Jonathan Sells

Jonathan Sells is an internationally renowned artistic director, conductor, and singer. A member of the Monteverdi Choir from 2009-2018, Sells made his conducting debut with the Choir and English Baroque Soloists in June 2024. The performances – Bach motets at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London and Bachfest Leipzig – were met with a rapturous reception from audiences and critics.

"The Monteverdi Choir, led by Jonathan Sells...proves its extraordinary class."

Leipziger Volkszeitung

In October 2024, he conducted a programme of Bruckner and Gesualdo with the Choir in Ely, Oxford, and the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, which was recorded live in concert for the MCO’s record label, Soli Deo Gloria, for release in April 2025. He will conduct the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in their return to the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2025 in a programme that will be repeated at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich in September 2025.

In 2008 he founded the baroque collective Solomon’s Knot, “one of the UK’s most innovative and imaginative ensembles” and now Resident Baroque Ensemble at Wigmore Hall. As artistic director, he has spearheaded bold projects and fruitful collaborations at top festivals in Europe and North America.

Under his leadership, Solomon’s Knot “set new standards” with productions of JS Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passion, semi-staged by John La Bouchardière at Bachfest Leipzig, Thüringen Bachwochen, Snape Maltings, and Wigmore Hall. On the recommendation of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, he made his Bachfest Leipzig debut as musical director in 2016 with Bach’s Magnificat, later recorded and released on Sony Classical. Solomon’s Knot’s recording of JS & JC Bach Motets was released by Prospero Classical in 2023, and “demonstrates the innermost essence of this music like never before” (Klassisk Musikk).

Leading from within the ensemble, Sells has directed memorised performances including Bach’s Mass in B minor, St Michael’s Day cantatas (BBC Proms), Hunt Cantata and Mass in F major (Bachwoche Ansbach, CD release in 2025), and Christmas Oratorio (Wigmore Hall), and Handel’s Messiah and Esther (Händel-Festspiele Halle, Regensburg Tage Alter Musik) as well as Dixit Dominus (Bachfest Schaffhausen, Brighton Festival, De Singel Antwerp). In 2025 he will head Solomon’s Knot in the world premiere of Chad Kelly’s new reconstruction of Bach’s Köthener Trauermusik at Wigmore Hall, Tage alter Musik Regensburg, and Bachfest Leipzig.

Sells has a burning curiosity for neglected geniuses of the 17th and 18th centuries such as Johann Kuhnau, George Jeffreys, and Barbara Strozzi, as well as later repertoire: he has conducted Beethoven, Dvorak, Bruckner, Prokofiev, Nielsen, and Varèse, and has worked with choirs from the UK to the Middle East.

The Monteverdi Choir has been a cornerstone of my professional life and a guiding star for my ideal of choral excellence. To be able to shape and nourish the work of the Choir as it begins its exciting new chapter is a huge honour. The Choir’s identity is defined by virtuosity, power, superlative commitment to text and language, a kaleidoscopic array of colours and a direct connection to human emotion. These are the values and qualities which I will continue to promote, both when conducting the Choir in concert and when collaborating with other conductors.

Jonathan Sells

Photo: Paul Marc Mitchell