’ with a special concert of three mature sacred masterpieces: his Mass in A major, Cantata ‘O ewiges Feuer’ and the Easter Oratorio.