This concert of Baroque favourites opens with Vivaldi’s radiant Gloria, composed in around 1715 for the girls of a Venetian orphanage. After being lost for two centuries, the Gloria came to light in the 1920s and has become his most popular choral work.

Bach’s large-scale festive setting of the Latin Magnificat was first performed in Leipzig on Christmas Day 1723. Jubilant and impressive choruses are interspersed with reflective solos. In his third orchestral suite, an overture and dances in the French style surround the slow movement, also known as Air on the G String.