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Ensemble Molière – Tuesday 19 March

Ensemble Molière

Georgia Browne flute, Alice Earle violin, Catriona McDermid bassoon
Kate Conway viola da gamba, Satoko Doi-Luck harpsichord

The King’s Playlist

Charpentier   Ouverture from ‘Les Arts Florissants’
Lully   Premier et Deuxièmes Air from ‘Phaéton’
Couperin   Deuxième Concert from ‘Concerts Royaux’
Charpentier   Le Mariage Force
Delalande   Première Suite from ‘Symphonies pour les soupers du Roy’
Anon   Ballet Royal de la Nuit
Marais   Suite en Sol Mineur from ‘Trios pour le coucher du Roy’

The first ever Radio 3 New Generation Baroque Ensemble finishes the season in the Court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, with a soundtrack of music written and dedicated to every moment of the King’s Day.

£27 | £17 | £12
(£1 children / students)

Valencia Baryton Trio – Tuesday 13 February

Valencia Baryton Trio

Matthew Baker baryton | Estevan de Almeida Reis viola | Benjamin Birtle cello

Haydn & Friends

Haydn   Baryton Trio No 67 in G
Lidl   Divertimento No 4 in C
Tomasini   Baryton Trio in C K19
Haydn   Baryton Trio No 113 in D
Lidl   Divertimento No 6 in G
Haydn   Baryton Trio No 58 in D

A rare opportunity to hear and see a baryton, an extraordinary string instrument that was favoured and played by Prince Nicholas at the Court in Esterhazy. Haydn composed some 80 string quartets, 104 symphonies, but in a golden decade (1765-75), he wrote nearly 200 works featuring the baryton, including 123 Trios. Luigi Tomasini, born in Pesaro, was leader of the orchestra at Esterhazy and the Austrian virtuoso gamba player Andreas Lidl eventually moved to London where he died in 1789. The Valencia Trio regularly tours North and South America and in Europe and in June 2023 gave two concerts in the English Haydn Festival in Bridgnorth.

£27 | £17 | £12
(£1 children / students)

Stile Antico – Tuesday 30 January

 Stile Antico

Dante: A Divine Hope

 

Dante Alighieri’s Comedia (Divine Comedy) is considered one of the greatest works of literature ever written. Its enduring imagery has shaped our western culture’s views and understanding of the afterlife for more than 700 years. With this programme, Stile Antico descends with Il Divino into Hell, journeys together through Purgatory, and finally arrives at the gates of Heaven. Renaissance madrigals and sacred music by composers such as Victoria, Palestrina, and Morales illustrate the way, and texts by Dante himself, set to music by Lazzaschi and Merulo, also narrate the story. At the pinnacle of Heaven we meet the Virgin Mary in Giovanni Gabrieli’s glorious 12-part Magnificat.

£29 | £19 | £14
(£1 children / students)

Joglaresa – Tuesday 5 December

 Joglaresa

Katharine Hawnt voice, Victoria Couper voice & harp, May Robertson fidel
Jordan Murray percussion & dulcimer, Jonny Akerman percussion

Sing we Yule

 

Celebrate Yule effervescently with Joglaresa – and chase out the chill from the Celtic fringes of Europe – with traditional carols and wassails from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. With fidel, harp, bells and voices, Joglaresa ring in Christmas and New Year in this joyful programme of carols, lullabies, dance tunes and wassails. Joglaresa’s cleverly imaginative programming transcends the limits of what is often thought of as early music, and the ensemble has made many visits over the years since its formation in 1992.

Concert generously supported by Michael & Pat Bird

£27 | £17 | £12
(£1 children / students)

includes mulled wine and mince pies

Chelys Consort of Viols & Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano) – Tuesday 7 November

Helen Charlston mezzo-soprano
with the Chelys Consort of Viols

Ibi Aziz | Jenny Bullock | Kate Conway | Alison Kinder | Sam Stadlen

The Honour of William Byrd

 

If musical output gives us an indication of the person within, then who is this man who is both devoutly Catholic yet clearly a favourite of the Protestant Queen who made his faith illegal? A character capable of both weighty contemplation and sharp wit, and the loyal friend who wrote so personally and touchingly of the loss of his teacher and friend Thomas Tallis. This programme explores the proud Englishman, devoted friend, loyal subject, and faithful servant who was William Byrd.

Concert generously supported by Diane Holt

£27 | £17 | £12
(£1 children / students)

Ex Cathedra – Tuesday 10 October

Ex Cathedra

Jeffrey Skidmore director | Martha McLorinan mezzo-soprano | James Robinson tenor

Rachmaninoff   All Night Vigil (‘Vespers’)

 

Audience favourites Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore return to St Marys with Rachmaninoff’s most-loved choral work to round off a season celebrating the composer’s 150th year. Powerful, passionate, hypnotic – in a time of turmoil and amid the shock of war, Rachmaninoff turned to the choral heritage he held dear, and created one of the most awe-inspiring vocal masterpieces. With its luminous choral tapestry, mesmeric melodies and some of the lowest notes you’ll ever hear sung, there is little wonder it is beloved by audiences and singers alike.

Concert generously supported by Helen & Stan Ireland

£29 | £19 | £14
(£1 children / students)

Ex Cathedra

Ex Cathedra

directed by Jeffrey Skidmore

with Andrew Skidmore cello

Baroque Passion

 

Music by Bach, Purcell, Lotti, Domenico Scarlatti, Kuhnau, Monteverdi, Carissimi, and Charpentier.

Ex Cathedra returns with a programme of sublime music telling of the sacrifice, heartbreak and healing of the Easter story – heartrending as Mary weeps at the foot of the cross to Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater but concludes with optimism in Bach’s glorious motet Komm, Jesu, komm.

“…a heady mix of gloriously rich polyphony” – BBC Music Magazine

£26 | £18 | £12
(£1 children / students)

The Gesualdo Six

The Gesualdo Six

Owain Park director
Guy James countertenor
Joseph Wicks and Josh Cooter tenor
Michael Craddock baritone, Sam Mitchell bass

Josquin’s Legacy – The Court at Ferrara

Song of Songs | Lamentations and Deplorations

Music by Josquin de Prez, Brumel, Compère, Divitis, Festa, de Févin, L’Héritier, Mouton, and de la Rue.

The Gesualdo Six scored an immediate hit with the Warwick audience and, now back for the fourth time, will transport us to a famed renaissance court in northern Italy, through which Josquin and other Franco-Flemish composers passed.

“Ingeniously programmed and impeccably delivered ” – Gramophone

£26 | £18 | £12
(£1 children / students)

Tabea Debus (recorder) with The Cedar Consort

Please note that while the church tower undergoes restoration, the main doors are blocked off; entrance for the concert is via the South Door which is on Church Street.

We have received notification from the church that the heating is currently not working; the necessary part is on order but may not arrive in time for our concert, so please be advised to wrap up warm for the evening!!

Tabea Debus recorder
with The Cedar Consort

Benedict Williams harpsichord and direction
Anna Curzon & Rachel Stroud violins
Elitsa Bogdanova viola
George Ross cello
Rosie Moon double bass

Telemann’s Subscribers

Telemann   Concerto in F TWV51:E1
Blavet   Sonata seconda from Troisième livre des sonates
Bach   Orchestral Suite No 3 in D BWV1068
Telemann   Ouverture-Suite in A minor TWV55:a2
Handel   Violin Sonata in D minor HWV359a
Bach   Concerto after BWV35 & BWV156

 

The rising German recorder star, selected by the Young Concert Artists Trust joins The Cedar Consort to play works that Telemann had printed in a subscription deal that he launched in 1721.

“A charismatic virtuoso” – The Times

£26 | £18 | £12
(£1 children / students)

 

The Cedar Consort is hugely grateful to the Continuo Foundation for their support of this tour

The City Musick

The City Musick

directed by William Lyons

with George Bartle, Gawain Glenton, Sarah Humphrys, Tom Lees
Nicholas Perry and Richard Thomas

Heigh Ho Holiday:
Christmas Revels in seventeenth-century London

 

The City Musick – an ensemble of seven versatile musicians – performs festive dances and carols sung and played on the joyous sound of shawms, cornetts, sackbuts, dulcians, regals, recorders and bagpipes. A delightful programme presenting a perfect evocation of Christmas as celebrated four hundred years ago.

“Vitality, resonance, and immediacy” – The Telegraph

£26 | £18 | £12 includes mulled wine and mince pies
(£1 children / students)