Concerts Before Christmas
Fiori have three exciting and contrasted concerts in the run-up to Christmas.
Don’t miss out!
Exciting News!
It has just been announced that Fiori are one of the UK early music ensembles to be awarded a grant from the Continuo Foundation. We are all so thrilled.
Thank you Continuo Foundation!
About us
Founded in 1983, Fiori are one of the UK’s principal providers of classical and early music concerts outside London. Fiori’s passion is to bring to life the music of the past, making it accessible to all.
Showcasing some of today’s finest specialist musicians. Fiori perform as a chamber ensemble, a choir and as a nationally recognised chamber orchestra.
What’s on
Connect with beautiful music in beautiful places.
Fiori bring alive the worlds of Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart (and their contemporaries) in a year-round season of choral, orchestral and chamber concerts that range from the renaissance to the romantic.
March
sun08mar6:00 pmsun7:45 pmWomen, Wine & Song6:00 pm - 7:45 pm
Time
8 March 2026 6:00 pm - 7:45 pm
Location
Old School, Abthorpe, nr Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 8QT
Event Details
The hidden feminine To mark International Women’s Day, a programme that
Event Details
The hidden feminine
To mark International Women’s Day, a programme that interleaves the ethereal sound of music by medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen with inspired works by little known baroque women composers.
A fascinating journey from the middle ages via the 17th century to the towering figure of JS Bach, including one of his cello suites, performed from the manuscript copy notated by his wife Anna Magdalena Bach.
Hildegard antiphons
Cozzolani O dulcis Jesu
Leonarda Sonata Duodecima
JC Bach Mein Freund ist mein
JS Bach Suite for unaccompanied cello
Judit Felszeghy soprano
Kerstin Linder-Dewan violin
Kath Sharman cello
Penelope Rapson harpsichord/director
This concert celebrating International Women’s Day is performed in the historic Old School at Abthorpe, near Towcester.
Time
22 March 2026 6:00 am - 7:45 am
Location
Manor Road, Sulgrave, Northamptonshire Banbury (8 miles) OX17 2SD
Event Details
The year 1776 – a decisive moment in the world order – saw British colonialism in the US reduced to ashes.
Event Details
The year 1776 – a decisive moment in the world order – saw British colonialism in the US reduced to ashes. Fiori mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence, metaphorically drawing the warring parties together in the ancestral home of George Washington at Sulgrave Manor through music published by the ‘London’ Bach that same year.
President Washington’s musical prowess was somewhat limited, but he did reputedly play the fipple flute; so in tribute we perform suave flute quartets from 1776 alongside contemporary Mozart Epistle Sonatas.
Esteemed by the incumbent president, Thomas Jefferson, as ‘the greatest genius that ever existed’, Mozart is also of course well known for adding his own magic to some of JC Bach’s musical inventions (brazenly perloining his mentor’s music to imbue it phoenix-style with new life).
JC Bach Flute quartet no.3 in C
MozartEpistle sonata in F K224
JC BachFlute quartet no.1 in D
GiordaniTrio for flute, viola & cello op.12 no.2 in G
Mozart Epistle sonata in D K245 in D
JC Bach Flute quartet no.5 in A
Eva Caballero flute
Rebecca Dinning violin
Nichola Blakey viola
Poppy Walshaw cello
Penelope Rapson harpsichord/director
This concert is supported by the Continuo Foundation and is performed at Sulgrave Manor – ancestral home of the Washington family
April
fri03apr6:00 pmfri7:45 pmMusic Before Easter6:00 pm - 7:45 pm
Event Details
The Fiori Choir present beautiful atmospheric renaissance choral music for Good Friday in the fine church at Lamport.
Event Details
The Fiori Choir present beautiful atmospheric renaissance choral music for Good Friday in the fine church at Lamport.
Allegri Miserere & other sacred choral music for Good Friday
Fiori Musicali Choir
Penelope Rapson director
sat25apr6:00 pmsat7:45 pmHildegard & the birds6:00 pm - 7:45 pm
Time
25 April 2026 6:00 pm - 7:45 pm
Location
Ashby St Ledger's Church
Main St, Ashby St Ledgers, Rugby CV23 8UN
Event Details
Known for its notorious resident Robert Catesby (of Gunpowder Plot fame), the village of Ashby St Ledgers’ fiery historic
Event Details
Known for its notorious resident Robert Catesby (of Gunpowder Plot fame), the village of Ashby St Ledgers’ fiery historic connections link nicely to Fiori’s phoenix-inspired theme that threads through our concerts this season.
This concert is inspired by the passionate visionary 12th-century polymath and mystic Hildegard of Bingen. If ever a woman in history has captured the imagination it is Hildegard of Bingen. And ever since Emma Kikby’s iconic recording ‘A Feather on the Breath of God’, this remarkable medieval mystic’s music, and her ideas on inclusivity, the role of women, nature and the Earth continue to resonate today some 8½ centuries after they were first penned!
In this concert we explore passion, fire and ecstasy through Hildegard’s music. (Even the church at Ashby St Ledgers with its faded wallpaintings, described by Pevsner as one of the ‘most complete cycles in England of the passion ofChrist’, ties in with Fiori’s theme.)
Hildegard’s soaring melodies carry many ideas associated with the myth of the phoenix; victory in adversity, rebirth, and even the role of fire in bringing about abundant life are all woven in, alongside a concern for the challenges of this present life.
Hildegard’s exhortations to turn from materialism and aquisitiveness & live in harmony with each other and with nature, focusing on the “viriditas” or life-force in everything, is notable and spot on for today’s world.
And to contrast with Hildegard’s musical raptures we perform fascinating baroque repertoire by some lesser known women composers, including Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Isabella Leonarda and Lucrezia Vizzana.
Hildegard O ignee spiritus
Uccellini La hortensia virtuosa
Hildegard O virtus sapientiae
Orme The imitation of several birds
Cozzolani Laudate Dominum
Janequin Le chant des oyseaulx
Hildegard O ignis spiritus paracliti
Vizzana Sonet vox
Merula Ciaccona
Hildegard Spiritus sanctus vivificans
Uccellini Bergamasca
Leonarda Magnificat
Judit Felszeghy soprano
Fiori Musicali Chamber Ensemble
Hazel Brooks violin
Heidi Fardell recorder
Lynda Sayce chitarrone
voices from the Fiori Chamber Choir
Penelope Rapson director/chamber organ
Fiori are very grateful to the Continuo Foundation for supporting this concert.
Fiori Musicali CDs
Fiori Musicali have a number of acclaimed CDs including first performances in modern times of music that has been hidden away in archives for centuries.
Fiori have recorded Tallis, Monteverdi, Bach, Zelenka, Scarlatti, Mozart, Haydn, Caldara, Leo, Wanczura and much more besides.