Having a laugh: Writer-director Nick Lane enjoying rehearsals for his variation on Sleeping Beauty at the SJT, Scarborough. Picture:Tony Bartholomew
REGULAR Christmas show writer Nick Lane is making his Stephen Joseph Theatre directorial debut with Sleeping Beauty, joined in the rehearsal room by actors Jacob Butler, Amy Drake, Annie Kirkman, Oliver Mawdsley and Kiara Nicole Pillai.
“Have you ever had one of those dream?” he asks. “You know the ones, the one where you’re running but you can’t get anywhere? Or the one where you really, really need the loo but people keep getting in your way?
“What about the dream where you get cursed by a wicked fairy to prick your finger on your 12th birthday and fall asleep for 100 years?
“Not had that one? Molly has. She’s been having it a lot recently. Her 12th birthday is just around the corner. The day before Christmas Eve, in fact.”
Her Auntie keeps saying “One more sleep”. “But if Molly’s not careful, she could end up having have the longest and craziest sleep of her life!” says Nick, introducing his typically unconventional take on a familiar tale, one that opens at the SJT tomorrow.
“I didn’t want to do that Sleeping Beauty – even when she is awake, she has no agency and she’s barely in it!” he says. “So I’ve found a way of subverting it, where she will not just spend the second half asleep in a bed. She will in fact be in a dream world, so she will be ‘asleep’ but we will see her dream world.”
Nick has “tried to remain second cousins with the original Charles Perrrault story”. “The Wicked Fairy wants Fairyland for herself, and so sending ‘Sleeping Beauty’ to sleep is part of the gambit of leveraging Fairyland for herself.
“In the original story, the Wicked Witch wanted to kill Sleeping Beauty, but you’re not going to get many laughs if you kill her, so we change it to tricking her into being asleep in Dreamland.”
Nick continues: “What we’ve done is play around with the idea that there are three different types of dream: the Golden Miles of happy dreams; the Weird Lands, and the Swamp of nightmares.
“Our Sleeping Beauty, Molly, has to navigate her way from one place to another to find her way out of Dreamland to save us from an authoritarian fairy.
“The journey, and the order of that journey is integral to the plot, as she journeys through nice dreams, weird dreams and awful dreams.”
Nick’s Sleeping Beauty is “just an ordinary girl called Molly”. “She lives with Auntie Claire and Uncle Harry, she’s about to turn 12, and she’s been having these strange dreams about pricking her finger,” he says.
“The idea is that Molly is half-fairy, half human, otherwise known as ‘Hairy’. Being brought up by her aunt and uncle, she doesn’t know that her mother’s the Queen of the Fairies but her dad is a mere human, a bloke called Dave, living in Scarborinia.”
Auntie Claire is in fact Clair de Lune; the authoritarian fairy is called Crepuscula and her mother is Aurore. “Their names are all to do with light: dawn light, twilight and night light,” says Nick.
“Our Crepuscula is a fairy supremacist who believes that humans have no place in Fairyland, and Aurore had no right to bring her daughter there as Crepuscula believes she should be ruling Fairyland.”
Out goes the usual Prince of the story too, replaced by plain old Dan, while Nick creates two henchmen characters, Sock and Butter, out of…a sock and a pack of butter.
He loves steering clear of the conventions of pantomime to create his own form of boisterous, madly inventive Christmas show. “The thing is, because they’re such well-known stories, pantomime does a good job of making them silly while still trying to stick to the story, but I have always thought, ‘why not try to do something different with the story, like making Aladdin rubbish at magic,” he says.
“This time I thought, ‘what if Sleeping Beauty could be ‘awake’ and make her way out through the 100 years’.”
Nick continues: “Pantomime tends to be a lot of mucking about and not enough storytelling, so I’m not a big fan of it. It doesn’t do a lot for me. I know it’s the only time that some people go to the theatre, but panto done badly is merely mucking around, when it needs to be more than that. What I do is kids’ stories but hopefully with adult appeal too – and kids are smarter than we think.”
As for Helen Coyston’s set design, Nick says: “Scarborinia is a kind of modern-day Scarborough, while Dreamland is more weird, with Sock and Butter living there, and it looks amazing. Like a quilt, all soft and lovely!”
Sleeping Beauty stays awake at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from November 29 to December 31. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
A bauble decoration in An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, York. Picture: National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross
THE National Trust invites festive visitors to experience An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, in Minster Yard, York, until December 21 – and look out for the kitchen’s trademark Christmas Pudding Scones returning to the cafe menu too.
Nestled beside York Minster, this early 17th-century house has undergone a winter transformation, where stories of its past residents come to life through handcrafted decoration as rooms are re-imagined with festive flair, inspired by the house’s rich history.
“Treasurer’s House has long been more than just bricks and mortar,” reads the National Trust’s Welcome to An Inspired Christmas. “It has been a home, a place of ideas and ambition. Over the centuries, its rooms have echoed with the lives of remarkable individuals who shaped society in ways both bold and quiet.
“This Christmas, we celebrate eight extraordinary former residents whose stories continue to inspire. From writers to thinkers, pioneers and reformers, each has left a legacy that reaches far beyond these walls.
“As you explore the house today, we invite you to walk in their footsteps, discover their impact, and reflect on how the past can illuminate the present.”
A Christmas stocking decoration in honour of Frank Green at An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House
Each room is styled to reflect the personalities and tales of those who once called Treasurer’s House home, from last occupant Frank Green, the visionary industrialist who gifted the property to the National Trust, to the Young family, Jane Squire, Ann Eliza Morritt, Elizabeth Montague, Sarah Scott, John Goodricke and Royal visitor Queen Alexandra, wife to King Edward VII.
Until 1648, the house was home to the Young family, who are responsible for much of how Treasurer’s House looks today. Thomas Young was Archbishop of York, whose role was to establish the insecure Protestant church in the north for Queen Elizabeth I’s government.
Christmas in the Youngs’ time would have looked very different to how the season is celebrated now, but they shared many similarities, such as games, greenery, jokes and cake.
From 1717 to 1725, Treasurer’s House was owned by Jane Squire at a time when it was unusual for women to own property. During her ownership, she leased the house to Matthew and Elizabeth Robinson, parents of future literary figures Elizabeth Montague and Sarah Scott.
Garlands galore on the stairwell for An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House. Picture: National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross
Squire was a pioneering mathematician and the only woman who is known to have submitted a formal proposal to measure longitude at sea accurately (crucial to the success of early 18th century British naval power). Her proposal was “not very practical” but showed the active mind of a woman whose story was one of resilience, curiosity and determination to succeed.
Ann Eliza Morritt’s family owned part of the house from 1725 to 1813. While her parents and brother lived a few streets away, the five Morritt sisters resided here together. Ann Eliza was a talented embroidery artist, copying the artwork of great painters, and her work is still on display at Rokeby Park, near Barnard Castle.
Born at Treasurer’s House, Elizabeth Montague became known as the “Queen of Bluestockings”. She hosted lively gatherings where writers, thinkers and politicians exchanged ideas in an era when women’s voices were often silenced.
A successful businesswoman as well as a patron of the arts, she used her wealth to support literature and social reform. From her York beginnings to the salons of London, her life’s journey stands as a testament to the power of intellect, determination and the courage to defy convention.
The 18ft Christmas tree forAn Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House. Picture: National Trust, Anthony Chappel-Ross
Elizabeth’s sister, Sarah Scott, who lived at Treasurer’s House for a time, was a novelist, translator and member of the Bluestocking circle of intellectual women, using her writing to imagine a fairer, more compassionate society.
Her most celebrated work, A Description Of Millennium Hall (1762), told the story of a community where women lived independently, pooling their talents and wealth to support education, healthcare and charitable work.
Scott’s ideas were far ahead of her time. She believed that women could shape society, not only within the home, but also through learning, creativity and collective action. From her years in York, she carried forward a legacy that still informs debates over community, gender and social justice.
From 1781, John Goodricke took up residence at Treasurer’s House, where he would change the course of astronomy forever. Deaf from childhood, in tandem with his friend Edward Piggot, he measured the variation of light from stars that would enable 20th century astronomers to determine distances to distant galaxies.
A decorative tribute to mathematician Jane Squire at An Inspired Christmas
He was awarded the Copley Medal, the oldest scientific prized in the world, also bestowed on Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.
The stars in the room dedicated to him for this exhibition represent the star Algol, discovered by Goodricke at Treasurer’s House.
Queen Alexandra, King Edward VII’s wife, stayed at Treasurer’s House in 1900 when she was still Princess of Wales, on a visit to the Royal Agricultural Show, held in York. Alexandra, from Denmark, was hard of hearing, so she was accompanied by her daughter Victoria, known to be dignified and charming, affectionate and jolly, with a love of skating too, much to her mother-in-law Queen Victoria’s disapproval.
On her visit, she found Treasurer’s House uncomfortable, so there are comforting reminders in Queen Alexandra’s Room of a traditional Danish Christmas, such as the works of Hans Christian Andersen, who would read stories to Alexandra and her siblings in Copenhagen, Snow Queen among them.
Visitors can explore at their own pace, soaking in the ambience of period rooms adorned with bespoke festive décor, much of it created lovingly by National Trust volunteers, along with other rooms decorated by two community groups, MySight York knitting group and York Central Women’s Institute, whose founding meeting was held at Treasurer’s House.
Got it taped: An unusual Christmas tree decoration at Treasurer’s House
“Christmas at Treasurer’s House is always a special time, but this year we’ve gone even further to bring the stories of the house to life through the decorations,” says visitor experience officer Edward Walker.
“Each room tells a different tale thanks to the creativity of the volunteers, local community groups and artists. If you’re looking to get into the festive spirit, it’s the place for you; if you want to uncover pockets of history or something new alongside candles and trees, it’s also for you.”
Edward continues: “My personal favourite space is the Queen’s Room, where we’re representing Hans Christian Andersen. We’re celebrating a royal visit to Treasurer’s House, plus the author who used to be invited to the Danish palace to read to the young princesses.”
Back by popular demand are the Christmas Pudding Scones, among many seasonal treats. This scone was invented in the Treasurer’s House kitchen, following a competition for visitors to suggest new flavour ideas.
Freshly baked: Christmas Pudding Scones at Treasurer’s House. Picture: National Trust
The Scone Blogger voted it her top scone, and she should know as she travelled the country to sample from every National Trust café. For five weeks only, the team will be baking freshly each day; just follow your nose!
For younger visitors, a spotter trail features handcrafted stained-glass stars, created by artist Megan Barnett from York company Woodside Stained Glass.
On Tuesdays, you can watch the conservation team showcase their work caring for the Treasurer’s House collection. From 2pm on Wednesdays, lights will be switched on, music turned off and shutters opened for visitors who prefer a lighter and quieter Christmas.
The Minster Minstrels, young York musicians from the National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, will perform in the Great Hall on Sunday, December 7, adding a joyful sound throughout the house in 30-minute sets at 12.30pm and 2pm. Each will offer different songs from a changing group of musicians.
An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, York, runs until December 21, open Saturday to Wednesday, 11am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm. No booking is required, with free entry for National Trust members and under-fives.For further details visit https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/treasurershouse.
Tree decoration at An Inspired Christmas at Treasurer’s House, York
“I want the audience to feel like they haven’t been to the theatre but have been through an experience, like they’d been beaten up by it!” says Mark Thomas of Ordinary Decent Criminal. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
POLITICAL comedian, activist and actor Mark Thomas reunites with playwright and ex-offender Ed Edwards to perform Ordinary Decent Criminal at York Theatre Royal Studio on December 2 and 3.
Directed by Paines Plough joint artistic director Charlotte Bennett, who cut her theatrical teeth at the Theatre Royal’s TakeOver festival, Edwards’s tale of freedom, revolution and messy love tells the story of Frankie, a recovering addict sentenced to three and a half years in prison for dealing drugs in the 1990s after the Strangeways Prison Riot. All done and dusted in 70 intense minutes without an interval.
On arrival, Frankie finds that none of his fellow convicts are what they seem, but with his typewriter, his activist soul and his sore lack of a right hook, he somehow burrows his way into their troubled hearts, and they into his. In the most unexpected of places, he discovers that the revolution is not dead, only sleeping.
“It’s a play about a political reawakening,” says Edwards, who also wrote the Edinburgh Fringe First-winning A Political History Of Smack And Crack and England & Son. “It’s about a character who swallowed their political commitment after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, where it seems to him that all hope of political progress in the world has died. It’s also about seeing that the fight has to go on, with or without hope.”
Edwards served three and a half years in jail himself many moons ago. “A play has to have some sort of spark, so the spark for this was writing about those experiences and trying to make some sense out of them, which I hadn’t done for 30 years.”
How did Edwards come to collaborate with Thomas? “Mark saw my play The Political History Of Smack And Crack and really enjoyed it,” he says. “We met a couple of times after that and got on really well. Eventually, I wrote to him and asked if I could write something for him.
Ordinary Decent Criminal playwright Ed Edwards and comedian-actor Mark Thomas
“He said ‘yes’, and then we didn’t do that idea. We did something else – England & Son – that emerged from our conversations. Ordinary Decent Criminal is the follow-up to that.
“When you’re writing a play for Mark Thomas, you’re looking for the laughs, and Mark will always make them work.”
Thomas, whose tour of Ordinary Decent Criminal has brought him to the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Selby Town Hall and Leeds Playhouse already, now returns to York Theatre Royal Studio, where he performed England & Son in September 2023.
“I love Ed, I properly love him. He is my brother and my comrade,” he says of Edwards. “He’s a brilliant man, a really lovely bloke, and we communicate in a really meaningful way as colleagues. He’s so funny. He comes up with gags all the times.
“Like when I was about to go on stage at Paines Plough in England & Son, he suddenly appeared next to me to say he had this idea to change a line, when I was waiting for the lighting cue to start.”
Thomas recalls telling Edwards to “go away in brusque monosyllabic language”. “I walked on stage, I did do the new line, and afterwards he came up and said ‘I shouldn’t have done that to you’, but the line worked, and the way we work is not as structured as others might work in the theatre,” he says.
“We have a good argument, but good ones about art and ideas and ideology,” says Mark Thomas of his working relationship with Ed Edwards. Picture:Tony Pletts
“Ed has said that when I do stand-up he liked how I do impersonations that become characters very quickly, so he has written the scripts with Mark Thomas in mind. I love how he doesn’t waste time [in his writing]; he just gets on with it, so it feels like we can snap in and out of things.”
Thomas has found that he improvises less in theatre, where he is drawn to its emotional depth and power, allied to the fast pace and economy of his stand-up. “I’m 62, I’m officially five years from retirement, and on November 19 I celebrated my 40th anniversary as a professional performer, and what I love is that I’m still learning stuff; still finding new ways of doing things,” he says.
“I’m working with people who are teaching me new things, and for me, that’s wonderful because what’s the point if you get to the point where you say, ‘No, I’ll just do the same old stuff’. All of this is a delight to me, and Ed is such a unique voice as there’s no-one else that has his insightful passion.
“We have a good argument, but good ones about art and ideas and ideology, and I love that when Ed and I started working on England & Son, we worked with prisons on addiction recovery – and that work continues, taking shows into prisons.”
Thomas continues: “The prisoners will give you a little push, asking ‘have you been inside?’. ‘No, but the writer has’. ‘Have you ever had an addiction?’. ‘Yeah, but not now’ [Thomas has talked of having past issues with alcohol addiction, but is sober now, while Edwards is a recovering drug addict].
“They’re looking for bull****, so you do the show, and what’s fascinating is that the reaction is immediate. It just pours out of them, and a number of them have been inspired to write their own stories, so you feel you’ve won.
“Theatre opened up a world that I didn’t think was available to me,” says Mark Thomas. Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
“We’ve worked with the Synergy Theatre Project too, who work with prisoners, workshopping and doing performances of shows about prison life.”
Thomas has enjoyed working with director Charlotte Bennett. “She’s magnificent,” he says. “What she’s great at, she’s absolutely brilliant at, is making you look at things anew, and you think, ‘oh, I’ve just been skipping over this’!
“It’s all about the work, and she’ll ask you things where you’ll say ‘I hadn’t thought of that’. What she’s good at too is pace, how it works, how it needs to shift, where you’ll investigate the overall shape of the show.
“Creating roles, how each character moves, she’ll look at the musicality of each character, which is fascinating, so it’s all been really refreshing, thinking ‘Ok, we can do it this way’.”
Thomas has drawn theatregoers, comedy fans and newcomers alike to the show. “What’s exciting is like when we were in Plymouth, a bloke said he was working on a construction site and was supposed to be going home but would now be there till Wednesday and didn’t know what to do in the evening, but he’d seen me do stand-up though he he’d never been to a theatre show…and he came!” he says.
“It’s that thing of ‘Don’t tell them it’s theatre’, and when I talked with Ed about the show, I said, I want them to feel like they haven’t been to the theatre but have been through an experience, like they’d been beaten up by it!”
Theatre and performance changed Mark Thomas’s life. “It opened up a world that I didn’t think was available to me, and that’s how I’ve always been, how I’ve always appreciated it since then,” says this son of a self-employed London builder.
Mark Thomas in Ed Edwards’ England & Son, which played York Theatre Royal Studio in 2023. Picture: Alex Brenner
“The first theatre performance I remember seeing was Spike Milligan playing Ben Gunn in Treasure Island, running around chucking cheese at a mermaid! I want people to come to this show [Ordinary Decent Criminal] and say it’s like nothing they’ve seen before.
“Theatre has this amazing way of making you feel and think something that you didn’t know or feel before; it gives you the chance to experience something that connects you with other people.”
Thomas suggests Ordinary Decent Criminal is more hopeful than England & Son. “It’s hopeful, and what this one does is show someone charting a course through obstacles in a way that England & Son didn’t,” he says.
“You see Frankie trying to find a way through all the dilemmas while keeping something of himself. There are lots more characters in this one too, and what’s great is that no-one is totally bad, whereas in England & Son, the dad was a dark, dark force. No-one is all bad, though every one of them is flawed.
“I love how the characters don’t punch down. It’s just as physical as England & Son, but Charlotte has brought environments to the set. I joke that it’s my IKEA Barbara Hepworth!”
Settled into the tour’s flow, Thomas concludes: “I actually think it’s a better show than England & Son. We’ve taken a step forward, and I think Ed would agree with that.”
Paines Plough, Live Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and Ellie Keel Productions, in association with Synergy Theatre Project, present Ordinary Decent Criminal, York Theatre Royal Studio, December 2 and 3, 7.30pm. Age recommendation: 16 plus. Tickets update: sold out; for returns only, ring 01904 623568 or visit yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Gonzaga Band members Jamie Savan, Steven Devine and Faye Newton: Teaming up with National Centre for Early Music, York, and BBC Radio 3 for Young Composers Award 2026
THE deadline to register online entries for the National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award 2026 in York is 12 noon on Friday, February 2 2026.
Launched on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show, this annual award is presented by the NCEM in association with regular partners BBC Radio 3.
For the 2026 instalment, young composers will be working with The Gonzaga Band, specialists in late-Renaissance and early-Baroque repertoire.
The deadline for submission of scores will be Friday, March 2. Successful shortlisted candidates will be informed on Monday, March 1 and then be invited to attend the award day at the NCEM, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, on Thursday, April 16. The NCEM will meet reasonable travel and accommodation costs from within the UK.
Young composers are invited to compose a new song setting for soprano, cornett and keyboard, to be performed by Gonzaga Band musicians Jamie Savan, cornett, Faye Newton, soprano, and Steven Devine, keyboards, who are renowned for innovative programming, underpinned by cutting-edge research.
The song should take inspiration from the experimental and innovative music of Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, evoked in The Gonzaga Band’s recital programme Love’s Labyrinth, released as a recording on the Deux-Elles Classical Recording label in July 2025.
On this album, The Gonzaga Band navigate a path between the ardour and anguish of love, from the most exquisitely wrought madrigals of Monteverdi to the lively and sensuous dance rhythms of popular canzonettas.
Owain Park, right: Former winner of NCEM Young Composers Award, now director of the BBC Singers and The Gesualdo Six
In the process, they explore the development of a new style in Italian composition and performance practice, through which musicians were striving to find new ways of expressing and heightening the emotional power of their poetic texts.
Their distinctive arrangements, drawn from sources connected to the ducal court of Ferrara as well as Venice and Florence, heighten the intimate connection between the cornett and the human voice, interweaving in duet.
Award candidates should write a song setting that explores the theme of love through the relationship between the voice and instruments, setting a poem by Lady Mary Wrath, a contemporary of Shakespeare.
Composers selected for the final are invited to a collaborative workshop day in York on April 16 2026, led by composer Christopher Fox and Gonzaga Band members. This will be followed by a public performance of all the selected compositions at the NCEM.
The winning entries will be premiered by The Gonzaga Band in a lunchtime concert at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Tuesday, October 27 2026, to be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show and BBC Sounds.
This major national annual award is open to young composers up to the age of 25 resident in the UK and is divided into two categories: age 18 and under and age 19 to 25.
NCEM director Dr Delma Tomlin says: “The Young Composers Award is one of the annual highlights at the NCEM, and we always enjoy welcoming and nurturing the extraordinary array of talent these young composers have to offer.
Anna Disley-Simpson: Alumna of NCEM Young Composers Award
“Alumni of the award include: Owain Park, now director of BBC Singers and The Gesualdo Six; Sarah Cattley; Kristina Arakelyen; Kerensa Briggs and Anna Disley-Simpson, whose new work was performed last year as part of the York Early Music Festival.
“The award truly makes a difference to young composers’ career paths – it has proved to be an important stepping stone in the careers of these young people. We are very proud of our success to date and look forward to welcoming composers from across the UK to join with us in partnership with The Gonzaga Band.”
Les Pratt, producer of BBC Radio 3’s The Early Music Show, says: “We’re delighted to continue to support this award here at BBC Radio 3, now looking ahead to its 19th edition. It’s hugely important to challenge and nurture young talent, and what’s most gratifying is seeing past winners and entrants who are now making their way in the professional world.
“We are really looking forward to sharing next year’s compositions for The Gonzaga Band with our audiences at home on The Early Music Show.”
Jamie Savan, of The Gonzaga Band, enthuses: “We’re excited to collaborate with the NCEM and BBC Radio 3 on the Young Composers Award for 2026. We’re passionate about expanding the contemporary repertoire for cornett (the most ‘vocal’ of instruments), together with soprano voice and historical keyboards, and we can’t wait to work with the next generation of composers on this project.”
Terms and conditions and details of how to take part in the NCEM Young Composers Award 2025 are available at: https://www.youngcomposersaward.co.uk or by emailing info.composers@ncem.co.uk.
The Gonzaga Band: back story
The Gonzaga Band’s Faye Newton, Jamie Savan, centre, and Steve Devine
FORMED by cornettist Jamie Savan in 1997 with a mission to explore the intimate relationship between vocal and instrumental performance practice in the Early Modern period.
The ensemble takes its name from the ducal family of Mantua: the Gonzagas were powerful and influential patrons of the arts in the late Renaissance, who employed Claudio Monteverdi as their maestro della musica at the turn of the 17th century.
Monteverdi wrote some of his most innovative music for the Gonzagas: his third, fourth and fifth books of madrigals, the operas Orfeo and Arianna and the Vespers of 1610.
Performing most often as a chamber ensemble with a core of soprano voice, cornett and keyboards, and expanding on occasion according to the particular requirements of each programme, The Gonzaga Band can perform in a variety of combinations, ranging from a trio to a full period-instrument orchestra and vocal consort.
The Gonzaga Band is renowned for its innovative programming, underpinned by cutting-edge research, shining new light on the repertoire and its interpretation.
The band has five internationally acclaimed recordings to its credit, including Sacred Garland on Chandos/Chaconne and Venice 1629 on the Resonus Classics label. Its latest release is Love’s Labyrinth on the Deux-Elles label (2025). For more information, visit www.gonzagaband.com.
Apollo’s Cabinet: Playing opening concert at 2025 York Early Music Christmas Festival on December 5
THE 2025 York Early Music Christmas Festival will open on December 5 for a Yuletide feast of music spanning the centuries complemented by contemporary tunes.
Most concerts take place in the home of the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM), in the medieval setting of St Margaret’s Church, in Walmgate, where audiences can enjoy warming mulled wine and mince pies in “the perfect recipe for a heart-warming Christmas experience”.
NCEM Platform Artists Apollo’s Cabinet will kick off the festival with their Christmas edition of Apollo’s Jukebox Menu, where the audience will call the shots in this musical menu of Baroque favourites, bawdy ballads, delightful dances and streetwise scandals from 7pm to 8.15pm.
“Following their prize-winning successes over the past year, when they won the 2024 Friends Prize at our International Young Artists Competition ,and the launch of their debut album [Musical Wanderlust], we’re delighted that Apollo’s Cabinet are returning to the NCEM stage,” says festival director Delma Tomlin.
“They’re having a fantastic career already, appealing to a broad market, where they hit the sweet spot of entertaining as well as engaging audiences.
Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston: Presenting A Lyrical Interlude on December 6
“At December 5’s concert, you should forget stuffy concerts with velvet seats and polite applause. Apollo’s Jukebox takes you back to the 18th-century music rooms where tunes weren’t just played – they were ordered. It’s all about good music, great stories and a proper pint.”
Rory McLeery, artistic director of festival act The Marian Consort, will host December 8’s 10.15am Choral Workshop at Bedern Hall , where he will take a journey through music by members of the Bach family, Schutz and Palestrina, to be followed at 4pm by an informal concert performance by the participants, who have been sent music online to practise in advance.
McCleery will direct The Marian Consort in their December 8 concert with the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, directed by Gawain Glenton, in a festive 6.30pm programmed entitled Looking Bach To Palestrina, marking Palestrina’s 500th birthday.
York Early Music Festival artistic advisor and mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston will team up with her regular pianist, Sholto Kynoch, for A Lyrical Interlude at the NCEM on December 6, when her 12.30pm programme will embrace 18th century works by Fanny Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn and Carl Loewe.
This will lead to Robert Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe as Charlston explores themes of love, loss, longing and the power of memory and imagination to shape experiences of love, its joy and pain.
The Marion Consort: Teaming up with English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble for December 6 concert. Picture: Ben Tomlin
Festival stalwarts Yorkshire Bach Choir & Yorkshire Baroque Soloists will unite once more under conductor Peter Seymour for Hayden’s 1798 magnus opus, The Creation, at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, on December 6 at 7.30pm.
“From its revolutionary ‘Representations of Chaos’ and the ensuing, electrifying arrival of light, the oratorio unfolds with boundless musical invention, painting vibrant sonic landscapes of land, sea, flora, celestial bodies, fauna and ultimately, humankind,” says Delma.
“Brimming with humanity and life-affirming joy, this work stands as a towering testament to the illuminating spirit of the Enlightenment.”
Reflecting on The Marian Consort’s December 8 programme, John Bryan, Emertitus Professor of Music at the University of Huddersfield, will give a 10.15am talk on December 7 on Contrast and Continuity: From the Renaissance to the Baroque.
The Dowland’s Foundry duo of tenor Daniel Thomson and lutenist Sam Brown will present Facets Of Time at a sold-out Bedern Hall on December 7, when their 2pm performance will combine music by Dowland, Daniel, Ferrabasco and Morley and words by William Shakespeare.
Irish folk singer Cara Dillon: On song in Upon A Winter’s Night on December 13
The Chiaroscuro Quartet and the BBC New Generation ArtistsConsone String Quartet will make a rare appearance together at the NCEM on December 7 for a 6.30pm programme featuring one of the 19th century’s most remarkable works, Mendelssohn’s Octet in E flat major Op 20, composed when he was 16, preceded by Haydn and Beethoven string quartets.
“Effectively this is the highlight of the festival. Having these two absolutely world-class quartets play together is extraordinary on what will be a magical night,” says Delma.
“Both quartets have played here before, so we have a great relationship with them, and I’ve wanted to programme the Mendelssohn Octet in the festival forever.”
Apollo5 will conjure the wonder of the winter’s changing landscape through contemporary choral writing for the season, interwoven with early music favourites by William Byrd and Guerrero in The Crimson Sun at the NCEM on December 9 at 6.30pm.
Lowe Ensemble, a Spanish family group, will perform Handel’s rare Spanish cantata No Se Emendara Jamas plus Iberian-Baroque festive music in Echoes Of The Baroque at the NCEM on December 12 at 12 noon.
Lowe Ensemble: Performing Echoes of the Baroque at York Early Music Christmas Festival on December 12
Fieri Consort Singers and Camerata Øresund will perform From the Church to the Tavern: Christmas Cantatas by Christopher Graupner and English Tavern Songs at the NCEM on December 12 at 6pm. Expect festive jollity as heard in the taverns of 17th and 18th centuries at this exclusive concert for the 2025 Christmas festival.
Irish folk singer Cara Dillon’s beloved Christmas concert, Upon A Winter’s Night , will blend ancient carols with modern songs and and Celtic rhythms at a sold-out NCEM on December 13 at 7.30pm.
The festival will conclude with Joglaresa’s Here We Come A’Carolling at the NCEM on December 14 at 6.30pm. “We’re delighted to welcome back this effervescent ensemble with a programme of music guaranteed to chase out the Christmas chill,” says Delma.
Summing up the 2025 festival, she says: “Once again, we look forward to welcome friends old and new to our Christmas festival, which is always a very special time for all of us here at the NCEM.
“The York Early Music Christmas Festival was created in 1997 to introduce audiences to the extraordinary wealth of music associated with Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, from the Medieval to the Baroque, intertwined with the sagas, stories and tales of the north. We hope you will enjoy this year’s wonderful line up of artists performing an array music through the ages.” Box office: 01904 658338 or https://ncem.co.uk/yemcf/.
Dowland’s Foundry to play free Baroque Around The Books shows in Explore York community library tour on Dec 8 and 9
Dowland Foundry’s Sam Brown, left, and Daniel Thomson
IN the latest National Centre for Early Music cultural wellbeing initiative, the NCEM and Explore York library service are bringing award-winning tenor Daniel Thomson and Sam Brown, “the Eric Clapton of the lute”, to York for Baroque Around The Books.
On December 8 and 9, the Dowland’s Foundry duo will present a mini-tour of Facets Of Time, a dramatic performance based around Elizabethan England’s most iconic artists, William Shakespeare and John Dowland.
Daniel and Sam will be staying in York for this short residency and musical tour of community libraries after their December 7 appearance at the 2025 York Early Music Christmas Festival at a sold-out Bedern Hall, when their 2pm performance will combine music by Dowland, Daniel, Ferrabasco and Morley with words by Shakespeare.
Dowland’s Foundrywill play Tang Hall Explore on December 8 at 11am; Clifton Explore, December 8, 2pm; Haxby & Wigginton Library, December 9, 11am, and York Explore, December 9, 2pm.
Tickets are FREE for these informal concerts – and no booking is required – thanks to this NCEM initiative, working in association with Explore York, supported by the Mayfield Valley Arts Trust and funds raised in the 2025 Christmas Big Give Campaign.
Thomson and Brown have performed widely across the UK. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Thomson is known for his expressive text-based performance with major groups across the UK, Europe and Australia.
Flutes & Frets’ Beth Stones and Dan Murphy: Played Baroque Around The Books tour shows in York in 2024
Brown is a graduate of London’s Royal College of Music and one of the leading chordophonists of his generation, admired for his sensitive interpretation of Elizabethan music in performances across Europe, China and Kenya.
Dowland’s Foundry are undertaking the third Baroque Around the Books tour, after successful tours in 2024 by Flutes & Frets (flautist Beth Stones and frets player Dan Murphy) and Intesa(European viol and vocal musicians Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgetti).
Each one brings free and accessible Early Music performances to the communities of York in a unique opportunity to celebrate and discover Early Music with two talented young performers.
“The NCEM is dedicated to promoting the extraordinary array of talent from Europe’s vibrant Early Music scene and Baroque Around The Books reinforces our ongoing commitment to support, encourage and nurture the skills of emerging artists in the UK and beyond,” says NCEM director Delma Tomlin.
“It’s wonderful to be working with our partner Explore York Libraries & Archives once again. Sam and Daniel have developed a sincere love and understanding of lute song that we look forward to sharing with new audiences from York communities.”
Explore York chief executive Jenny Layfield enthuses: “This partnership with NCEM is truly inspiring. There’s something wonderful about bringing such talented musicians into library spaces, offering our communities the chance to stumble upon a high-quality experience.
“I had the pleasure of attending one of the Baroque Around The Books sessions organised by the NCEM last year, and I absolutely loved it. If you have the opportunity to attend a performance at one of our Explore Centres this December, I wholeheartedly recommend it.”
Reactions to 2024’s Baroque Around The Books tours by Flutes & Frets and Intesa
Intesa musicians Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgetti
“Uplifting, beautiful. Exquisite singing and playing. I felt privileged to experience this in a local library.”
“It was an unexpectedly moving experience.”
“I cannot tell you how glorious the last 20 was. I called in to collect a book and thought I’d gone to heaven.”
“It was truly beautiful and amazing that we could see this at our local library!”
“This was a delightful surprise as I just popped in to get a book. Even though I had other things to do, I stayed for the whole performance, which I loved. A quality experience.”
‘‘It was wonderful, it felt like it was a gift to York. Thank you so much. Thes are difficult times for many of us. This really felt so positive and generous.”
The artwork for James’s new compilation, Nothing But Love – The Definitive Best Of
JAMES are promoting their Nothing But Love – The Definitive Best Of album with a signing session at Crash Records, The Headrow, Leeds, at 6pm this evening. Unlike upcoming appearances in Liverpool (Cavern) tomorrow and Kingston (Circuit) on Friday, there will be no acoustic set or Q&A.
Released on November 21 on UMR in triple CD, five LP and double LP formats, as well as all download and streaming platforms, the album is a comprehensive, career-spanning collection, documenting the Manchester band’s journey from their early singles through to fan favourites and special selections curated by band members.
The 3-CD deluxe version takes fans on a chronological journey and includes a booklet with exclusive track commentary from the band and features the original Sit Down (Rough Trade Version), available to buy for the first time in 35 years.
James in 2025. In the line-up areTim Booth, Jim Glennie, Saul Davies, Adrian Oxaal, David Baynton-Power, Mark Hunter, Andy Diagram, Chloe Alper and Deborah Knox-Hewson. Picture: Ehud Lazin
The 5-LP vinyl set includes tracks from Yummy and is housed in a rigid slipcase with accompanying booklet, with 14 tracks and versions being made available on vinyl for the first time. The 2-LP colour vinyl set is a highlights selection of the tracks.
All three versions include two new numbers, Wake Up Superman and Hallelujah Anyhow, both produced by Leo Abrahams, who worked with James on their chart-topping 2024 album Yummy.
Fronted by Boston Spa-raised singer Tim Booth, James have announced their biggest-ever UK arena tour for next spring with Wilmslow band Doves as special guests. The eight dates on the Love Is The Answer itinerary include a return to Leeds First Direct Arena on April 4 2026. Tickets are available from wearejames.com,gigsandtours.com or ticketmaster.co.uk.
Nothing But Love’s indie store events, including today’s signing session at Crash Records, Leeds
James: back story
FORMED In Manchester in 1982, James have chalked up more than 30 million albums over a longstanding career, making them among the most commercially and artistically successful English alt. rock bands of their era.
After gathering a cult following around art rock gallops such as Johnny Yen and Hymn From A Village in the 1980s, they broke through to mainstream success with 1990 major label debut Gold Mother, followed by a slew of euphoric anthems, led off by Come Home and Sit Down.
Fifth album Laid saw them break the American charts in 1993, while Whiplash (1997), Millionaires (1999) and Pleased To Meet You (2001) cemented their standing, typified by Tomorrow, She’s A Star and Just Like Fred Astaire.
The itinerary for James’s biggest-ever UK arena travels on the Love Is The Answer Tournext April
James returned from a six-year hiatus in 2008 with Hey Ma, followed by Girl At The End Of The World (2016), Living In Extraordinary Times (2018) and All The Colours Of You (2021), returning the band to a sustained run in the upper echelons of the album charts.
In 2023, James celebrated their 40th anniversary with the release of Be Opened By The Wonderful, a double album of orchestral re-workings of their biggest hits and rare cuts, and were presented with The PRS For Music Icon Award at the Ivor Novello Awards, a testament to their enduring influence and contribution to British song-writing.
In April 2024 James released 18th album Yummy, their first-ever studio album to reach number one. Songs addressed the subjects of politics, AI and conspiracy theories, documenting the creative process of a band that continues to evolve and defy expectations.
James: Continuing to evolve and defy expectations after more than 40 years
They played their largest UK Arena tour to date in 2024, selling out the 20,000-capacity Co-op Live Arena in Manchester and The O2 in London, followed up by a co-headline tour with Johnny Marr in the USA and Canada.
This year, their multiple shows across the globe included performing to 20,000 people on the streets of Penamacor, Portugal, and opening the summer season at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on June 6 and 7.
Now comes Nothing But Love – The Definitive Best Of, their sixth compilation after the chart-topping The Best Of (Mercury/Fontana) in March 1998; B-Sides Ultra (Mercury), December 2001; The Collection (Spectrum Music), October 2004; Fresh As A Daisy – The Singles (Mercury), April 2007, and Justhipper – The Complete Sire & Blanco Y Negro Recordings 1986- 1988 (Cherry Red Records), July 2017.
THIS was a strange programme. Ostensibly a celebration of the Chapter House Choir’s upcoming 60th anniversary in December, it somehow morphed into marking the season of remembrance. Celebration and remembrance do not often make easy bedfellows.
Furthermore, the choir’s founder, Andrew Carter – who is also a distinguished choral composer – was in the audience. But he barely got a mention in the programme, was not invited to take a bow and had none of his works performed. Taken together, these were inexcusable omissions.
Judging by the programme, the two conductors involved were much more interested in furthering their own careers than seeing themselves as part of a noble chamber-choir tradition in York, which Chapter House Choir has spearheaded.
The nearest we came to a sense of celebration was in Roderick Williams’s setting of Siegfried Sassoon’s Everyone Sang, given a lusty account by the full forces here: the Chapter House Choir itself, the Chapter House Youth Choir and the octet Jervaulx Singers, making a grand total of nearly 60 singers, with Benjamin Morris conducting.
Otherwise, the mood was restrained, bordering on lugubrious, with mainly slow tempos. The full group opened with Arvo Pärt’s setting of Bogoroditse Djevo (the Russian Orthodox version of the ‘Hail, Mary’) and John Tavener’s take on it. Conducted by Charlie Gower-Smith, it was impressively sung by rote.
He also directed the Youth Choir in Sullivan’s The Long Day Closes, which was nicely phrased even if its relevance here was doubtful.
The Chapter House Choir alone, under Morris, developed an excellent atmosphere in Elgar’s They Are At Rest, R.I.P. piece if ever there were. Rather less engaging was Owain Park’s Footsteps, which apparently uses texts by no less than nine different authors, but has a restricted harmonic palette that lends it a nebulous feel. It outstayed its welcome.
Jonathan Dove’s Into Thy Hands, sung by the Jervaulx Singers alone, was much more focused as a piece and well modulated.
Howells’ Requiem, a marvellous work, concluded the evening. For all its glories, it seemed out of keeping with the stated headline of celebration. But it was treated with considerable reverence: its smooth, prayerful invocation benefited from beautifully sustained lines.
Psalm 121, with a noble baritone solo, brought hope; sopranos were impassioned, not to say fearless, in the subsequent Requiem before the elegiac composure of the final bars. But let us hope that this is not the final celebration of Chapter House Choir’s anniversary.
TOO rarely do we get the chance to hear and acknowledge the professional musicians living in our midst.
The clarinettist Lesley Schatzberger has played internationally with several distinguished orchestras and ensembles, but makes her home in York. She also spearheads Amabile, whose other members are pianist Paul Nicholson – like her, a University of York graduate – and cellist Nicola Tait Baxter. All three have enjoyed successful solo careers.
Not all soloists coalesce easily into chamber music. This British Music Society concert proved otherwise, with works by Shostakovich and York composer Steve Crowther framed by trios from Clara Schumann and Brahms.
Clara’s Piano Trio in G minor, her first chamber piece, is widely regarded as her finest achievement. Its violin part converts easily for the clarinet. Immediately there was lovely shading, as the voices ducked in and out of the texture.
The skittish scherzo has an attractive cello melody in its trio section which Tait Baxter relished. The centre of the Andante was aptly nervy and the spicy fugue shone out of the finale. Best of all, the players did not attempt to press Clara’s cause; they allowed the score to unfold naturally.
The mellow music of Brahms’s last decade regularly relies on the clarinet and Schatzberger’s smoothly fluent tone brought a perfect touch of velvet to his Clarinet Trio in A minor. The ebb and flow in the broad sweeps of the opening typified Romantic yearning.
Eloquent cello led the way in the slow movement. In the lilting scherzo-substitute that follows, Nicholson’s piano backing was a model of restraint. Yet in the finale, after the pause, he re-electrified the momentum for a dramatic finish.
Steve Crowther’s Morris Dances (2012) are a theme and 11 variations, originally for piano solo, dedicated to Philip Morris. In the last two years he has orchestrated six of them for clarinet trio.
They remain delightful cameos of friends and family but have here gained in colour. They always had a tendency to minimalism, but their emotional range is wide, from nervous energy and angry argument to hesitancy and nostalgia. The trio seemed to enjoy them as much as the audience.
Tait Baxter had tackled Shostakovich’s only cello sonata with a laser focus. Thrown straight into the fray by the frenetic opening, she yet found a proper moodiness for its second theme. There was wry humour to follow, another allegro that is essentially a literal ‘scherzo’ (joke). One had to marvel at the sotto voce ending to the slow movement.
She and Nicholson were alive, too, to the martial connotations of the finale’s scatty melody. Indeed he was a tower of strength throughout, never pushy, but always urging.
Amabile is a trio of experts brilliantly submerging their solo instincts to make much more than the sum of their parts.
Anna Dennis as Susanna with Yasmina Patel from Phoenix Dance Theatre in Opera North’s Susanna. Picture: Tristram Kenton
HANDEL’S Susanna, billed as oratorio, might have been an opera but the Bishop of London banned staged performances of biblical topics not long before it was premiered in 1749.
Winton Dean even called it “an opera of English village life, and a comic opera at that”. Few these days would agree with him, given its tale of thwarted would-be abusers accusing their prey of adultery.
The story comes from ancient Greek sources via the Book of Daniel, where it is known as Susanna and the Elders. It’s not a comfortable topic but Opera North has never shied away from difficult issues.
Here that included its fourth collaboration with Leeds-based Phoenix Dance Theatre, adding a choreographic element not immediately evident in the anonymous libretto. That would seem to play into the hands of Dean’s vision of a pastoral idyll. In fact, Olivia Fuchs’s production, with choreography by Marcus Jarrell Willis, could hardly have treated such a serious theme with greater reverence.
Zahra Mansouri’s gantry set and modern costumes in pastel shades kept the focus firmly on the drama, with Jake Wiltshire’s lighting a constant ally.
Anna Dennis inhabited the title role to her fingertips. Her glorious tone gave life and substance not merely to Susanna’s happy marriage but to her painful trials, so that we felt every ounce of her desperation when she was falsely accused.
‘Crystal streams’ was sinuously luxuriant, while defiance was tangible in her final aria, as the Elders had their comeuppance, one debagged, the other receiving a painful kick. It was a sensational performance, riveting throughout.
Although given much less to do, James Hall as her husband Joacim was noble in support, with stunningly clear coloratura to match. Both ornamented their da capos appealingly.
Claire Lees as the young prophet Daniel – a role originally allotted to a treble – overcame the handicap of a comically androgynous costume to deliver a shining denouement with her ‘Chastity’ aria.
Fuchs resisted the temptation to make the Elders figures of fun: tenor Colin Judson and bass Karl Huml were well contrasted in both stature and temperament, the one with oily refinement, the other more impatient for conquest. Matthew Brook was firmly reliable as Chelsias, Susanna’s father.
The chorus was as forceful as ever and made more relevant with smaller gestures that chimed with the dance.
Handel provided an original overture, unusually devoid of borrowings, and the orchestra under Johanna Soller, conducting from the harpsichord, gave it fresh, enthusiastic treatment, with cleanly muscular lines in its fugue.
This set the tone for the evening, as the players gave every indication of knowing exactly what was required for a ‘period’ sound, not something you can expect from an opera orchestra. It led gracefully into perhaps the work’s greatest chorus, ‘How long, O Lord’, with the Israelites moping about their oppression – which is otherwise almost completely irrelevant to the story.
This was the first occasion where the choreography helped, with the writhings of the nine dancers enlivening an otherwise static scenario. This proved a telling feature throughout, particularly effective when the dancers acted in consort, thus reflecting the lines of the music.
At the other extreme, modern dance movements sometimes jarred with the Baroque underlay. When solo dancers acted as alter ego to a character delivering an aria, it added emotional depth; when they attempted to share too closely in the lovers’ idyll, for example, by providing an extra ring of embrace, it was intrusive, an invasion of personal space in modern parlance.
However, the continued collaboration between the two companies has undoubtedly benefited both, not least in broadening the limitations of each art form. We do well to remember that dance was regularly a component of opera from earliest times. The two need each other.
Anthony Ciaramitaro as Rodolfo and Olivia Boen as Mimì in Opera North’s La Bohème. Picture: Richard H Smith
PHYLLIDA Lloyd’s career as an opera director began here in 1991 and she is still around, in spirit at least, through this Bohème, which was here revived by James Hurley.
Now into its fourth decade, it keeps popping up every five years or so and has lost none of its pulling power. Lloyd’s dramatic instincts, honed in straight theatre, have had a ripple effect on this company in the way its singers interact. So much so, that when a principal fails to fall into line, it becomes all the more noticeable.
The four principal roles were double-cast. In this matinee we had two American newcomers to Leeds in Anthony Ciaramitaro as Rodolfo and Olivia Boen as Mimì, backed by the familiar Elin Pritchard as Musetta and Yuriy Yurchuk repeating his Marcello from 2019.
The tone was set early by Ciaramitaro’s Rodolfo. He was distrait even before his encounter with Mimì, concerned with getting his focus right rather than portraying a character. There was never any doubting his resonance, impressively ringing throughout the range, in traditionally Italianate style if with a tendency to dally at cadences.
However, he was also largely nuance-free. ‘Che gelida manina’, always the touchstone of Rodolfo’s tenderness, is marked dolcissimo and piano. This one was neither. There was later evidence of his ability to tone it down: he simply chose not to use it here.
Conversely, Boen’s Mimì was a model of restraint, with a comely diffidence in ‘Sì, mi chiamano Mimì’; she reserved her strongest emotions for Act 3, but always phrased intelligently. It was really not her fault that there was so little chemistry between them.
Yuriy Yurchuk as Marcello, Seán Boylan as Schaunard, Jeremy Peaker as Benoît, Anthony Ciaramitaro as Rodolfo and Han Kim as Colline in Opera North’s La Bohème. Picture: Richard H Smith
Yurchuk was a tower of strength and reassurance as Marcello, with a serious side to his leadership of the Bohemians’ hi-jinks. Seán Boylan’s flexible baritone suited Schaunard while Han Kim’s sterner bass as Colline contrasted well.
Elin Pritchard was quite the bossy man-eater as Musetta, hogging the spotlight at the café, but relaxing into sensitivity at the death.
Jeremy Peaker repeated his redoubtable double act as a put-upon Benoît and a henpecked Alcindoro. Act 2, with its ever-swivelling banquette, was a rowdy affair, teetering on the verge of ill-discipline in Maxine Braham’s revival choreography but entertaining for all that; it was good to have the involvement of so many children (some of whom had briefly invaded Act 1).
Act 3 continued to benefit from the intermittent visibility of the nightclub, whose warm lighting (revived by Richard Moore) made the outside air all the chillier in Anthony Ward’s set.
Garry Walker was thoroughly attuned to Puccini’s specific demands – thrilling trumpets in Act 2, for example – even if his general approach was less romantic than is customary. His players remained steadfastly responsive.
