The ever-innovative vocal ensemble I Fagiolini, led by founder and director Robert Hollingworth, have signed an eight album deal with Coro, the label of fellow choir The Sixteen.

Over four years, bi-annual releases on Coro will take the group up to their 40th anniversary in 2026. Five of those will be brand new recordings of repertoire both well known and new to record: a low-pitch recording of Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories; three world premiere albums of multi-choir Masses by 17th-century composer Roman Orazio Benevoli in new performance editions by Hollingworth (the first album available in October); and a new recording of works by Monteverdi.

These will be accompanied by re-releases of three of I Fagiolini’s acclaimed albums previously available on Decca, including the Gramophone Award-winning recording of Alessandro Striggio’s ‘Mass in 40 Parts’.

As well as their acclaimed recordings, I Fagiolini have a continued commitment to engaging with audiences through a variety of media, including education work, characterful and beautifully-produced music films (their recent film The Stag Hunt won an Award from REMA, the European Early Music network), podcasts and video education series #SingTheScore.

‘For some people the apparently contrasting sides of I Fagiolini’s work sit strangely together: dramatic and complex staged productions of music usually not staged; a long-term love affair with filmed and online work; recordings of music that the world hasn’t heard before and which require a strong Historically Informed Performance side,’ said Hollingworth. ‘To me, these sit side by side as different ways of drawing a contemporary audience into repertoire that was often not designed to be listened to as we conventionally do.'