CELEBRATED choir and baroque ensemble, Armonico Consort, is celebrating music by Biber and Bach in concerts in Warwick, at the Collegiate Church of St Mary on January 26, and at Malvern Theatres on February 1.

And both concerts will offer a musical time-travelling experience to the glittering age of the Baroque, three centuries ago.

A spokesman said: “Performed on instruments of the period, they’ll be joined by the fabulous musicians of the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble to recreate the splendour of two comparative rarities – Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Biber’s Missa Bruxellensis – as the composers themselves would have envisaged them.”

The spokesman added: “Divine music for any time of year, Bach’s Easter Oratorio may be one of his less well known choral works but it contains his trademark melodies, glorious choruses and brilliant orchestral writing and is a rewarding voyage of discovery for anyone new to the work.

“Heinrich Biber’s Missa Bruxellensis, so called because it was discovered in Brussels, is also a delight to discover.

“This is music on a grand scale, scored for 23 separate vocal parts with groups of choirs and orchestral players arranged across the stage, surrounding the audience with baroque splendour as it would have sounded 300 years ago.”

Joining Armonico Consort are the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, “the foremost exponents of these unusual instruments”.

The cornett is an early wind instrument and the sackbut a forerunner of the modern trombone.

“In 2018, we performed the epic 53-part Mass by Biber and it was the first time we had attempted such a colossal work,” says Christopher Monks, Artistic Director of Armonico Consort.

He added: “We followed that up with 40 and 60 part works by Tallis and Striggio and decided to embrace more of these astounding large-scale works.”

Further details at: www.armonico.org.uk

Tickets for the Malvern Theatres show at: 01684 892277.