Spring Notes from Manchester Baroque
Friday’s performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Manchester Cathedral with the choristers, brilliant soloists and conducted by Marcus Farnsworth was really special. Thank you to everyone who joined us. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Days later and I am still humming snippets from it.
After such a large-scale work, our next concert, Phantasticus, offers something quite different.
With the generous support of the Continuo Foundation we will be exploring early Italian music. This is a concert you would not hear anywhere else, it will show how composers at the time were pushing expressive and technical boundaries as the violin was emerging as a solo instrument and being used like a singer's voice. Alongside our Artistic Director Pauline Nobes, James Woodrow and Andrew Taheny playing their violins we will be lucky enough to be joined once again by Paula Chateauneuf. She will tell us all about her instrument and its role in the music of the day. She described to me that this programme is at the cutting edge of what was being written at the time. And in her words, it will be a blast!
During her visit she will also lead guitar workshops with school pupils in Bury, exploring the evolution of lutes and guitars. We’re excited to be beginning a collaboration with Bury Music Service. Look out for the next gen of lute and theorbo players!!!
For a taste of the music you’ll hear at Phantasticus, watch the video below featuring James, one of the violinists performing on the night:
Following this, we continue our partnership with the University of York with a concert at Halle St Peter’s, including Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks on 29th May. If you can’t wait until then, we’re performing the same concert at the University of York on 17th April…
…Then in the summer don’t miss our next Musick in Manchester 1744/45 series recreating the earliest recorded concerts in the city.
We hope you will be able to join us at some or all of these concerts.
Very best wishes,
Jessica
