Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras stream visually stunning concert from the Sheldonian Theatre

posted on Tuesday 13 April

Case studies, News

In March, OUEV were delighted to welcome the award-winning Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras to the Sheldonian Theatre for the first time. The venue is a popular venue for orchestras with its fabulous acoustics and large spaces, and we were delighted to host the musicians, performers, sound and film technicians, and their teams.

This was a particularly exciting event because the orchestra filmed a grand performance to be streamed online on Good Friday to mark a year since lockdowns began across Europe and celebrate the orchestra’s long-awaited return to stage performances. The orchestra performed on the floor of the main theatre, with the choir singing in the blue-lit staggered seating areas surrounding the music as it soared to the decorated ceiling. The atmospheric performance went really well and was met with glowing reviews from the press and around the classical music community.

Rosa Solinas, General Director of The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras, passed on this thanks to the team:

“We were delighted to have the iconic Sheldonian Theatre as the backdrop to our live-streamed performance of Bach’s St John Passion on Good Friday. The beauty of the building went hand in hand with that of the music, and its configuration, which is in many ways similar to a courtroom, leant perfectly to the dramatic nature of Bach’s setting of the passion story. We are grateful to the team at the Sheldonian Theatre whose tireless work ensured everything ran smoothly for us, resulting in a very successful project.”

Our venue experts and team are very experienced working with large and small orchestras, and thoroughly enjoy working alongside our guests to ensure the event runs carefully, smoothly, and easily. Our team is there to help give you peace of mind on what can be a very busy few hours or days, from helping each team with moving and showing where to set up their specialist equipment, to the careful logistics of moving many musical instruments, and film equipment, as well as ensuring performers are comfortable and have space to relax.

“A remarkably powerful performance… The chorus throughout, evenly spread around the theatre, shone.”
Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard International

“An Easter feast for the eyes as well as the ears.”
Hugh Canning, ★★★★ The Sunday Times

“An Easter miracle from Oxford… The voices of the Monteverdi Choir showed their intoxicating force and liveliness in declamation and variance… The English Baroque Soloists orchestrated all of this in such a consistent manner that the newly inflamed desire for their live attendance will hopefully be satisfied as soon as possible.”
Jens Klier, ★★★★★ Bachtrack