Some of the world’s finest early music specialists will soon be playing in Beverley’s most spectacular settings.
The 2011 Beverley and East Riding Early Music Festival – which runs from 26-29 May – will see a wide range of top-quality musicians entertain audiences with a brief exploration of the history of music, from Renaissance to the present day
The festival opens with a performance from internationally acclaimed vocal group The Tallis Scholars, who will perform their Magnificat programme at Beverley Minster from 7.30pm on Thursday, 26 May.
They are followed on Friday 27 May at 7.30pm, again at the Minster, by the Academy Of Ancient Music, who will continue the festival’s theme and indulge in the joys of Bach, Handel, Correli and Vivaldi’s Christmas music. This will then be followed by Zelenka’s vivid settings of Lamentations used during Holy Week.
The rest of the schedule is as follows:
Friday 27 May, 1pm, Toll Gavel Methodist Church
Joglaresa’s Belinda Sykes, Tim Garside and Jean Kelly present a typically lively show looking at the music from South Asia to Eastern Europe, which follows on from their work with Beverley schools.
Saturday 28 May, 12.30pm, The Quire, Beverley Minster
Leading instrumentalists Pamela Thorby (recorder) and Susanne Heinrich (viola da gamba) appear in recital with Peter Seymour (harpsichord) in the ‘Portrait of an Old Master’ programme which features solos, duos and trios by Bach, Abel and Telemann.
Saturday, May 28, 8pm, Toll Gavel Methodist Church
England’s foremost Jewish music band, The Burning Bush, led by Lucie Skeaping, perform ‘When The Rabbi Sings’ which traces the movements of the Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora.
Sunday 29 May, 7.30pm, St James’ Church, Warter
‘A Muses Garden’, presented by leading lights in the Early Music (world), Faye Newton (soprano), Pamela Thorby (recorder), Susanna Pell (viola) and Jacob Heringman (lute), is an uplifting and celebratory garden-themed concert of songs by Thomas Morley, Thomas Campion and instrumental works by Jacob Van Eyck, Tobias Hume and John Dowland.
Delma Tomlin, the festival’s director, believes it’s the quality of venues that attract such world renowned artists to the region.
She said: “The East Riding of Yorkshire is justly proud of its many glorious historical and musical settings which play a considerable role in attracting such exceptional artists to this corner of Yorkshire.
“We are particularly pleased to welcome senior schools across the Riding who form the Beverley Early Music Festival Schools Chorus, supported by instrumentalists and soloists from the University of York and the NCEM for a performance of Mozart’s Te Deum and Coronation Mass.
“And it is always a pleasure to welcome back BBC Radio 3’s ‘Voice of Early Music’ Lucie Skeaping who will round off the festival weekend with what promises to be a thoroughly bawdy afternoon’s entertainment with an illustrated lecture ‘Have I got News for Thee!”
Tickets costs between £5 and £25 and are available from the NCEM at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York YO1 9TL. Telephone: 01904 658338
Email: boxoffice@ncem.co.uk
Visit: www.ncem.co.uk/bemf
