Musica Antica Rotherhithe present cantatas and extracts from operas written for Venice’s public theatres in the mid-seventeenth century, many of which have lain unperformed for over 350 years. Using surviving payment records from venetian theatres, Mezzo Camilla Seale and countertenor Tristram Cooke will be accompanied by an ensemble which matches a Venetian theatre band of the time as closely as possible, comprising two violins, bass viol, two theorbos, harpsichord and a pentagonal virginal.

Musica Antica Rotherhithe was founded by Oliver Doyle and Jessica Eucker in 2016 with the aim of presenting affordable, accessible concerts of rarely heard music from the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Since then, it has created a popular home for lesser-known repertoire in South East London; alongside regular concerts, they have staged the anonymous one-act venetian comedy Lo Spedale (2018, 2019 & 2024) and given several works their UK or modern premiere. These include Michelangelo Falvetti’s Diluvio Universale (2020); Domenico Belli’s Orfeo Dolente (2021); Alessandro Striggio’s Cicalamento delle Donne al Buccato (2024) and Antonio Draghi’s L’Humanità Redenta. Where modern scores for these works do not exist, Musica Antica create performing editions complete with translations and critical notes, which are made freely available online thanks to the Cavalli Charity.

A link to purchase your tickets will be made available closer to the date.