Eboracum Baroque: Not only here for the beer on Saturday
YORK ensemble Eboracum Baroque are teaming up with Calverley’s Brewery for a rowdy YouTube and Facebook concert on Saturday (20/3/2021) at 7pm.
“It’s called Purcell And A Pint and is a virtual 17th century pub gig with catches, folk tunes and broadside ballads with a bit of beer tasting in the interval too,” says director and trumpet player Chris Parsons.
“It should be good fun and we hope audiences will be able to sing along at home for some of the programme.”
Eboracum Baroque’s collaboration with the Cambridge brewers will transport Saturday’s audience back to the alehouses of 17th century England for a night of rowdy drinking songs, popular fiddle tunes and folk songs that would have been performed in taverns across the British Isles.
“Have your drinks at the ready and join us for a good sing-song,” says Chris. “We’re delighted to be joined by Calverley’s Brewery, who will present a beer-tasting interval, readying us for the pubs re-opening later this year.”
Among the highlights of the The Purcell And A Pint programme will be I Gave Her Cakes And Ale, Your Hay It Is Mow’d from King Arthur and The Jovial Broom Man and other classic folk tunes of the 17th Century.
“Henry Purcell (1659-1695)was notorious for liking a trip to the pub,” says Chris. “One story about Purcell’s death goes that he was late home from a rather heavy night and his wife locked him out and he succumbed to the cold.
“His bawdy catches and well-known broadside ballads would have been popular tunes to sing when having a pint. The raucous surroundings overflowed with music, alcohol, sex, gossip, fights, fumes, shouting, singing, laughing, dancing…our performance won’t have all of those!”
Eboracum Baroque’s poster for Saturday’s virtual concert
Taking part in Saturday’s concert alongside Chris will be baritone John Holland Avery; tenors Nils Greenhow and Gareth Edmunds; violinist Kirsty Main; recorder player Miriam Monaghan; cellist Miri Nohl and harpsichordist Seb Gillot, with audio and video editing by David Sims.
Looking ahead, Eboracum Baroque are to host Story Orchestra: Four Seasons In One Day, an online project for primary schools launched by the National Centre for Early Music, York, with funding from East Riding Music Hub.
“We’re really excited to be collaborating with the NCEM,” says Chris of a project that is suitable both for pupils who are in school or those learning from home.
This specially created work, based on the book The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons In One Day, illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle, revolves around a live-streamed performance broadcast from the NCEM’s home, at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, on Tuesday, March 23 at 2pm.
The performance will be available to download from ncem.co.uk and can be accessed to watch again until Friday, May 28, and it will be accompanied by a raft of resources and activities, such as arts, crafts, drawing and painting.
Purcell And A Pint will be premiered on youtube.com/eboracumbaroque and facebook.com/eboracumbaroque on March 20 from 7pm to 8.30pm. For online tickets, go to:http://eboracumbaroque.co.uk/event/purcell-and-a-pint/
Tickets for the March 23 livestream cost £15 for a standard ticket for the whole school, £10 for East Riding schools, and can be booked at: http://www.ncem.co.uk/story-orchestra-project/
Eboracum Baroque: Leading online story-telling and music project for primary schools
STORY Orchestra: Four Seasons In One Day, an online project for primary schools, will be launched by the National Centre for Early Music, York, next month.
Funded by East Riding Music Hub and presented by York ensemble Eboracum Baroque, led by director, conductor, trumpet player and teacher Chris Parsons, the project is suitable both for pupils who are in school or those learning from home.
This specially created work, based on the book The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons In One Day, illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle, includes a live-streamed performance broadcast from the NCEM’s home, at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, on Tuesday, March 23 at 2pm.
The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons In One Day performance will be available to download from ncem.co.uk and can be accessed to watch again until Friday, May 28, and it will be accompanied by a raft of resources and activities, such as arts, crafts, drawing and painting.
Through story-telling, Story Orchestra provides a light-hearted introduction to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. As the music unfolds, the story follows the adventures of a little girl and her dog as they travel through the four seasons and discover the beautiful sounds of Vivaldi’s 1723 composition.
This online project finds the NCEM continuing to be at the forefront of engaging digitally with schools and communities. During the past year, the NCEM has offered an extensive package of teaching resources to contribute to learning, health and wellbeing during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Director Delma Tomlin says: “We’re delighted to be bringing you this exciting project for primary schools that will now be available online from March 23. We had planned to take it to schools across the East Riding in the run-up to the 2021 Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival, but circumstances have compelled us to rethink.
“We’re looking forward to working with Eboracum Baroque, a young professional group of musicians who are experts in sharing their enthusiasm for music,” says NCEM director Delma Tomlin
“We’re very grateful to the East Riding Music Hub for their support in enabling us to share this magical project online with schools across the region. The music of Vivaldi tells a wonderful story of the seasons, from the shivering chills of winter through to the haze of the summer heat.
“We’re also looking forward to working with Eboracum Baroque, a young professional group of musicians who are experts in sharing their enthusiasm for music, encouraging children to discover their creativity.”
Emma Calvert, head of the East Riding Music Hub, adds: “The NCEM has responded to the need for children to have access to high-quality creative activities, whether at home or school, to support their wellbeing during the pandemic, and the East Riding Music Hub is thrilled to be partnering with the NCEM and Eboracum Baroque to bring you Four Seasons.
“With the added resources available to schools, it allows you to build an exciting programme of art and craft activities alongside the online performance, accessible to those learning in school or accessing remote learning from home.”
The NCEM will be launching additional resources for primary schools this spring:
* Songs On Safari with the Gesualdo Six and Eboracum Baroque;
*Palisander Project, a selection of videos from young recorder quartet Palisander, partners in the Young Composers Award 2021;
*Musical News, providing lesson plans, resources and other inspiration for teachers and pupils aged seven to 11.
Full details will be available soon. Tickets for the March 23 live-stream cost £15 for a standard ticket for the whole school, £10 for East Riding schools, and can be booked at: http://www.ncem.co.uk/story-orchestra-project/
Eboracum Baroque: Streamed concert on January 23 with Henry Purcell’s music to the fore
EBORACUM Baroque will return to the online platform on January 23 with Fairest Isle: Music from the 17th and 18th century England.
The 7pm streamed concert was recorded in October at King’s Ely, a school in Cambridgeshire, when the York ensemble was able to film with no Coronavirus lockdown in place.
Performing that autumn day were Elen Lloyd Roberts, soprano; Miriam Monaghan, recorder; Chris Parsons, trumpet; Miri Nohl, cello, and Laurence Lyndon Jones, harpsichord.
Founder Chris Parsons says: “We’re determined to keep going and provide support to young freelance musicians in these challenging times. We’re also very keen to continue to offer exciting new digital content for our audiences who we wish we could perform to in person.”
Looking forward to the January 23 stream, Chris says: “We’ll take the online audience back to 17th and 18th century England, featuring some of the great composers of the day, particularly Henry Purcell, who was held in such high regard at the time.
“The programme includes some of Purcell’s big hits from the London stage, productions that had never been seen in England until now – it must have been pretty amazing!
“Purcell’s stage works of the 1690s were huge spectacles with elaborate Italian stagecraft, and we’ve picked music from The Fairy Queen, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the patriotic King Arthur.”
What else? “Music and musicians from Europe flooded London at this time and Italianate music was very much in vogue,” says Chris. “So we’ll feature a virtuosic recorder concerto by Sammartini, who made his name in 18th century London, and a Vivaldi sonata, alongside British composers, including John Blow and an overture featuring the trumpet by William Croft.”
Summing up that period of music-making, Chris says: “One of Ely’s famous sons, Oliver Cromwell, played a major part in shutting the theatres and not allowing concerts earlier on in the 17th century, so it was an amazing melting pot of music-making in London when Charles II returned to the throne, and for composers like Purcell an amazing place and time to be writing such brilliant music.”’
Taking concerts online amid the strictures of the Covid-19 pandemic has been a fruitful new avenue for Parsons and his fellow musicians. “Our virtual winter season was a success, when we streamed A Baroque Christmas, recorded at Wimpole Church and Wimpole Hall in our second home of Cambridge, on December 12.
“We feel incredibly lucky to have filmed the Fairest Isle concert back in October while we were able to be together, and we have some virtual projects in the pipeline for 2021.
“These include a 17th century pub concert – with beer tasting from a local brewer – coming up in February, which we hope will be an exciting online experience for our audience too.
“We’ll be embracing technology again for that one, recording parts individually and then sticking them all together. All being well, we also hope to film a concert in York in March but it’s hard to plan for the future.”
The Fairest Isle concert will be premiered on youtube.com/eboracumbaroque and at facebook.com/eboracumbaroque. “We’re very keen to make our concerts accessible to all, so whether you are new to baroque music or a regular watcher of early music, we hope there is something for everyone,” says Chris.
“We introduce each piece with a background of the composer and the history of the piece to set the scene.
“So, on January 23, we invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy this varied and energetic programme from the comfort of your own home.”
The programme for Fairest Isle: Music from the 17th and 18th century England:
Hark The Echoing Air from The Fairy Queen, Henry Purcell (1659 -1695);
Recorder Concerto in F Major, Sammartini (1700 – 1775);
I Allegro, II Siciliano, III Allegro Assai;
Sweeter Than Roses from Pausanias, The Betrayer Of His Country, Henry Purcell; Overture from With Noise Of Cannon, William Croft (1678 – 1727);
I Moderato, II Allegro, III Adagio, IV Allegro;
Music For A While from Oedipus, Henry Purcell;
Cello Sonata in Bb Major, Antonio Vivaldi;
I Largo, II Allegro, III Largo, IV Allegro;
Lovely Selina from The Princess Of Cleve, John Blow (1649 – 1708);
Two movements from The Division Flute, Anon;
I, Readings Ground, II, A Division On A Ground;
Fairest Isle from King Arthur, Henry Purcell.
Did you know?
EBORACUM Baroque is an ensemble of young professional singers and instrumentalists, formed in 2012 by Chris Parsons at the University of York and the Royal College of Music, London.
Eboracum Baroque musicians and singers, pictured when performing at Stamford Georgian Festival
EBORACUM Baroque present A Baroque Christmas, a festive online concert, at 7pm on Saturday (12/12/2020).
Filmed at Wimpole Church and Wimpole Hall in the York singers and instrumentalists’ second home of Cambridge, the programme comprises arias from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Magnificat, a trumpet concerto by Torelli and Winter from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons among other works from across 17th and 18th century Europe.
“Usually, Eboracum Baroque would give festive performances at both Wimpole Hall and Wimpole Church, but with performance restrictions during the pandemic, this concert was filmed back in October,” says Chris Parsons, who formed the group in 2012 at the University of York and the Royal College of Music, London.
“We hope this concert offers some festive cheer for those missing live music-making in these uncertain times, and we’re delighted to be joined by York Gin, who will provide virtual drinks in our unique interval with a festive flavour.”
Chris adds: “Eboracum Baroque are committed to supporting young freelance musicians through these challenging times. On this occasion, we performed with the kind permission from St Andrew’s Church, Wimpole, and the National Trust.”
The ensemble of professional young musicians performs music from across the Renaissance and Baroque periods, with a particular specialism in English music from the 17th and 18th century. In York, performances are given regularly at York Mansion House.
Saturday’s online concert will be premiered on youtube.com/eboracumbaroque and facebook.com/eboracumbaroque.
The 25 Eboracum Baroque musicians and singers who will perform the Heroic Handel virtual concert
EBORACUM Baroque will present Heroic Handel in a fundraising virtual concert for the York ensemble on July 18.
This 7pm programme of Handel’s music has been recorded and filmed in isolation during lockdown to be premiered on youtube.com/eboracumbaroque and facebook.com/eboracum.baroque.
The concert will feature virtuosic Handel operatic arias from Rinaldo and Giulio Cesare, characterful instrumental music and the concluding magnificent Coronation anthem, Zadok The Priest.
“This is a chance to hear talented young musicians performing Handel’s dazzling music for singers and a full period instrument orchestra,” says founder, director and trumpet player Chris Parsons, a University of York graduate.
Twenty-five Eboracum Baroque musicians have each recorded their individual parts separately from across Britain and Europe before being assembled remotely for this unique performance.
“This is a chance to support young professional musicians in these uncertain times and secure the financial future of Eboracum Baroque, so that we can continue to offer high quality, engaging musical experiences including concerts, recordings and education workshops,” says Chris.
Across lockdown, the ensemble has given a series of virtual concerts featuring repertoire for solo instrumentalists and singers, as well as a Spotlight series focusing on different instruments from the ensemble.
“For Heroic Handel, we’re delighted to be joined by our good friends, York Gin, who will present a segment of the concert all about the gin craze of the 18th century – and some cocktail making too,” says Chris. “Dress up as if you were going to watch the concert live, grab a drink of your choosing and enjoy Handel’s glorious music from the comfort of your own home.”
Eboracum Baroque players perform Vivaldi at York Mansion House
Here Eboracum Baroque trumpet player and director Chris Parsons answers Charles Hutchinson’s questions on remote concerts in lockdown, climaxing with Heroic Handel.
How did the project start?
“Eboracum have been working on virtual projects all through lockdown with our themed virtual concerts and Spotlight concerts, which feature different instruments from the ensemble.
“These were either performed via Zoom live or pre-recorded. They all featured just solo repertoire – and sometimes the performers duetting with themselves with the help of technology.
“But we were really keen to do something a bit bigger and utilise all the great musicians in the ensemble, so our project Heroic Handel was born, featuring 25 musicians all coming together to perform lots of music from opera arias, chamber music and right through to Zadok The Priest for full orchestra and choir.
“The great thing is that it’s been such a fantastic collaborative project between all of the musicians, who have all been so positive and supportive. We’re really keen to keep music going and we’re hoping this will do that.”
Eboracum Baroque’s poster for the Heroic Handel concert
How do you put together a virtual concert recording?
“It’s quite different to a usual concert! The main thing is keeping everyone together, with everyone sending their recordings in separately from wherever they are – mostly all across the UK but some in Serbia and Spain!
“The main thing is a click track and a pair of headphones. I choose the tempo of the piece – Handel wouldn’t have known what a metronome was! – and that is then sent in the form of a click track and the players and singers have to stay exactly in time, so that it can be stuck together using software.
“It’s quite a strange process recording your part all by yourself and not bouncing off the other players/singers. We actually had the cello and harpsichord record their parts first and then people could have some instruments to play along to, along with the click track.
“Quite a new experience for many of us, but one we’ve embraced it if it means we can get to perform together.”
What does the editing require?
“David Sims, another music graduate from the University of York, is the tech whizz who puts it all together. As he put it, his job is ‘sticking it all together and making sure that if people have recorded in their bathroom/garage/box room, he can make it sound like everyone is actually in the same place’!”
As director, how have you selected the programme for the themed concerts and what have been the themes so far?
“Again, quite a collaborative experience with all the musicians involved. As we were all performing completely solo, it was important to choose the right repertoire – and the right instruments.
“As a trumpeter, there’s not really much music that works completely by itself, so I didn’t have too much to play, but there’s lots of solo music for cello, violin, oboe and recorder that worked really well.
“We also had some folk songs sung by John Holland Avery, which worked really nicely unaccompanied.
“The themes have been everything from Baroque Dance music (including teaching the audience how to dance a minuet in their own home); Bach’s Leipzig Coffee House concerts and an Italian theme again with audience participation, teaching an 18th century Venetian gondolier song!”
Eboracum Baroque musicians at Stamford Georgian Festival
How have the Spotlight concerts gone?
“They’ve been great to really show up close our baroque instruments. We’ve done ones for recorder, strings, oboe and trumpet. For the trumpet one, we used technology to combine myself and another trumpeter, so we could do some more repertoire.”
What has been the reaction to the concerts in this union of the baroque and 21st century technology?
“Really positive. I think audiences are so keen to hear music and enjoy seeing the innovation so many ensembles have come up with during this strange time. We’ve found people really enjoy – particularly during March/April time – the Friday lunchtime concert time as something to look forward to in the week.
“It’s allowed us to explore repertoire we might not have done, which is a good thing, I think, to introduce audiences to new pieces as well.”
Heroic Handel is the biggest concert yet. How much planning has it taken and how have you put the programme together?
“Yes, it’s been quite a process bringing everything together, but an exciting one! We began planning this at the start of May, so it’s been a great way to keep musicians busy.
“The main thing has been making sure we get all the tech side of things ready so that everyone knows how to do it. Again, it was quite a collaborative process.
“The great thing about Eboracum is that we’re a very flexible ensemble: one gig might be three musicians and another might be 20 musicians!
“So, I hope this concert will showcase everything Eboracum does. There are pieces in this concert with three players (the Recorder Sonata) and Zadok The Priest has all 25 players playing in it.”
What do you love most about Handel’s music?
“His music has everything! It can be so dramatic – all the grandeur with trumpets and timpani – but also so beautiful and expressive. He can just write a great tune and knows how to make it work for every situation.
“The opera arias you will hear in this concert are pieces that people in England would have heard nothing like till then and I’m sure they must have been blown away by it. He knew how to write for a big occasion too: Zadok The Priest just builds the tension before the glorious entry of the choir and the trumpets – a perfect piece for the coronation of a king.”
Eboracum Baroque chamber musicians at Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire
What’s coming next for Eboracum Baroque?
“This concert is really the culmination of our work in lockdown. We’ll then probably have a bit of breather for the rest of July and most of August as we work on what comes next for us.
“It’s such an uncertain time but we’re hoping we can begin to work together in the same place – probably in a church without an audience – where we can record concerts and then live-stream them.
“Particularly, we want to plan towards Christmas, which is really the time of year that will be decisive financially in how the ensemble proceeds into 2021.”
What are you missing most in lockdown musically?
“Being together in the same room. Can’t wait till we can logistically get back to playing together. Eboracum members are more than just colleagues, we’re all good friends, so we’re missing the social side too.”
How will you feel when Eboracum Baroque can perform together again cheek by jowl?
“It’ll be an amazing feeling, I’m certain of it, probably quite an odd one too, playing with people in the same room again, but it’ll be fantastic, I’m sure of it!
“It will no doubt be a slightly different set-up for a while – including any required distancing – but I think it will really boost morale as well.”
How do you foresee the future for freelance musicians in these desperate times?
“It’s such an uncertain time. I’m ever the optimist that, in time, music will come storming back. The arts will be required even more than ever and having seen all the innovation during this lockdown period, I’m absolutely certain that this creativity will continue – creating new ways to watch concerts, new set-ups for audiences etc.
“For freelancers like myself and many of the Eboracum team, we just hope that venues are given the go-ahead to open and begin to programme concerts again in whatever form is possible.
“It will be a long, hard slog but I know musicians are never tiring and we’ll fight to bring this amazing industry back to happier times.”
Have you discovered anything to the good in lockdown?
“During lockdown my wife and I had our first baby, a baby girl born at the start of April. So, we’ve been kept busy! A silver lining from it all is that I’ve been at home throughout and have been able to spend so much time with our new addition and to help my wife too, so that’s been great but we’re looking forward to slowly having more people around!
“Also, I’ve enjoyed a slightly slower pace of life – even with a new-born – and I think when things do eventually get back to normal, I’d like to try and keep a bit of that…”
Eboracum Baroque director Chris Parsons
THE July 18 concert comprises: Handel’s March from Rinaldo; O The Pleasure Of The Plains from Acis And Galatea; Sibilar Gli Annui d’Aletto from Rinaldo, featuring baritone John Holland Avery; Sonata in B minor, Opus 2 No 1: Andante and Allegro; V’adoro, Pupille from Giulio Cesare, featuring soprano Charlotte Bowden; Recorder Sonata in F major, and Zadok The Priest: Coronation Anthem for George II.
The Eboracum Baroque singers and musicians performing Heroic Handel are:
Eboracum Baroque performing Handel’s Messiah at Senate House, Cambridge
Who areEboracum Baroque?
THIS group of professional singers and classical instrumentalists was formed in 2012 by Chris Parsons at the University of York and the Royal College of Music and has performed across the Britain and Europe, from Senate House, Cambridge, to The Temple Church, London, and Christuskirche, Hannover.
As well as their concert performances, Eboracum Baroque have given fully staged performances of Purcell’s Dido And Aeneas and Handel’s Acis And Galatea.
Performing music from across the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the ensemble has a particular specialism in English music from the 17th and 18th Century.
In January 2015, Eboracum Baroque recorded their first album, funded by the National Trust and Arts Council England, comprising forgotten music by the English Baroque composer Thomas Tudway (1650-1726), recorded at Wimpole Hall, near Cambridge, where Tudway worked from 1714 to 1726.
The ensemble seeks to champion forgotten English composers from the period while still performing many famous works. Their second CD, Sounds Of Suffolk, released in November 2018, features forgotten music from 18th century Suffolk, such as violin sonatas by Joseph Gibbs and music from Ickworth House.
Eboracum Baroque perform at National Trust properties, such as Wimpole Hall, Oxburgh Hall and Canons Ashby, presenting programmes unique to each property’s history.
In December 2015, the group undertook its first major tour abroad with performances of Handel’s Messiah in Münster and Hannover in Germany. A December 2017 tour of Estonia took in concerts of Bach’s Magnificat and Vivaldi’s Magnificat in Tartu and Tallinn, the second being broadcast on Estonian National Radio.
Eboracum Ensemble run an education programme with schools across Britain, such as projects based around Handel’s Water Music and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
They continue to work with Horrible Histories author Terry Deary on projects where they hope to introduce the next generation of musicians to Baroque music. Performances with Terry have included a new narration of Purcell’s King Arthur and The Fairy Queen and The Glorious Georgians, a show at the Edinburgh Fringe.
They have devised The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons In One Day, an educational project designed around Vivaldi’s Four Seasons that has toured many schools, working with festivals and music hubs, such as the Edinburgh Book Festival and the National Centre for Early Music in York.
Eboracum Baroque give concerts regularly in their home city of York at York Mansion House, as well as frequent performances in their “second home” in Cambridge, not least of Handel’s Messiah for the past seven years to a sold-out audience of 600 each time.
