For over 60 years, the Monteverdi Choir has been recognised as one of the greatest and most influential choirs in the world. Founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the Vespro della Beata Vergine in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic conviction and extensive repertoire, encompassing music from the Renaissance period to Classical music of the 20th century. They often appear with the English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, also founded by John Eliot Gardiner.
In 2023, the Choir and English Baroque Soloists performed at the Coronation of HM King Charles III, with The Daily Telegraph proclaiming "if the Monteverdi Choir isn’t singing when I get to the gates of Heaven, I want my money back".
In 2000, the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's death, the choir undertook the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, performing and recording most of his church cantatas in more than 60 historic churches throughout Europe, and some in the U.S.
On 5 March 2014 the Choir celebrated its 50th anniversary with a repeat performance of the Monteverdi Vespers from King's College Chapel, in a live broadcast live by BBC Radio 3. In 2023, it was one of the choirs selected to sing at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla.Royal Family, "New music commissions for the coronation service at Westminster Abbey", 17 April 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023. The Choir together with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique toured Europe with Berlioz's Les Troyens, conducted by Dinis Sousa, in the summer of 2023. The Choir was named 'Best Choir' at the Oper! Awards ceremony held at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam on 29 January 2024.
In July 2024, it was announced that John Eliot Gardiner was resigning as Artistic Director of the choir.
In December 2024 they recorded with The English Baroque Solists Baroque Christmas: Messe de minuit H.9, In nativitatem Domini canticum H.416, Noëls sur les instruments H.531 & H.534 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The conductor was Christophe Rousset (Monteverdi productions ltd. SDG737. 2025).
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage
In 2000 the Choir, with the English Baroque Soloists, undertook an ambitious tour, the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, in which it performed almost all of Johann Sebastian Bach's church cantatas in more than 60 churches in Europe and the US to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer's death.Thomas Schacher: [Wider den Pessimismus] (in German) Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 3 February 2005. The dates followed the occasions of the liturgical year for which Bach had assigned his compositions. Some of the churches are connected to Bach's life.
Recordings of a number of the cantatas were released by Deutsche Grammophon on the Archiv label. However, most of the recordings made during the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage have been released in 28 volumes on Gardiner's own label, Soli Deo Gloria (recordings released by Deutsche Grammophon will not be released again on Soli Deo Gloria). The series was completed in 2012 with a live recording in London of cantatas for Ascension Day that were performed in Salisbury during the pilgrimage, but were not recorded for technical reasons. It is possible that some cantatas which were not performed during the pilgrimage will be added to the recording project, such as works for the inauguration of the Leipzig town council.Gott ist mein König, BWV 71, composed for Muhlhausen council, was performed in the pilgrimage.