Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo

Michelangelo was not just an artist. Hear his most moving sonnets, set to music by one of Britain's greatest composers in this special event at the British Museum.

In 1940, the composer and conductor Benjamin Britten gifted his companion Peter Pears a present: musical settings of seven of the Renaissance artist – and poet – Michelangelo Buonarroti's most powerful sonnets.

Four centuries earlier, Michelangelo also found solace in making gifts for intimate friends in the shadow of war. These gifts included some of the sonnets Britten set, plus works of art, including some highly-finished drawings that are highlights of the Museum's current exhibition, 'Michelangelo: the last decades'.

With a recorded performance of the Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo and discussions of the poems and works of art that feature in the show, this evening seeks to enrich our appreciation of both Britten and Michelangelo's works by exploring the varied, often surprising parallels between them.