Dunedin Consort

Two tales of love — both tragedies in their own ways — are brought together in this coupling of baroque cantatas. From a woman so lovestruck that she can only find solace in nature, as in Bella madre de’ fiori, to the tragic tale of Daphne, who tries and fails to resist Apollo’s advances and is transformed into a laurel tree, her branches watered forever by his tears. These extraordinary tales of passion and penitence are rendered by Handel and…

Two tales of love — both tragedies in their own ways — are brought together in this coupling of baroque cantatas. From a woman so lovestruck that she can only find solace in nature, as in Bella madre de’ fiori, to the tragic tale of Daphne, who tries and fails to resist Apollo’s advances and is transformed into a laurel tree, her branches watered forever by his tears. These extraordinary tales of passion and penitence are rendered by Handel and…

Two tales of love — both tragedies in their own ways — are brought together in this coupling of baroque cantatas. From a woman so lovestruck that she can only find solace in nature, as in Bella madre de’ fiori, to the tragic tale of Daphne, who tries and fails to resist Apollo’s advances and is transformed into a laurel tree, her branches watered forever by his tears. These extraordinary tales of passion and penitence are rendered by Handel and…

A 25th birthday calls for a rousing celebration and we intend to mark it in suitable style. Joins us for a celebratory event centred around Purcell’s magnificent Welcome Odes, in the company of a host of Dunedin favourites and friends from over the years. Music by Handel, Corelli and Blow completes this virtuosic feast — the perfect showcase for our wonderful singers and instrumentalists. And, like all good birthdays, this one will end with a great party. We hope you…

A 25th birthday calls for a rousing celebration and we intend to mark it in suitable style. Joins us for a celebratory event centred around Purcell’s magnificent Welcome Odes, in the company of a host of Dunedin favourites and friends from over the years. Music by Handel, Corelli and Blow completes this virtuosic feast — the perfect showcase for our wonderful singers and instrumentalists.

Described as ‘the most sought-after evangelist of his generation’, Nicholas Mulroy has been central to our annual Matthew Passion performances for more than a decade. This year, in a Dunedin Consort first, he takes the helm as director, combining his unparalleled gift for storytelling with a musicality that is touching and inspiring in equal measure. Performed in Dunedin Consort’s celebrated one-to-a-part interpretation, Bach’s masterpiece is at its most powerful — a glorious work of optimism, hope, togetherness and salvation.

In love, as in music, we find ourselves in a multitude of hazy, transcendental states, neither here nor there. ‘We are enchanted, bewitched: we are in the realm of sleep, without sleeping; we are within the voluptuous infantilism of sleepiness: this is the moment for telling stories.’ So says Roland Barthes in his sweeping and ecstatic examination of human love, A Lover’s Discourse. Join us for a unique and transformative experience, as we pair Barthes’ vivid recitations with madrigals by…

In love, as in music, we find ourselves in a multitude of hazy, transcendental states, neither here nor there. ‘We are enchanted, bewitched: we are in the realm of sleep, without sleeping; we are within the voluptuous infantilism of sleepiness: this is the moment for telling stories.’ So says Roland Barthes in his sweeping and ecstatic examination of human love, A Lover’s Discourse. Join us for a unique and transformative experience, as we pair Barthes’ vivid recitations with madrigals by…

Love, jealousy, tragedy and transfiguration — Acis & Galatea has it all. So it is no surprise that Handel’s ‘little opera’, as he called it, was his most popular stage work during his lifetime. It was his first major setting of a substantial English text and would become the prototype for the English oratorio, which earned Handel such fame in the latter part of his career. Performed by Dunedin Consort in the original ‘Cannons’ version with one-per-part choruses — which Gramophone called…