John Eliot Gardiner to conduct music at King Charles’s coronation
Freya Parr
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
The British conductor will lead his Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in a pre-service concert at Westminster Abbey
Sir John Eliot Gardiner will conduct 20 minutes of music at the King’s coronation in May before the abbey choir enters and takes its place in the choir stalls for the main event.
Gardiner will be conducting two of his ensembles – the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists – when the congregation has gathered. The King will then arrive in his carriage and formal proceedings will commence. The conductor and ensembles will perform by personal invitation of the King, with members of the Monteverdi Choir joining the Choir of Westminster Abbey and Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, together with girl choristers from the Chapel Choir of Methodist College, Belfast and Truro Cathedral Choir throughout the coronation service.
‘This is kind-of a pre-coronation mini concert,’ says Gardiner. ‘It’s a wonderful honour to kick off the proceedings with some very beautiful classical music.’
Gardiner and King Charles have moved in similar circles for many years, both having a keen interest in classical music and sustainable agriculture. Gardiner lives in a farm near Fontmell Magna in Dorset, which has been visited by the King on three occasions. ‘I showed him my cattle and he liked them so I decided for his 60th birthday to give him a couple of heifers,’ says Gardiner. When Gardiner was awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he received the honour from the then Prince Charles. ‘When he knighted me, he leant forward with the sword and said, “Thank you for the heifers.”’
King Charles has been a patron of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra since 2010.
John Eliot Gardiner will appear on the cover of Classical Music's Spring 2023 issue, published on 27 March 2023. Subscribe today to guarantee your copy.
