A brief, non-exhaustive snapshot of this week’s musical highlights across Europe: Scarlatti with Los Elementos in Madrid, a forthcoming Dido and Aeneas beneath the hull of the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, Bach cantatas in Thuringia, and in Strasbourg, Doulce Mémoire’s Cri du tournebout. 
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In Madrid, Scarlatti and Los Elementos
At the Auditorio of the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical in Madrid, the ensemble Los Elementos, directed by Alberto Miguélez Rouco, performed Alessandro Scarlatti’s oratorio La colpa, il pentimento, la grazia (“Sin, Repentance, Grace”) as part of the “Universo Barroco” series, based on a manuscript preserved at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden. First given in Rome on Holy Wednesday in 1708, the work bears the subtitle Oratorio per la Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo (“Oratorio for the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ”).
With Natalia Labourdette, Natalie Pérez, Sara Mingardo, Los Elementos and Alberto Miguélez Rouco.
A spectacular Dido and Aeneas to come with the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra
The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists have announced an exceptional event on 21 May: in a staging by Andrew Staples and conducted by Jonathan Sells, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas will be performed in the striking setting of the Cutty Sark’s dry dock in Greenwich. The Cutty Sark is the last surviving clipper from the 19th-century tea trade fleet. A cast of leading soloists will bring Purcell’s drama to life, inspired by Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, with the ship’s silhouette looming above the action like a ghostly reminder of the Trojan fleet. The programme will also include Purcell’s Funeral Sentences, composed for the funeral of Queen Mary, founder of the Royal Hospital for Seamen on the site of today’s Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.
With the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra and the English Baroque Soloists.
In Arnstadt (Germany), Bach cantatas with Musica Gloria
In the church of Arnstadt, so closely associated with Johann Sebastian Bach, the young ensemble Musica Gloria, founded by Nele Vertommen and Beniamino Paganini, presented a programme entitled “The richness of my soul” as part of the Thuringia Bach Festival, featuring three cantatas (BWV 14, 120 and 131) that shed light on different aspects of the political and social life of the time. In closing, the Tenebrae choir under Nigel Short filled Erfurt Cathedral with a modern yet ethereal atmosphere in a work composed in 2005 by Joby Talbot for the ensemble.
With the ensemble Musica Gloria, Nele Vertommen and Beniamino Paganini.
In Carona (Italy), the splendour of the Dresden court orchestra at CaronAntica
At the church of Santi Giorgio e Andrea in Carona, near Bergamo, the musicians brought together for the CaronAntica festival opened the season with a programme devoted to the splendour of the Dresden court orchestra, featuring concertos highlighting horns, oboes, strings, bassoons and continuo. A vivid immersion in 18th-century instrumental music through works by composers associated with this major Baroque centre: Jan Dismas Zelenka, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Friedrich Fasch. The concert served as a prelude to the festival, which runs from 16 May to 1 July 2026.
With the CaronAntica resident ensemble.
In Strasbourg, Doulce Mémoire and the Cri du tournebout
Now directed by Elsa Frank and Jérémie Papasergio, the ensemble Doulce Mémoire presented a concert at the Munsterhof in Strasbourg to mark the 50th anniversary of AMIA. Conceived by Denis Raisin Dadre, Le Cri du tournebout (“The Cry of the Tournebout”) was billed as a “musicologically irresponsible concert”, bringing together works from the Renaissance to the 20th century and showcasing the sixty or so wind instruments on which the ensemble has long conducted research.
With Doulce Mémoire.
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