Armonico Consort is a British company founded in 2001 by conductor and organist Christopher Monks, which specialises in producing performances of Renaissance and Baroque music.
The Magic Flute was praised by the Independent for “its clever use of space, innovative presentation of the trials by fire and water, and highly entertaining introduction to Papagena.”[7] In recent years Armonico Consort has preferred to devise new operas combining music from the Baroque period with stage puppetry, circus, acrobatics and comedy in productions such as Monteverdi’s Flying Circus (2010) and Baroque Around the Clock (2012).
The Guardian’s response to Monteverdi’s Flying Circus was lukewarm but concluded that "anything intended to gain a new audience for this composer's astonishing work must have its heart in the right place.
[16] Much of the work that the AC Academy carries out is in the bottom 10% of deprived areas in the UK, such as Hillfields in Coventry, Sparkbrook in Birmingham, and Newham, Hackney, and Tower Hamlets in London.
[17] Over the past few years, they have connected with a number of schools in London and the West Midlands (region) in training members of staff to be choir leaders, in order for them to prepare a mass gala concert involving over 1,500 children at the Royal Albert Hall, Around the World in 18 Tunes, scheduled for March 2013.