Following its successful festivals last year, 'LIVE from London' returns next week with a new series of concerts – and Gramophone is again delighted to be a media partner.

The LIVE from London festival was the creation of VOCES8 – a way to provide ensembles an opportunity to offer high-quality performances online during a year of varied restrictions and lockdowns, and for audiences to experience and to support them. Many of the concerts were recorded in the VOCES8 centre in the City of London, while other venues have included Westminster Abbey (see Gramophone's feature about this concert) and overseas auditoriums. Across the initial two festivals, 100,000 digital seats were brought by audiences in 75 countries.

'LIVE From London – Spring' offers 10 concerts and three educational performances running from Valentine’s Day to Earth Day, with other occasions including International Women’s Day, Mothering Sunday (marked by a programme curated by Dame Emma Kirkby) and Easter (being celebrated with a performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor).

The Earth Day programme, on April 22, will see I Fagiolini present a programme called ‘Re-Wilding The Waste Land’, drawing on music from Victoria to Vaughan Williams and the poetry of T.S. Eliot. Other groups and musicians appearing throughout the festival include the Academy of Ancient Music, Stile Antico, violinist Rachel Podger, pianist Joanna MacGregor, singers Carolyn Sampson and Iestyn Davies and VOCES8 itself.

For full details of the Festival, and to buy season tickets, visit the LIVE from London website. And for an exclusive preview of what's in store, the video below is taken from the Festival's opening concert on February 13, of VOCES8 singing Thomas Weelkes's madrigal As vesta was from Latmos Hill descending.