Fresh from his nine-hour Bach Marathon in London’s Royal Albert Hall, Sir John Eliot Gardiner will continue his 70th birthday celebrations with performances of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Apollon Musagète in the Barbican, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Kölner Philharmonie in Cologne later this month.

Featuring the Gentlemen of the Monteverdi Choir and the London Symphony Orchestra, Oedipus Rex will also be recorded for LSO Live. The performances include Jennifer Johnston as Jocaste, Stuart Skelton as Oedipus and Gidon Saks as Creon, and take place from April 22-28 (his actual birthday falls on April 20).

Gardiner’s Bach Marathon was held on April 1, and featured his Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in Bach cantatas and the B Minor Mass. The day's 12 events were broadcast on BBC Radio 3. The conductor also released the final recording of his Bach Cantatas Pilgrimage series, the 'Ascension' Cantatas, in March this year, and will publish his biography of the composer through Penguin’s Allen Lane in the autumn.

For full details of Gardiner's Stravinsky concerts visit the Monteverdi website.