The Sixteen, recognised as one of the world’s greatest ensembles, are playing this evening as part of the Valletta International Baroque Festival.

Comprising both choir and period-instrument orchestra, The Sixteen’s total commitment to the music it performs is its greatest distinction. A special reputation for performing early English polyphony and masterpieces of the Renaissance, bringing fresh insights into baroque and early classical music and a diversity of 20th- and 21st-century music, is drawn from the passions of founder and conductor Harry Christophers CBE.

At home in the UK, The Sixteen are ‘The Voices of Classic FM’, Associate Artists of the Bridgewater Hall, Artistic Associates of Kings Place, and have a 2015-2016 Artist Residency at Wigmore Hall. The group promotes the Choral Pilgrimage, an annual tour of the UK’s finest cathedrals which aims to bring music back to the buildings for which it was written. The Sixteen features in the highly successful BBC television series Sacred Music, presented by actor Simon Russell Beale.

The Sixteen’s period-instrument orchestra has taken part in acclaimed semi-staged performances of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen in Tel Aviv and London, a fully-staged production of Purcell’s King Arthur in Lisbon’s Belém Centre, and new productions of Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse at Lisbon Opera House and The Coronation of Poppea at English National Opera.

Over 145 recordings reflect The Sixteen’s quality in a range of work spanning the music of 500 years, winning many awards including the coveted Gramophone Award for Early Music and the prestigious Classical Brit Award for Renaissance, which was recorded as part of the group’s contract with Universal Classics and Jazz.

■ This evening’s programme includes Iste Confessor by Domenico Scarlatti, Salve Regina by Diogo Dias Melgás and Panis Angelicus by João Lourenço Rebelo. The programme starts at 7.30pm at St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, Valletta.

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