Friday 30 October 2020

Eboracum Baroque: from Crowdfunding Messiah to Christmas at Wimpole

Eboracum Baroque performing Messiah at Great St Mary's Church, Cambridge in 2019.
Handel: Messiah - Eboracum Baroque at Great St Mary's Church, Cambridge in 2019.

When I chatted to Chris Parsons, artistic director of Eboracum Baroque, back in July [see my interview], it wasn't clear quite what shape the end of the year would take but the chances of the group being able to put on their usual large-scale concerts of Handel's Messiah were looking pretty slim. The group has decided to take advantage of this change of pace and plan to do a recording of Messiah. The recording will help provide valuable income for the freelance musicians who make up Eboracum Baroque and, as their usual Christmas performances of Messiah support Cancer Research UK, a charity which members of Eboracum Baroque hold close to their hearts, they are donating 5% from the sale of every Messiah CD we sell, to Cancer Research UK. 

The recording is planned for 17-19 December 2020 at Horningsea Church near Cambridge, with 21 singers and instrumentalists. Do think about supporting their Crowdfunding.

Before then the group has a new collaboration with the Palisander recorder quartet, Above the Stars a programme of music from Elizabethan England including works by Byrd, Tallis, Tomkins and Dowland in new arrangements, from Elizabethan dances to The Cryes of London to Byrd's Mass for Four Voices. The programme will be filmed in Peterborough Cathedral and streamed live on 21 November 2020. Full details from the Eboracum Baroque website.

And of course, Christmas isn't cancelled it's just a bit different this year! The group will be presenting a festive programme of seasonal music filmed in Wimpole Church and Wimpole Hall on Saturday 12 December 2020, including arias from Bach's Magnificat, music by Vivaldi and Nicola Porpora, and Noels by Charpentier. Further details from the group's website.

 

'I know that my Redeemer liveth' from Handel's Messiah
Eboracum Baroque at Handel & Hendrix in London in October 2020
Charlotte Bowden (soprano), Miri Nohl (cello) and Sebastian Gillot (Harpsichord)

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