Saturday 9th September 2023

Psalms, Songs and Sonnets of 1588

with Tutors Alison Kinder and Helen Charlston

This workshop is the first of MEMF’s celebratory Byrd weekend and will focus on small-scale pieces for voices and instruments. This day is for viols, low recorders (especially basses, great- and contra- basses) and voices, and will focus on pieces from the ‘Psalms, Songs and Sonnets’ of 1588. Pitch A=440

The Music is likely to include Blessed Is He, All As A Sea, Though Amaryllis Dance, but will be chosen to best suit the forces available once applications have closed. We will spend time all together, but also have access to a couple of breakout rooms where instrumentalists will be able to work on a consort song with Helen singing. The day will finish with an informal mini-concert to include pieces we have worked on.

In addition, you are invited to submit for performance at the mini concert a piece of Byrd (or Weelkes) prepared in advance, for any forces (so a viol fantasy, consort song, madrigal…).  Please email Jill Davies (daviesmusic@btinternet.com) before 6 September if you would like to offer a piece for the concert.  Friends and relatives are welcome to attend at 5.30 pm.

Sunday 10th September 2023
William Byrd on a Grand Scale

The Sunday workshop is for everyone – Singers, viols, recorders, brass, double reeds, anything at pitch A=440 – and will be Tutored by Alison Kinder. Everyone is welcome singing or playing as we celebrate this masterful composer.

The Music
Byrd – The Great Service (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis)
Byrd – Domine Quis Habitabit a9
We thought that as Thomas Weelkes shares Byrd’s anniversary, we ought to allow him a piece as well!  So we will include a Weelkes anthem – either ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, or ‘O Lord Arise’

Music will be provided on the day.        Instrumentalists please bring a labelled music stand

TheTutors

Since winning the London Handel Singing Competition in 2018, Helen Charlston has crafted a place for herself at the forefront of the classical music scene in the UK and abroad. A founder participant of the Rising Star of the Enlightenment programme, she regularly works alongside the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She is a BBC New Generation Artist (2021-23) and recently won the 2023 BBC Music Magazine Vocal Awards.
https://www.helencharlston.com/

Alison Kinder is a viol player with Chelys Consort of Viols, who this year released a recording of consort songs and instrumental music by William Byrd with Helen singing. Alison is a regular tutor for the various early music fora and on courses including the Easter Early Music Course and NORVIS. She is also a member of the Linarol Consort, who play on a set of viols copied from the earliest surviving viol, made in Italy by Francesco Linarolo in about 1540. Alison has a love of working with singers, and one of her favourite places to be is as the viol player for the female polyphonic ensemble Musica Secreta. https://www.alisonkinder.co.uk/ https://linarolconsort.com/ Venue: Knowle Village Hall is 1.5 miles away from the M42 Junction 5 and approximately 3.5 miles to the east of Solihull town centre.  Nearby bus stops provide frequent transport links to Solihull Station and Dorridge Station.   Booking is now open – please scroll down