Gabrieli will present a choral programme of seasonal pieces for all the family, inspired by words from Shakespeare, Hardy and Chaucer. Evoking medieval, Elizabethan and Victorian eras, Globe favourite Peter Hamilton Dyer will guide us through the evening, presenting this magnificent music and poetry.

Founded in 1982 by Paul McCreesh, many of the crème of the Globe musicians play regularly with the Gabrieli ensemble. Actor Peter Hamilton Dyer’s extensive work at the Globe includes Norfolk in Henry VIII and William Tyndale in Anne Boleyn this season, and The Frontline, King Lear, Holding Fire, Antony and Cleopatra and Twelfth Night in previous seasons.

World-class interpreters of great choral and instrumental repertoire, Gabrieli’s previous work includes mould-breaking reconstructions of music for large-scale historical events. Their award-winning album A Venetian Coronation recreates the grand pageantry of a Venetian Coronation Mass in Shakespeare’s time. Performing the music in St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, they revealed how spectacular architecture and musical performance can enhance each other - now they look forward to performing in another splendid Shakespearean space.

“Winter Wassail will be a crazy project, bringing all sorts of lively music from mid-winter festivals from the medieval to nineteenth-century into the open air - a real, mulled wine, musical celebration with a winter theme” - Paul McCreesh, Artistic Director, Gabrieli Consort & Players

Popular and energetic, Winter Wassail will be presented in two half-hour acts, giving plenty of room for ‘Wassail’ mulled wine and hot food in the interval.