For this light-hearted concert, Nota Bene’s musical director Janette Ruocco presents a one-hour journey through the madrigal, from its early 16th-century Italian origins to today.

The programme explores how Renaissance composers used expressive text and daring harmonies, traces the spread of the madrigal across Europe—including England’s Elizabethan Madrigal School—and includes modern interpretations by Claudio Monteverdi-inspired William Hawley and jazz-inflected works by John Rutter. The concert ends with two playful contemporary twists on the madrigal form—best discovered live.