Concerto Italiano: Monteverdi's Madrigals
Marking their 40th anniversary, the legendary Italian ensemble brings the composer’s extraordinary word-setting and no-holds-barred music and poetry to life.
With his peerless sensitivity of response and unlimited compositional finesse, Claudio Monteverdi’s music sounds as fresh today as it must have done 400 years ago.
His artistry would stop at nothing to wring the maximum emotional expression out of the words that he set.
His fourth book of madrigals (part-songs) are groundbreaking, radical works springing from the heart of the early Italian Baroque.
Here the composer presents settings of the sensuous and impassioned words of such poets as Torquato Tasso and Giovanni Battista Guarini, among others.
Founded by the conductor and harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano is an ensemble that has become inseparable from the music of Monteverdi, winning numerous international awards for its recordings.
The year 2024 marks its 40th anniversary.
Performers
Concerto Italiano
Repertoire
Monteverdi: Madrigals, Bk.4
Need to know
‘Concerto Italiano have taken the combined messages of music and history to heart; these are performances infused with a flexible approach to tempo and strong projection of text’
Gramophone
‘highly dramatic, raunchy storytelling’
The Guardian
Times & tickets
Dates, times and prices
Dates & times
08 Dec 2024, 3pm
Run time
1 hour and 30 minutes (approx)
All timings are approximate and subject to change
Standard entry
from £15.00*
* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.
Book as early as you can to ensure the best choice of tickets. Ticket prices may be adjusted without notice to reflect demand.
Multi-buy discount
Classical Music: Autumn/Winter 2024/25
As part of our classical music multi-buy offer, book multiple Autumn/Winter 2024/25 concerts in the same transaction to receive a discount:
3 – 4 events: 10% discount
5 – 7 events: 15% discount
8 – 10 events: 20% discount
11 – 14 events: 25% discount
15+ events: 30% discount
Discounts apply to selected events, September 2024 – January 2025 inclusive. Offer can’t be combined with the Spring/Summer 2024 multi-buy.
View all events in this multi-buy offerJoin our membership
Members get free entry to the Hayward Gallery and the first chance to book our entire programme of events, including go-down-in-history gigs, concerts with world-class orchestras, and talks from cultural icons and political giants.
Join today from £69
For your visit
This event is held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Southbank Centre
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is open from 90 minutes before events start until they finish. It’s closed at all other times.
Plan your visit
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is home to both our second-largest auditorium and the Purcell Room.
Getting here
Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.
The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues. More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.
We’re cash-free
Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.
Access
We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.
All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access.
All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.
Food & drink
Queen Elizabeth Hall is home to our glass-fronted Concrete Cafe, the ideal spot to recharge, or catch up with friends, whilst the bustle of Central London and the River Thames carries on around you.
From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.