Harmonia Sacra reveals one of the most fascinating musical worlds of 17th-century England: an intimate religiosity in which personal devotion meets expression of almost theatrical power. The songs in Henry Playford’s collection are not the ceremonial music of church liturgy, but rather intimate moments of dialogue between man and God, in which faith, doubt, repentance and hope find voice. In the works of Henry Purcell, John Blow, Matthew Locke and Pelham Humfrey, text and music are interwoven with extraordinary sensitivity, at times in poignantly simple gestures, at others in passionately dramatic ones. Harmonia Sacra is thus not merely a collection spanning several centuries, but a series of stories that still speak directly to us today about faith, human emotions and the search for eternity. Drawing on a selection of these rarely performed compositions, the concert offers a glimpse into this lesser-known, more personal side of the English Baroque.