As award-winning vocal ensemble I Fagiolini heads to Oxford to celebrate its 20th anniversary, NICOLA LISLE talks to founder and director Robert Hollingworth

On November 15, 1986, a group of Oxford University undergraduates put on a concert at the Holywell Music Room, with an eclectic mix of music by the likes of Janequin, Schtz and Monteverdi. Little did anyone realise that they had just sown the seeds of a vocal ensemble that, 20 years later, is widely regarded as one of the most exciting and innovative in the UK. Now they are set to return to their roots, with a special anniversary concert at the Sheldonian Theatre.

"When I was at college, there were two types of concerts - people who were keen amateurs, who worked all the time and did a creditable concert at the end of it, and the choral scholars who put something together in three hours," recalls Robert Hollingworth, who founded the group while in his second year at New College.

"I wanted to get the choral scholars together and make them rehearse all term. So for our first few concerts we rehearsed twice a week for several weeks and we produced some pretty exciting stuff."

From the start, the group concentrated on the secular repertoire, from the Italian and French Renaissance to the 20th century, which was not only challenging musically, but also demanded a keen attention to language and text.

"The language aspect is something we've never let go of," said Robert. "To start with, it took a lot of extra work, but now I think it's something we value enormously.

"I'd heard so much church music by the time I was 20 that I was interested in what the same composers were doing when they were writing secular repertoire. The 16th-century secular music is fascinating and endlessly varied. Unusual pieces, commedia dell'arte pieces, that say something about the times they were written in, give us some kind of social background as well."

An essential aspect of I Fagiolini's concerts is the relaxed, informal atmosphere between them and their audiences, and Robert attributes this partly to The King's Singers, one of his earliest influences.

"I was a massive King's Singers fan. I'd seen them live and seen the range of repertoire they covered in their concerts, and the fact that they seemed to be having fun. It didn't stop them being extremely serious musicians, but you didn't have to be too po-faced about it.

"People talk about how I Fagiolini have broken down barriers between audience and performers, but I think it's a completely unnatural barrier. We didn't really have to break it down because it's never been there once you get on stage."

It was never Robert's intention to continue I Fagiolini beyond his student days, but somehow, he said, they "just didn't really stop".

Their first professional concert was in 1988 and soon after they won the Early Music Network's Young Artists competition.

Gradually, they entered the festival circuit, and made their name with large-scale projects such as The Full Monteverdi, a dramatised version of Monteverdi's Fourth Book of Madrigals; the commedia dell'arte piece L'Amfiparnaso (which has been released on DVD); and a cross-cultural collaboration with the SDASA Chorale from Soweto, with whom they toured and recorded a CD.

This autumn, in addition to a number of anniversary concerts, I Fagiolini will also be releasing Flaming Heart, the first of a new series of Monteverdi CDs on Chandos, and will be joining forces with the Academy of Ancient Music in a series of three Christmas with Bach concerts.

"It's been an incredibly slow growth, really," said Robert, modestly. "There's been no sudden jump, no limelight. At no point have we suddenly taken over the world. It's been a gradual process to get to where we've got to, but it's based on firm foundations."

Incredibly, I Fagiolini didn't return to Oxford as a professional ensemble until Music at Oxford brought them back about three years ago. Their appearance at the Sheldonian next week will once again be part of the Music at Oxford season and will be their customary mix of 16th-century pieces by the likes of Byrd, Weelkes, Tomkins, Wert and Monteverdi, and 20th-century pieces such as Berio's Cries of London and Adrian Williams's Out in the Jungle.

"We did the Cries of London at the Proms a few years back and it's a great piece. Out in the Jungle is a sort of virtuosic cabaret for six singers and two speakers, and it's a funny piece, a moving piece. The thing I've always enjoyed about Adrian's music is that he's got so much to say. It's passionate, it's incredibly well crafted, it's interesting and audiences love it.

"I hope there will be a party feeling to the whole thing. Anybody who's ever been to a Fagiolini concert knows that they can come to anything we're doing and it will always be a good evening out."

I Fagiolini will be at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, on Thursday. For tickets, call 0870 7500659. For further information visit the www.ifagiolini.com website.