Gawain Glenton, cornetto and Silas Wollston, organo di legno The appointment of the Flemish composer Adrian Willaert at Venice’s Basilica San Marco in 1527 heralded the emergence of Venice as a cultural super-power. This recital explores the work of original composers who built the ‘myth of Venice' in sound. Reviews of the CD of the… Read More »Blackdowns Early Music Projects – The Myth of Venice – C16 music for Cornetto and Keyboards

Courtly and Country Music from Purcell’s England Post-Restoration music with a twist! From recorders and viols to shawms and bagpipes,three multi-instrumentalists turn the spotlight onto music from Purcell’s time,encompassing sonatas and country dances. *********************************** Jude Rees, David Jarratt-Knock and Mary Mohan are multi-instrumentalists with wide experience in a variety of genres including early music from… Read More »Blackdowns Early Music Projects – Enlightenment & Entertainment

John Kenny returns to Culmstock this year with his one man show, called The Mouthpiece of the Gods, a highly dramatic story in which he explores the long history of lip reed instruments: shells, animal horns, bronze horns, straying into the realms of zoomorphism, cultural diasporas, and eventual reassimilation. This might sound a bit like… Read More »Blackdowns Early Music Projects – The Mouthpiece of the Gods

Post-Restoration music with a twist! From recorders and viols to shawms and bagpipes, three multi-instrumentalists turn the spotlight onto music from Purcell's time, encompassing sonatas and country dances. Jude Rees, David Jarratt-Knock and Mary Mohan are multi-instrumentalists with wide experience in a variety of genres including early music from medieval to baroque, folk, and classical.… Read More »Blackdowns Early Music Projects – Enlightenment & Entertainment – CANCELLED WITH APOLOGIES DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES

We are absolutely thrilled and greatly honoured to be able to bring these two supremely accomplished musicians to Culmstock. Crispian Steele-Perkins has received widespread critical acclaim as a trumpet player with a purity of tone and artistic subtlety second to none. He collects and restores antique trumpets upon which he has performed and recorded with… Read More »Blackdowns Early Music Projects – Crispian Steele-Perkins and David Hill

Two of the West Country’s finest fiddle-players join forces to form this fabulous duo with an innovative take on English traditional music and song. Nick & Becki brought their finest fiddling form to Culmstock last year and are back by popular request. There is something very special about the way these two play together, it… Read More »Blackdowns Early Music Projects – Nick Wyke & Becki Driscoll – English Fiddles & Folk

Henrik Persson and Caroline Ritchie: bass viols Jamie Akers: theorbo and guitar Picture the music collection of an imaginary viol player, living in London at the turn of the eighteenth century. Performed on two original bass viols built in 1675 and 1703 respectively, this programme explores the repertoire that might have been played by their… Read More »Blackdowns Early Music Projects – Newe Vialles – ‘The compleat violist’