Intrigued by stories & narratives: members of Apollo's Cabinet on their musical exploration of the world of 18th century actress Kitty Clive

Apollo's Cabinet at Bachfest Leipzig in 2024 (Photo: Emanuel Mathias)

The early music ensemble Apollo's Cabinet is known for its evocative, story-driven programmes. Their first disc, Musical Wanderlust: Charles Burney's European Travels in Pursuit of Harmony, focused on the 18th-century musicologist Charles Burney's diaries, with the disc being issued on the Prima Classic label in versions featuring English narration by Alexander Armstrong and German narration by Jürgen Maurer. 

Their latest disc which sees its official launch this month is based on their programme The Comic Muse: The Theatrical World of Kitty Clive, and this year has seen the group touring the programme with future performances at Strawberry Hill House, London (Thursday 19 June 2025); two dates in Scilly Isles (Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 July 2025); Penlee Park Open Air Theatre, Penzance (Wednesday 9 July 2025); and Lichfield Festival (Tuesday 15 July 2025). 

For their Kitty Clive programme, Apollo’s Cabinet comprises Jonatan Bougt (theorbo, Baroque guitar), Harry Buckoke (viola da gamba), Thomas Pickering (harpsichord, recorder, flute), and Teresa Wrann (recorder) along with a soprano (Angela Hicks and Lauren Lodge-Campbell sharing duties). I recently met up with Thomas and Teresa to find out more.

Apollo's Cabinet in A Birthday Party for the King

Their exploration of the musical world of Kitty Clive dates back to 2022 when the Internationale Händel Festspiele Göttingen was interested in programmes exploring 'New Horizons'. Harry Buckoke had been to a lecture on Kitty Clive and in many ways she was ground-breaking, creating new roles and having music written for her. The group recorded their new disc, The Comic Muse: The Theatrical World of Kitty Clive last year and are touring the programme this year in conjunction with the release of the disc.

Catherine Clive “Kitty” by Willem Verelst in 1740

Catherine 'Kitty' Clive (1711 – 1785) was a real celebrity of her time. She worked in the theatre with John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch. She was scouted by Handel to sing in oratorios, creating the role of Dalila in Samson and worked at Drury Lane, Covent Garden, and Vauxhall Gardens. She was multifaceted and as she got older would take more comedic roles. The ensemble's show rather morphed as it developed and they intended to give a snapshot of her life. 

The live programme features music alongside narration and excerpts from the plays, though the disc only has the music plus extensive information in the booklet. The music includes works written for her or works that she sang by composers such as Handel, Pepusch and Arne. For the programme not to be all vocal music, they include some recorder duo arrangements published by John Walsh. This is music that was intended to be played during the interval at the theatre and is thus a suitable way to break up the programme.

The ensemble's programmes vary between those like the Charles Burney one which is based around storytelling and their new programme, still in development, which they describe as a musical murder mystery based on the death of French violinist and composer Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) who was found stabbed to death on 23 October 1764 and whose murder remains a mystery. Their Kitty Clive programme is something of a mix between these two. The music is captivating, and they hope that a wider audience will be gripped by the narrative and come to discover the music.

Apollo's Cabinet was formed by Teresa in 2018 with three others when they mainly concentrated on a repertoire based around trio sonatas; what Teresa and Thomas describe as standard Baroque chamber group repertoire. But for a festival in 2022, they were performing Bach's Coffee Cantata and felt that they wanted to do something more to present the work. Translating it into English helped them bring out the humour in the work and this provided a first window into adding a narrative or dramatic element to their programmes, and they found themselves intrigued by stories and narratives. 

Whilst their programmes are aimed at Early Music and classical music lovers, audiences can feel that they are watching a comedy or theatrical piece. What the group want is for audiences to immerse themselves in the experience and discover Baroque music. They are creating story-telling so that it speaks to audiences in different ways. They explore programmes with some fantastic music, and they want to open these up to more people. They also have an education programme, going into schools and working with teenagers.

They have had a couple of pub gigs and as the members of the ensemble come from different places, they brought along different 18th century arrangements of folk music, and they are now developing a programme based on this that they call Apollo's jukebox. When we chat about the different programmes, both in their repertoire and in the works, it is clear that they have quite a lively theatrical imagination mixing music and drama. In addition to the Charles Burney and Kitty Clive programmes, there is A Birthday Party for the King which features the celebrations for the 46th birthday of King Frederick the Great, which is based on a pamphlet from the time describing the events of the day. 

Apollo's Cabinet - Musical Wanderlust: Charles Burney's European Travels in Pursuit of Harmony

Planned programmes include not only the Leclair murder mystery but one focusing on French composer François-André Danican Philidor (1726-1795) who was also a celebrity chess player who astounded contemporaries by playing three games blindfolded. 

In October, they are planning a programme about Climate Change which will focus on the depiction of the elements in music. They will be performing Les élémens, by French composer Jean-Féry Rebel (1666 – 1747), which begins with a remarkable depiction of chaos in the first movement. They have also commissioned a new piece from Orlando Gough inspired by the Rebel. The programme will be at Kings Place in October and touring to the UK and Europe.

The core of the ensemble is a group of six or seven people, but it is flexible and the set-up has been roughly the same for the last four or five years. Their Kitty Clive programme uses five people whilst The Elements will be around nine. Their programme Re:invention looks at the way Baroque composers copied each other and reused material, along with modern composers reinventing Baroque music; the full programme uses 14 people, yet it will also work with six.

Their discs are all being released on the Prima Classic label. The Charles Burney programme came out last year and Kitty Clive this year, with plans for the Frederick the Great programme in 2026 and Re:Invention in 2027.

They are launching the Kitty Clive album in June and touring that programme. They will be performing the Frederick the Great programme at the Buxton Festival. The theme of this year's Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci is the Grand Tour so having performed their Frederick the Great programme their last year they are taking Charles Burney and also touring Germany and Switzerland. 

See Apollo's Cabinet's website for full details of their diary.

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