Vache Baroque singers and the award-winning ensemble La Vaghezza unite to celebrate the Hanukkah story and mark 400 years of Salomone Rossi's groundbreaking publication 'The Songs of Solomon'.

Rossi, a highly-regarded Jewish violinist and composer working alongside Monteverdi in Mantua, was an inspirational character. Not only was he the first to compose contemporary-styled pieces to Hebrew texts, he also pioneered the trio sonata genre that was to become à la mode across Europe during the 17th century.

Hebrew psalm settings by Rossi will be coupled with works on the same texts by contemporaries such as Campion, Schütz, Cavalli, and Purcell, as well as other pieces sympathetic to the themes of Hanukkah. Punctuating these, La Vaghezza will perform a selection of Rossi's striking instrumental music, with extras to include a sonata by Henry Purcell, who highlighted his debt to the Italian style. From solo lute songs and instrumental improvisation to expansive double-choir textures, this will be an evening of passionate contrasts - a truly Baroque storytelling.