L’Amfiparnaso (‘The Twin Peaks of Mount Parnassus’ – that is, the union of music and comedy) is the best-known and greatest madrigal comedy of the Italian Renaissance.  Set in Venice, it is a cycle of madrigals that explores the zany world of the commedia dell’arte, featuring a pair of unhappy lovers, scheming old rogues and their cheeky servants (the zanni) who turn the best-laid intrigues on their heads.  In this highly dramatic performance, Vecchi’s comedy is contrasted with serious madrigals of love, passion and despair by Claudio Monteverdi and his great English contemporary Thomas Tomkins.

I Fagiolini is one of Britain’s leading vocal ensembles. Its staged productions of Renaissance masques and music-theatre works have made friends from the BBC Proms to Soweto, and have brought its repertoire to completely new audiences.

‘vivid performances … hammed up just enough to be proper carnivalesque, but never so much that the music gets lost.’ The Times

‘uncompromised musicianship was coupled with an unbounded joy in brilliant caricature.’ Frankfurter Rundschau