Greenwich International Early Music Festival &
Exhibition 2010
12 – 14 November 2010
Old
Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London, SE10 9LF
A lively mix of exhibition and
performance featuring Quartet
New Generation,
Café
Mozart, the Fitzwilliam
String Quartet, Rachel Brown,
the
Golden Lyre of Ur and much more …
From viols to vespers,
the stunning baroque architecture of the Old Royal Naval College will resonate
with the sounds of all things early music in November during the ninth
Greenwich International Early Music Festival & Exhibition. Across three
days, a diverse programme of performance featuring acclaimed musicians will run
alongside the world’s largest and most prestigious early music exhibitors fair,
featuring over 100 international instrument makers. Run by the Early Music Shop
and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music (Trinity Laban), this unique event has
proved an essential fixture on the early music calendar.
Among the
highlights of this year’s programme is Quartet
New Generation (QNG), a female recorder collective juxtaposing contemporary
and early music, hailed as ‘recorder virtuosos’ by The New York Times
and ‘mind-blowing’ by the Los Angeles Times. Performing on over 30
different recorders of varying sizes and shapes during the course of a typical performance,
QNG transports the listener into new sonic worlds (Fri 12 Nov, 5.45pm, St
Alfege Church).
On Friday at
1pm head to St Alfege Church to hear the fascinating story of the Golden Lyre of Ur – dating from 2,550
years BC. The poignant discovery
in 1929 of three lyres and a harp in a mass grave in Mesopotamia led to six
years of investigation and the subsequent painstaking recreation of this
remarkable instrument. Told
through narrative and music, it is a tale of deaths, mass-suicides and royal court
musicians who played to the bitter end.
One of the
themes of this year’s festival is the work of Haydn. The renowned Café
Mozart will be will be joined by Steven
Devine (fortepiano) to perform Haydn a L’anglaise (Fri 12, 7.45pm, Old
Royal Naval College Chapel). A
mixture of songs by Haydn as found in English editions available in London when
he arrived in 1791, instrumental music converted into “Ballads” and keyboard
Rondos based on Haydn’s English Canzonettas will be performed alongside keyboard
music by Haydn’s pupil Thomas Haigh.
Steven Devine will also be performing a lunchtime recital of concerti by
the Bach family with harpsichordist John Henry in St Alfege Church (Sat 13,
1pm).
Baroque flute
player Rachel Brown, described by
The Sunday Telegraph as ‘a performer of remarkable intensity and musicianship’,
will be performing Telemann’s Fantasias
on Saturday 13 (3pm, Old Royal Naval College Chapel). A leading authority on historical performance practice, Rachel
is known for her moving and virtuosic performances on a wide range of flutes
and recorders.
Significant
anniversaries celebrated at this year’s festival include the 400th
anniversary of the publication of Monteverdi’s Marian Vespers, which the Trinity Laban Early Music Ensemble and
Choir will mark with a programme of early 17th century Italian
sacred music (Sat 13, 7.45pm Old Royal Naval College Chapel). Also on Saturday,
The Burney Players mark the 300th
anniversary of Thomas Arne’s birth with a programme of his chamber music, also
featuring the music and writings of Charles Burney (5.45pm St Alfege Church).
The last day
of the festival opens at the Recital Room in Blackheath Halls as the Fitzwilliam String Quartet celebrate
their 40th anniversary with a lively programme of Purcell, Bach, Mozart and
Haydn (Sun 14, 10.30am).
Also
performing at the festival: Trinity Laban Early Music Prize 2010 winners Due Corde – a violin and cello duo who specialise in performing 18th century violin sonatas with basso continuo
realised on the cello alone; and a solo recital by Pernille Peterson, the talented winner
of the 2009 Moeck Competition.
The Exhibition
will be located in the magnificent Christopher Wren-designed Painted Hall on the
Old Royal Naval College site for the duration of the festival. A diverse group
of early instrument makers from around the globe, as well as shops, music
publishers, societies, recording companies and early music forums will all
gather under one roof. An array of superb instruments will be on display and
for sale, including harpsichords, clavichords, spinets, organs, viols, baroque
violins, mediaeval fiddles, lutes, harps, hurdy-gurdies, crumhorns, shawms,
rebecs, pipes, sackbutts, trumpets, drums, tabors, and an extensive variety of
recorders. Exhibitors will provide advice on all aspects of these instruments
from basic servicing and string replacement to decoration and troubleshooting,
and there will be free makers' demonstration recitals on the hour.
Performance
programme tickets available via 020 8463 0100 or via www.ticketweb.co.uk Exhibition tickets should be purchased on
the door. For more information see
www.earlymusicfestival.com
For press
information, interviews, press tickets and images please contact: Miranda
Harris, Trinity Laban PR Manager on 020 8469 9549 or mharris@trinitylaban.ac.uk
Listings Information
Rachel Brown – Baroque Flute Master Class for conservatoire and
university students
Friday 12
November, 10am – 1pm
Peacock
Room, King Charles Court
Admission
free (limited numbers)
Golden Lyre of Ur
Friday 12
November, 1pm – 2pm
St Alfege
Parish Church
The story of
this unique instrument is told through narration and music
Admission £5
Due Corde
Friday 12
November, 3pm – 4pm
Old Royal
Naval College Chapel
Winners of
the TCM Early Music Prize 2010 in performance
Admission £3
on the door (not available in advance)
Stephen Devine - Introduction to the fortepiano
Friday 12
November, 3pm – 5pm
Peacock
Room, King Charles Court
Workshop and master class for aspiring fortepiano students
Admission free (limited numbers)
Quartet New Generation
Friday 12
November, 5.45pm – 7pm
St Alfege
Church
Performing
on upwards of 30 different recorders
Admission £10
(£8 concs)
Café Mozart
Friday 12
November, 7.45pm – 9.45pm
Old Royal
Naval College Chapel
Haydn a
L’anglaise
Admission £15
(£12 concs)
Trinity Laban Haydn Ensemble
Saturday 13
November, 11am – 12noon
Old Royal
Naval College Chapel
Directed by
Lucy Russell
Admission £3
on the door (not available in advance)
John Henry and Steven Devine
Saturday 13
November, 1pm – 2pm
St Alfege
Church
Keyboard works
composed by members of the Bach family
Admission £5
Rachel Brown – Baroque Flute
Saturday 13
November, 3pm – 4pm
Old Royal
Naval College Chapel
Telemann’s
Fantasias
Admission £3
on the door (not available in advance)
The Burney Players
Saturday 13
November, 5.45pm – 7pm
St Alfege
Parish Church
Chamber
music by Thomas Arne, plus music and writings by Charles Burney
Admission £10
(£8 concs)
Trinity Laban Early Music Ensemble and Choir
Saturday 13
November, 7.45pm – 9.30pm
Old Royal
Naval College Chapel
Early 17th
century Italian sacred music
Admission £12
(£10 concs)
Fitzwilliam String Quartet
Sunday 14 November, 10.30am
– 12.30pm
Recital Room, Blackheath
Halls
Admission £13.50 (£11
concs)
Festival Service
Sunday 14 November, 11am –
12.15pm
Old Royal
Naval College Chapel
The choir of
the chapel of St Peter and Paul present early sacred music in its original
liturgical context
Admission
free to this act of worship in the Anglican tradition
Pernille Peterson
Sunday 14 November, is 4pm
– 5.30pm
Old Royal Naval College
Chapel
Recital by the
winner of the 2009 Moeck Competition
Admission £10
(£8 concs)