Cantoria exploring festive music of the Baroque from four different perspectivesat St Lawrence’s Church, York. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
THE most striking feature of music in the Spanish Baroque is the similarity between the sacred and the secular: what works in church is fine outside it, and vice versa. There are few dividing lines. Even more startling, it is all filled with an irrepressible joie de vivre (or as the Spanish might prefer, alegría de vivir). All very un-Anglo-Saxon.
Cantoría’s eight singers and six players, conducted by the tenor Jorge Losana, explored festive music of the Baroque from four different perspectives.
Nowadays the term ‘villancico’ is often used to describe Christmas carols, especially strict ones that use verses (coplas) and refrains (estribillos). But it was originally secular and a cappella. By mid-17th century, many had acquired instrumental accompaniment.
Cantoria performing July 8’s A La Fiesta! programme at York Early Music Festival. Picture: Charlie Kirkpatrick
Thus we had Gitanillas cortesanas by José de Torres, gypsy girls dancing to the star of Jacob, in a style very similar to an English verse anthem, but much more balletic.
‘Between Heaven And Earth’ brought us españoletas, more reflective dance-songs of the late 16th century that remained popular throughout the 17th. Oddly enough, the Catalonian monk Joan Cererols contributed several in the vernacular, including a gently swinging eight-voice Suspended Cielos (Suspend, O Heavens) with effective pizzicato backing.
On an earthier level were the jácaras, romances that related the adventures of low-life characters and were therefore much more dramatic, often as intermezzos between acts of an opera. Here we seemed to be at the very heart of Spanish Baroque style. A jacarilla by Sebastián Durón, beautifully inflected by a soprano soloist, even brought the Christ-child into its catchy rhythms.
Cantoria singers and musicians at the In Tune studio
An extended fusion of the rowdier jácara with the Andalusian fandango was delivered by a charismatic baritone over choral backing. It proved the perfect transition into the fandango itself, here distilled instrumentally in one by Santiago de Murcia.
As if in remorse, Cantoría briefly moved back into a sacred lullaby, before a highly theatrical, not to say witty, finale involving bells of different sizes and, by implication, superiority.
It was left to an encore for us to hear castanets. But this was a wonderfully enjoyable, thoroughly professional survey of repertory we need to hear much more in this country. Maybe Cantoria might even consider staging a zarzuela, whose roots lie in the Baroque. Here’s hoping.
Cantoria’s concert was recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on July 20 and still can be accessed via BBC Sounds. Strongly recommended.
Ensemble Bastion
York Early Music Festival, Ensemble Bastion/Ayres Extemporae, National Centre for Early Music, July 10 and 11
TWO prize-winning ensembles from the International Young Artists Competition at last year’s festival returned this year as fully fledged participants. Both more than justified their new status in lunchtime recitals.
Graduates of the Schola Cantorum in Basel, the four members of Ensemble Bastion are led by the recorder player Maruša Brezavšček, with her three equally lively colleagues on viol, theorbo and harpsichord.
In a programme entitled Phantasma: Visions of Heaven and Hell, the group explored the stylus phantasticus, which had its roots in the freewheeling keyboard fantasias of the Venetian performer-composer Claudio Merulo.
Frescobaldi picked up the style and it was transmitted to Germany by his pupil Johann Froberger, whose harpsichord Tombeau on the death of a French lutenist was fluently played by Mélanie Flores.
Biber used it, too, in the passacaglia at the end of his Mystery (or Rosary) Sonatas, which was imaginatively arranged here, growing in intensity.
These German pieces were the programme’s centrepiece. On either side we heard works by slightly earlier Italians. Two sonatas by Dario Castello, another Venetian, proved that he had Merulo’s style very much in his blood, with plentiful imitations and volatile changes of tempo.
More surprising was an adaptation of a Palestrina madrigal lamenting the wounds of love and thus veering between heaven and hell.
Similarly there was virtuoso viola da gamba from Martin Jantzen in a sonata by Bovicelli and equally deft finger-work from Elias Conrad’s theorbo in a vivid sonata by Maurizio Cazzati.
Ayres Extemporae
Finally, Brezavšček’s ubiquitous dexterity was nowhere better than in Monteverdi’s cheery Moresca from L’Orfeo, in which she switched seamlessly between alto and piccolo recorders. I hope this ensemble will return soon.
Ayres Extemporae is a string trio with a rare five-string piccolo cello where you would expect a viola to be. The ensemble took as its title ‘Erbarme dich!’ (Have mercy!), the opening words of several arias by Bach, but in this case of an aria from Cantata 55 for tenor, with piccolo tenor taking the voice part, as also in another one from Cantata 97.
In the hands of Victor García García, the instrument’s plaintive tone was well calculated to emulate the voice’s prayerful pleas and eventual serenity.
The programme opened with a suite by Matthew Locke, where the dances had an improvised feel and were much illuminated by the delicate filigrees of Xenia Gogu Mensenin’s violin. Two violin sonatas by Biber contained sets of variations that the group differentiated carefully.
Teresa Madeira’s cello came into its own in movements from Bach’s three sonatas for viola da gamba. In the Andante from No 2, pizzicato interludes offered moments of meditation. In the Adagio of No 3, the piccolo cello played gamba and provided quietude amid the restive atmosphere of the arias mentioned earlier.
Finally, we enjoyed the complete No 1, where the trio developed powerful momentum while maintaining admirable clarity. This is a thoughtful group whose future looks assured.
BOTH these concerts were supported by the John Feldberg Foundation, set up in memory of the violinist and harpsichord builder, who died aged 30 in 1960, to showcase the achievements of young musicians.
Sollazzo artistic director and vielle player Anna Danilevskaia
IT is almost ten years since I heard this stand-out ensemble – as winners of the prestigious York Early Music International Young Artists Competition in 2015 and then again in 2016 – and I was really looking forward to hearing them again.
Under the stewardship of artistic director and vielle player Anna Danilevskaia, Sollazzo has continued to explore and share a rich vein of Medieval and early Renaissance music. This evening, it was the music of the 14th-century composer Francesco Landini.
The concert opened with an instantly engaging Kyrie Rondello (Anonymous) featuring the whole ensemble, an ensemble that clearly enjoyed each other’s company. Crisp instrumental exchanges – Natalie Carducci and Anna Danilevskaia’s vielle, Christoph Sommer’s lute and Roger Helou’s organetto – were complemented by an evolving harmonic cloud of individual melodies created by singers Carine Tinney (soprano) and the two tenors, Jonatan Alvarado and Lior Leibovici. Quite wonderful.
This was followed by Landini’s instrumental ballata, Somma Felicita, Ms Danilevskaia and Roger Helou clearly relishing their melodic exchanges.
I thought I heard the ‘Landini cadence’ calling card, but the performance of O Piñata Vagha completely knocked me off kilter. Goodness me, this was sublime. The seamless interplay between soprano Carine Tinney, Mr Helou and Anna Danilevskaia had a medieval ring of authenticity.
The modal nature of the melodic lines and the beautifully integrated ornamentation by Ms Tinney gave the performance a transcendental magic. OK, I admit it, I was hooked. And from that moment on, I simply couldn’t take my ears off Carine Tinney.
That said, it was the clean, vibrato-free singing of tenor Jonatan Alvarado that drew the ear in Landini’s Questa Fanciulla. The agile precision of his singing blended seamlessly with soprano Ms Tinney, creating crystal-clear melodic lines within the polyphonic texture. This was reinforced by the delicate interplay of the accompanying vielle, lute and organetto.
The second section of the concert programmed four instrumental works by Landini. All magnetically engaging and a real joy. The standout, however, was the luminous quality and artistry of Roger Helou’s organetto playing. Even his retuning of the organetto – with vocalise support – proved to be a rewarding listen. Not that Mr Helou’s performance was superior, obviously, but that the impression was so haunting and familiar. To my ears, it sounded (almost) exactly like a recorder.
The closing work in this grouping was a beautiful interpretation of Niccolò da Perugia’s 14th-century ballata, Il Megli è Pur Tacere. Here, heavenly matters were put aside in favour of earthly matters of unrequited love. Although the words express the emotional burden of keeping silent in the face of pain, love, or truth, the performance itself brimmed with a rustic vitality.
The closing grouping opened with Giovanni da Firenze’s Quand Amor, a madrigal expressing fragility and introspection. The performance embraced the melancholic, contemplative mood, and the performance by Carine Tinney – glissandos bleeding into adjacent notes, achingly beautiful ornamentation – once again stood out.
The concert concluded with a touching and always engaging performance of Francesco Landini’s hymn to virtue, Perche Virtù: “Since virtue does make humans steady and strong/Run towards virtue, if you want to escape death”. Well, who could disagree with that?
Sollazzo’s use of period-appropriate tuning and musically transparent textures absolutely enhances historical authenticity, but it’s the seamless blending of voices with period instruments that truly sets them apart.
Finally, I knew Francesco Landini was celebrated as a singer and poet; that he was a virtuoso organetto (portable organ) player and that he was blind from early childhood (smallpox) – earning him the nickname “Magister Franciscus Caecus” (Master Francesco the Blind). I just didn’t know how truly remarkable a composer he was.
Fretwork: Marking 400th anniversary of Orlando Gibbons’s death
THIS year’s festival raced off the starting line in top gear with the six viols of Fretwork and mezzo soprano Helen Charlston. They focused entirely on the secular music of Orlando Gibbons, the 400th anniversary of whose untimely death at the age of 41 is being commemorated this year.
Gibbons is much better known these days for his sacred music, which is very much part of the backbone of cathedral repertory. His secular output is largely based on vocal techniques. The truth of this was underlined here by a single voice and viols doing duty for five unaccompanied voices in his madrigals – in accordance with the composer’s assertion on his title page in 1612, “apt for viols and voyces”.
Helen Charlston’s mezzo is so firmly centred that she is able to extend its resonance smoothly to either end of her range; there are no gear-changes. Furthermore, her diction is excellent. On this occasion, for my money, she was standing slightly behind the ‘sweet spot’ for voices in this arena and thus the consort was too far back as well. But the audience would not have guessed this from their close co-operation.
Melancholy was the dominant theme in much of the poetry set, no more so than in Sir Walter Raleigh’s What Is Our Life? Charlston spelt out the emotional force here, as in the lament by an anonymous writer Ne’er Let The Sunne, where lower viols provided eloquently darker colour. The counterpoint in each of these songs was sumptuous and all the clearer for its presentation in this rarer format.
Helen Charlston: “Mezzo so firmly centred that she is able to extend its resonance smoothly to either end of her range”. Picture: Julien Gazeau
Early music is making a point of getting living composers involved these days, with Nico Muhly filling the bill at this festival. His setting of words from Psalm 39, sandwiching the autopsy report of Orlando Gibbons, is more satisfying than that may sound. He describes it as a “ritualised memory piece” about Gibbons, writing it for five viols and four male voices.
The version here, however, was an authorised arrangement by Fretwork’s own Richard Boothby for mezzo soprano solo along with the viols. This makes sense not only as being more easy to perform, but also because Muhly’s setting owes a good deal to Gibbons’s own verse anthem to the same psalm, Behold, Thou Hast Made My Days As It Were A Span Long. Several later composers used the words “Lord, let me know mine end”, also from Psalm 39.
At its centre, we learn of Gibbons’s convulsions, where the viols are hesitant, fragmented and stuttering. But its climax lay at “Hear my prayer, O Lord”, with the voice pleading repeatedly against sparse accompaniment.
Earlier we had heard the top three viols alone, and then all five punctuating the voice, often quite rhythmically. Muhly uses ornamentation, rather than out-and-out counterpoint to highlight the text, and eventually repeats the opening words in his postlude. While its aura is more Jacobean than modern, it is still a touching evocation of a great talent.
The most fulfilling of the purely viol pieces in the programme was Go From My Window, a set of variations that pits the two bass viols virtually in competition with one another. Equally exciting was the vivid Pavan and galliard in six parts, while two of Gibbons’s three five-part In Nomines underlined the fertility of his imagination. Fretwork is a tautly interlinked ensemble that breathes as one – exactly what this repertory demands.
Pablo Zapico: “Showed how Spain and Italy first took the guitar seriously”
Pablo Zapico, National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, July 5
THERE are times, usually when listening to early music, when you have the feeling of drinking at the very fountainhead of a musical type. One such rarity came with the appearance of Pablo Zapico and his Baroque guitar.
He showed us how Spain and Italy first took the guitar seriously, with a sweeping survey of 17th century composers, notably Gaspar Sanz and Santiago de Murcia in Spain and Francesco Corbetta leading the Italian pack.
The origins of the guitar lie in the vihuela de mano, a waisted, plucked-string instrument, known in Italy as the viola de mano. Both were tuned exactly like a lute. Their heyday was the 16th century, but by the start of the 17th they had been superseded by the five-course Spanish guitar on display here, with a simplified form of notation.
The most remarkable feature of its predominant style was the strumming effect used alongside pure melody. In the hands of an expert like Zapico this can sound like two instruments being played at once, whereas he can switch between the two in the flash of an eye.
In five whimsical Preludios we sampled the improvisational possibilities with this instrument, often quite chromatic and all the time infused with headstrong Mediterranean temperament. In similar style, we had a volatile Jacaras by Sanz with high and low contrasts that sounded as if right out of the flamenco tradition.
In La Jotta, by de Murcia, based on a Baroque dance, there was a dominant tune heavily syncopated. The best was kept till last. In Sanz’s Canarios, based on a style originating in the Canaries, there were cross-rhythms galore, delivered with extreme rapidity. It was utterly breathtaking.
Zapico is a master of his craft.
The Tallis Scholars: “Intimacy that larger groups struggle to emulate”
The Tallis Scholars, York Minster, July 5
WITH Spanish music assuming some importance at this year’s festival, it was appropriate that Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars began and ended their Glorious Creatures event with Sebastián de Vivanco, who was an almost exact contemporary of Victoria and was born, like him, in Avila.
In between, they focused on Renaissance music about the beauties of nature, with a couple of sidetracks into the newer world of Nico Muhly.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this ensemble is its small size, here a mere ten voices. This enables an intimacy that larger groups struggle to emulate. It also puts a premium on the contribution of individual singers, especially the four sopranos, who are double the number of each of the lower parts.
Before the interval, the soprano contribution was typically clean but also a touch too heavy for an ideal blend. After the interval, however, there was a change and the top line became more relaxed and less anxious.
Vivanco’s setting of Sicut Lilium (‘Like the Lily’) from the Song of Songs was positively luscious, bordering on the erotic, whereas in Palestrina’s version of the same text, written a generation earlier and given here by an octet, textures were sparer and more delicately fragrant. Both were marvels of their kind.
At the centre of the programme was Lassus’s Missa Vinum Bonum, preceded by its eponymous motet, which leans so heavily on the fruit of the vine that it dabbles with giddiness (no fault of the choir).
The text quickly falls back on the wedding at Cana, where Christ changed water into wine, as justification for a good drink or two.
The mass itself makes copious use of the motet’s music, so it too is infused with jolliness. Ofcourse Lassus quickly inserts a penitent ‘Christe’ into the Kyrie – at least it was here – but there was plenty of syncopation in the Gloria, deftly handled, and after a vivid Resurrection the Credo accelerated dizzily towards its Amen.
Some of that spirit percolated into a crazy Hosanna In Excelsis. Naturally there was a modicum of remorse in the Agnus Dei, but it was about as terse as could be imagined. The liturgy has rarely been so earthy.
On either side of Lassus we had music of Muhly. There was something appropriate about his Marrow (2017), which sets the first eight verses of Psalm 63. Preceding the “marrow and fatness” we had “in a barren and dry land where no water is”, evocative of the present drought. Sure enough, Muhly conjures a heat-haze here.
His A Glorious Creature (2023) similarly sets musings on the sun by Thomas Traherne. Using all ten voices individually, Muhly makes expansive use of ‘the sun’, reflecting its extent and influence.
Thinning down its centre for grains of dust and sand, he then broadens out with Traherne’s linking of the sun with the soul. Here the choir revelled in the immense impact of the text, melding superbly.
Later we enjoyed settings of Descendi In Hortum Meum (I Went Down Into My Garden) by De Rore, Dunstable and Palestrina. The earliest, and the most telling here, was the Dunstable, which with the solo voices of alto Caroline Trevor and the tenors Steven Harrold and Tom Castle was an oasis of tender intimacy.
There remained a magnificent Magnificat Octavi Toni by Vivanco, made all the more spiritual by its plainsong interjections. But Spanish vitalidad kept bursting through. We were brought back down to our knees by the encore, Purcell’s incomparable Hear My Prayer.
Reviews by Martin Dreyer
York Early Music Festival continues until July 11. For full details and tickets, go to: ncem.co.uk.
Reviews by Martin Dreyer
York Early Music Festival continues until July 11. For full details and tickets, go to: ncem.co.uk.
Laura García Alfaya , Consul General in Manchester, left; José María Robles Fraga, Minister-Counsellor for Cultural and Scientific Affairs, Embassy of Spain in London; Dr Delma Tomlin, director York Early Music Festival; Eva Ortega Paíno, Ministerio de Ciencia innovacíon y unversidades; baroque guitarist Pablo Zapico and Pedro Jesus Eusebio Cuesta, director of Instituto Cervantes Manchester and Leedsat the National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, on July 4
YORK Early Music Festival 2025 has welcomed dignitaries and delegates from Spain with a celebration of Spanish music and culture.
On July 4, more than 70 representatives from the Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK headed to the festival’s administrative base, the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM), for a concert presented by the acclaimed Spanish guitarist Pablo Zapico.
In attendance were the Spanish dignitaries Jose Maria Robles Fraga, Minister-Counsellor for Cultural and Scientific Affairs at the Embassy of Spain in London; Laura Garcia Alfaya, Consul General of Spain in Manchester; Pedro Jesus Eusebio Cuesta, director of Instituto Cervantes Manchester & Leeds, and Eva Ortega Paíno, General Secretary for Research at the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities in Spain.
Earlier this year, the NCEM and the Instituto Cervantes signed an agreement marking their ongoing commitment to the promotion of Hispanic culture in the UK and to continue their successful relationship.
Highlights of the summer festival included the 18-strong Spanish vocal/instrumental ensemble Cantoria at St Lawrence Church on July 8, supported by the Embassy of Spain in London and Acción Cultural Española.
This sold-out concert, directed by Jorge Losana under the title of A La Fiesta!, was recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and will be shared on the Early Music Show on Sunday, July 20.
Spanish delegates and family with festival director Delma Tomlin, front left, and Spanish guitarist Pablo Zapico at the National Centre for Early Music, York
Richard Hawley: Playing Coles Corner with strings attached at Futuresound Group’s Live At York Museum Gardens concert on Saturday. Picture: Dean Chalkley
AS the outdoor concert season awakens, a festival goes to heaven and hell and Jane Austen has unfinished business in Charles Hutchinson’s list for the upcoming week.
Open-air concerts of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Elbow, tomorrow; Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Friday; Richard Hawley, Saturday; gates open at 5pm
LEEDS promoters Futuresound Group’s second summer of outdoor concerts in York begins with Bury band Elbow’s sold-out show tomorrow, when Ripon singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution support.
New York guitarist, songwriter and producer Nile Rodgers and CHIC revel in Good Times, Le Freak, Everybody Dance and I Want Your Love on Friday, supported by Maryland soul singer Jalen Ngonda and Durand Bernarr. Sheffield guitarist and crooner Richard Hawley revisits his 1995 album Coles Corner with a string section on its 20th anniversary on Saturday, preceded by Leeds band English Teacher and Manchester-based American songwriter BC Camplight, introducing his new album, A Sober Conversation. Box office: seetickets.com.
Bridget Christie: Late replacement for Maisie Adam at York Comedy Festival on Sunday. Picture: Natasha Pszenicki
Comedy bill of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, York Comedy Festival, Sunday, 2.30pm to 7.30pm
HARROGATE comedian Maisie Adam will not be playing the inaugural York Comedy Festival this weekend after all. The reason: “Unforeseen circumstances”. Into her slot steps trailblazing Bridget Christie, Gloucester-born subversive stand-up, Taskmaster participant and writer and star of Channel 4 comedy-drama The Change.
More than 90 per cent of tickets have sold for the Sunday fun-day bill topped by Dara Ó Briain and Katherine Ryan. Angelos Epithemiou, Joel Dommett, Vittorio Angelone, Clinton Baptiste and Scott Bennett feature too, hosted by “the fabulous” Stephen Bailey. Tickets are on sale at york-comedy-festival.com.
The Sixteen: Performing Angel Of Peace programme at York Minster on July 7 at York Early Music Festival
Festival of the week: York Early Music Festival, Heaven & Hell, Friday to July 11
EIGHT days of classical music add up to 19 concerts featuring international artists such as The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, Academy of Ancient Music, viol consort Fretwork & Helen Charlston and the York debut of Le Consort, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons “but not quite as you know it”.
Directed by Delma Tomlin, the festival weaves together three main strands: the 400th anniversary of Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, the Baroque music of Vivaldi and Bach and reflections on Man’s fall from grace, from Heaven to Hell. Full programme and tickets at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf/. Box office: 01904 658338.
Belle Voix Trio: Nostalgic night of Motown and Northern Soul at Kirk Theatre, Pickering, on Friday
Tribute show of the week: Belle Voix Trio, A Night Of Motown & Northern Soul, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm
BELLE Voix Trio bring 30 Motown and Northern Soul hits to the Pickering dancefloor, from Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) to Tainted Love, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough to The Night. Sandy Smith, Sophie Mairi and Briony Gunn’s singing credits include London’s West End, cruise liners and luxury hotels. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.
The Script: Making third appearance at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday
Coastal gig of the week: The Script and Tom Walker, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday; gates open at 6pm
THE Script head to the Yorkshire coast this weekend as part of the Irish rock-pop act’s Satellites UK tour, completing their hat-trick of Scarborough Open Air Theatre visits after appearances in 2018 and 2022.
Danny O’Donoghue (vocals), Glen Power (drums), Ben Sargeant (bass) and Ben Weaver (guitar) have six number one albums to their name. Special guest Tom Walker, the Scottish singer-songwriter, performs songs from 2019 chart topper What A Time To Be Alive and 2024’s I Am. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Dianne Buswell and Vito Coppola: Red Hot and Ready to dance at York Barbican with the Burn The Floor dancers
Dance show of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne & Vito, Red Hot & Ready!, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm
STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2024 runner-up Vito Coppola are Red Hot and Ready to perform a dance show with a difference, choreographed by BAFTA award winner Jason Gilkison.
The dream team will be joined by a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Ione Harrison: Mounting Season Songs exhibition at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition launch of the week: Ione Harrison, Season Songs, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 8 to September 5; private view,July 6, 2pm to 4pm
WELBURN landscape painter and watercolour workshop leader Ione Harrison’s Season Songs exhibition depicts the rhythm of the year in serene, dynamic and joyful paintings that explore seasonal changes in mood, colour and light in the natural world.
Ione, whose teaching career has taken her to France, the Middle East, Turkey and Nepal, creates vibrant, atmospheric paintings, working primarily in watercolour and ink. She is influenced in particular by the heat-soaked colours of Asia and the Middle East.
Vicki Mason’s Margaret Watson, Beaj Johnson’s Tom Musgrave and Becca Magson’s Emma Watson in 1812 Theatre Company’s production of The Watsons
Play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in The Watsons, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 9 to 12, 7.30pm
WHAT happens when the writer loses the plot? Emma Watson is 19 and new in town. She has been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast.
If not, they face poverty, spinsterhood, or worse: an eternity with their boorish brother and his awful wife. Luckily there are plenty of potential suitors, from flirtatious Tom Musgrave to castle-owning, awkward Lord Osborne.
One problem: Jane Austen did not finish the story. Who will write Emma’s happy ending now? Step forward Laura Wade, who takes her incomplete novel to fashion a sparklingly witty play that looks under the bonnet of Jane Austen to ask: what can characters do when their author abandons them? Pauline Noakes directs resident company 1812 Theatre Company’s production. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Out of the woods and into The Basement for Navigators Art’s Making Waves Live!, Sounds Of The Solstice today
BEST Musical multiple award winner Dear Evan Hansen and a Eurovision spoof light Charles Hutchinson’s fire as the June heat rises.
Midsummer festival of the weekend: Navigators Art presents Making Waves Live! Sounds Of The Solstice, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, today, 4pm to 10pm
FAVOURITE Navigators Art poets, comedians, singers and bands from the past two years will be complemented new friends in sessions from 4pm to 6.30pm, then 7.30pm to 10pm.
Taking part will be folk song duo Adderstone, poet Becca Drake, comedian Cooper Robson, storyteller Lara McClure, punk/jazz trio Borgia, psychedelic band Soma Crew; Will Martin; Jessica Van Smith; Cai Moriarty & Mason Chetnik, Mike Amber and more. Box office: bit.ly/nav-events.
The Wild Murphys: Performing One Night In Dublin for one night in York
Irish craic of the week: One Night In Dublin, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm
THE Wild Murphys revel in sing-along Irish classics Galway Girl, I’ll Tell Me Ma, The Irish Rover, Dirty Old Town, Whiskey In The Jar, The Wild Rover, Black Velvet Band and many more in two hours of song and humour.
Songs by The Pogues, The Saw Doctors, The Dubliners, The Fureys, Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys receive the fiddle and accordion treatment. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Flowers And Friendship Bracelets: Celebrating Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus, Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo’s pop power at Grand Opera House
Pop party of the week: Flowers And Friendship Bracelets, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday
FLOWERS And Friendship Bracelets combines music, dance and excitement in “the ultimate pop concert in celebration of the biggest hits from the hottest artistes of the moment”. The songs of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter will climax with a huge pop party finale. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Kamaljeet Ahluwalia and Jas Ahluwalia: Absolute Focus programme on santoor and tabla at the NCEMon Sunday evening
Indian classical concert of the week: Kamaljeet Ahluwalia and Jas Ahluwalia, Absolute Focus, National Centre for Early Music, York, Sunday, 6.30pm
HUSBAND and wife duo Kamaljeet Ahluwalia, on santoor, and Jax Ahluwalia, on tabla, perform their Absolute Focus programme at the NCEM. These former students of the late Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Ustaad Tari work on diverse projects, from Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon and Disney series to live theatre, while introducing Indian classical music to audiences around the world in concerts of meditative introspection and energy-filled heights. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Looking to fit in: Ryan Kopel’s Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen, on tour at Grand Opera House, York
Last chance to see: Dear Evan Hansen, Grand Opera House, York, June 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Friday and Saturday matinees
THE Grand Opera House will be the last English port of call on the UK tour of Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Steven Levinson’s Olivier, Tony and Grammy Best Musical award winner.
Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a teenager with a social anxiety disorder that inhibits his ability to connect with his peers. After the death of fellow student Connor Murphy, Evan (played by Ryan Kopel) entangles himself in an unwieldy fib, claiming he was Connor’s secret best friend. Thrust ever deeper into a web of lies, he gains everything he has ever wanted: a chance to belong. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Ione Cummings’ Antonia in York Opera’s The Tales Of Hoffmann. Picture: John Saunders
Opera of the week: York Opera in The Tales Of Hoffmann, York Theatre Royal, June 25 to 28, 7.15pm plus 4pm Saturday matinee
ELIZABETH Watson and John Soper direct York Opera in Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales Of Hoffmann, based on three short stories by German romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann.
Tenors Karl Reiff and Hamish Brown perform the title role on alternate nights; Hoffmann’s evil enemies will be played by Ian Thomson- Smith and Mark Simmonds and his love interests will be sung by Stephanie Wong (Olympia), Ione Cummings (Antonia) and Katie Cole (Giulietta). Alexandra Mather takes the role of Hoffmann’s loyal friend, Nicklaus. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
York Light Opera Company cast members in rehearsal for Neil Wood’s production of Eurobeat: Pride Of Europe
Eurovision celebration of the week: York Light Opera Company in Eurobeat – Pride Of Europe, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm, June 25 to 27 and July 1 to 4; 3pm, June 28 and 29 and July 5
AUSTRALIAN composer, writer and lyricist Craig Christie’s high-octane, electrifying musical Eurobeat: The Pride Of Europe celebrates the vibrant energy and spirit of the continent. Expect non-stop, infectious Eurobeat rhythms, dazzling visuals and a show to leave audiences breathless.
Prepare to dance and soak up the fun of an annual European song contest where audience participation decides the winner. Neil Wood directs a cast led by Annabel van Griethuysen as hostess Marlene Cabana and Zander Fick as master of protocols Bjorn Bjornson. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Just like hat: Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre’s guys rehearsing Guys And Dolls for next week’s Joseph Rowntree Theatre run
Burgeoning talent of the week: Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre in Guys And Dolls, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, June 26 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
MALTON company Be Amazing Arts Youth Theatre heads to York to present Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ musical fable of Broadway, Guys And Dolls.
Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, this oddball romantic comedy finds gambler Nathan Detroit seeking the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck. Into the story venture his girlfriend, nightclub performer Adelaide, fellow gambler Sky Masterson and straight-laced missionary Sarah Brown. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Snow Patrol: More likely sun than snow on return to Yorkshire coastline on Friday
Coastal gig of the week: Snow Patrol, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, June 27; gates open at 6pm
SNOW Patrol visit Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Friday for the first time since July 2021. The Northern Irish-Scottish indie rock band will be led as ever by Gary Lightbody, accompanied by long-time members Nathan Connolly, lead guitar, and Johnny McDaid, piano. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Danny Lee Grew: Mind-boggling magic at Friargate Theatre, York
Magic show of the week: Danny Lee Grew, 24K Magic, Friargate Theatre, York, June 27, 7.30pm
CLACTON-ON-SEA magician Danny Lee Grew presents his new mind-boggling one-man show of magic, illusion, laughs, gasps and sleight of hand sorcery. 24K Magic showcases the kind of magic usually seen on television, but now live, in the flesh and under the most impossible conditions. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/ridinglights.
Hejira: “Light years from a bunch of impersonators imitating the big hits”
MORE than sold out, it goes to show that York audiences have a good ear. Hejira provided a wonderful two-hour concert to celebrate the music of Joni Mitchell.
With six jazz musicians on stage, this was light years from a bunch of impersonators imitating the big hits. Instead, we were treated to sensitive re-workings of songs drawn mainly from Mitchell’s mid-late 1970s’ jazz period.
If that sounds rather dry, the musicians enthused the night with a good measure of warmth and good humour. The set list was superb, mixing the better-known songs alongside lesser-known gems, and thankfully not leaning too far into jazz fusion.
This masterclass in set construction was typical of the care and thought that Hejira bring to their performance. There were new arrangements (Hissing Of Summer Lawns), instrumentals (Pat Metheny’s Song For Bilbao the pick) and also The Last To Come Along from Hattie Whitehead’s slow-burning solo record, Bloom.
Of her peers, Mitchell perhaps caught the jazz bug the hardest. Unlike the only other contender, Tim Buckley, Mitchell managed to not lose her audience in the process (at least until the unfortunate Mingus).
Her most covered hit, the freewheeling Free Man In Paris, shows her conflicted relationship with the music industry (itself very ‘jazz’). Yet her ambivalence and flight inspired some of her very finest material.
No mean feat for Hejira to re-imagine. Fortunately, Hattie Whitehead has a voice that can stop hearts in the space of a bar, a stunning instrument that is the equal to Mitchell’s, best heard on A Case Of You or a contemplative take on Woodstock.
The story behind Mitchell’s Hejira would make a great road trip movie, as she drove cross-country with no driving licence and a couple of friends intent on kidnapping one of their children.
The trio of songs, Amelia, Pat’s Tune and Hejira, was the towering centrepiece of the night, to these ears the equal of the originals (take your pick from the choice offerings in the latest archive box set that covers this fertile period).
The way Hejira started with only Whitehead then gradually introduced the guitar (Pete Oxley), then bass clarinet (Ollie Weston), bass (Dave Jones, ably re-creating those Jaco Pastorius lead bass lines) and piano (Chris Eldred) was breathtaking. Indeed, a real feature of the concert was Oxley’s knack for introducing musicians to build the songs, with Song For Sharon another great example.
It wasn’t entirely flawless (although it was close) , the extra solos at the end of A Case Of You were unnecessary and even musicians of this calibre struggled to make a case for reappraising Mitchell’s 1980s’ work.
Bland good taste didn’t propel Mitchell to superstar levels in the ’80s (her spark didn’t return until 1998’s Taming The Tiger, no apologies necessary for that one) but the musicians did at least improve on Be Cool (from 1982’s lacklustre Wild Things Run Fast).
A wonderful night of music as the full moon shone beatifically overhead.
Review by Paul Rhodes
P.S. You can see the real thing, Joni Mitchell herself, in Paris this autumn (Casino de Paris, November 17).
Festival commission: BBC New Generation artist and mezzo soprano Helen Charlston will perform a new Anna Disley-Simpson work with theorbo player Toby Carr in In Heaven & Hell…Yours To Choose on July 9 at Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York, at 6.30pm. Picture: Julien Gazeau
HEAVEN & Hell will be the theme of the 2025 York Early Music Festival, a summer fiesta of 19 concerts in eight days featuring international artists from July 4 to 11.
The Sixteen, the Tallis Scholars and Academy of Ancient Music will be taking part, as will French orchestral ensemble Le Consort, led by rising-star violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, in their York debut with an “exceptional rendition of exceptional of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – but not quite as you know it”.
The festival will intertwine three very different themes: firstly, the music of Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, opening with viol consort Fretwork (Friday, July 4); secondly, the genius of the Baroque, focusing on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Sunday, July 6).
Thirdly, the strand that lends itself to the 2025 title: a reflection on Man’s fall from grace – from Heaven to Hell – in biblical times with YEMF artistic advisor and BBC New Generation artist Helen Charlston and her fellow Gramophone Award-winner, lutenist and theorbo player Toby Carr (Wednesday, July 9) in the medieval Guildhall of the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall.
Fretwork: Viol consort will open York Early Music Festival with Renaissance music of Orlando Gibbons in My Days: Songs and Fantasias with mezzo soprano Helen Charlston on July 4 at 7.30pm at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York
The Tallis Scholars (Saturday, July 5) and The Sixteen (Monday, July 7) will share their programmes in the glorious surroundings of York Minster; the Spanish ensemble Cantoria (Tuesday, July 8) will present a sizzling array of ensaladas and villancicos in their A La Fiesta programme and Swiss- based medievalists Sollazzo (Thursday, July 10) will return to York for the first time since winning a prestigious Diapason d’Or award.
Thefestival will finish with a flourish in the company of the Academy of Ancient Music and their leader, violinist Bojan Čičić (Friday, July 11) in a celebration of Bach’s violin concertos.
York Early Music Festival continues to support emerging musicians with invitations to two 2024 York Early Music Festival Young Artists Competition winners, Ayres Extemporae and Ensemble Bastion.
Once again, the festival will showcase a variety of York’s beautiful historic buildings, such as the Minster, the medieval Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and the intriguing hidden architectural gem Bedern Hall.
The Sixteen: Returning to York Minster to present Angel Of Peace on July 7at 7.30pm
In an open call for the York Early Music Festival Special Commission, NCEM Young Composers Award alumni were invited to respond to the Heaven & Hell theme by writing a piece to be performed by Charlston and Carr as part of their In Heaven & Hell…Yours To Choose programme featuring Purcell, Strozzi, Monteverdi, Charpentier and Humfrey works on July 9.
Anna Disley-Simpson has been awarded the commission from a competitive field of 24 applications for her piece Heaven Or Hell, for which she will collaborate with librettist Olivia Bell, drawing inspiration from Kurt Weill. Expect her composition to be “deliberately subversive and unexpected in several ways,” Anna promises.
Supported by the Hinrichsen Foundation and an anonymous donor, Anna will receive a commission fee of £2,000, plus travel and accommodation expenses within the United Kingdom to attend a workshop with the musicians in London and the York premiere.
Looking forward to the July event, festival director Dr Delma Tomlin says: “We are thrilled to welcome friends old and new to what promises to be a fantastic celebration of music from an outstanding array of artists.
Le Consort: French orchestral ensemble will make York Early Music Festival debut on July 6, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, at 7.30pm
“Celebrating over 500 years of music from across Europe, we are particularly delighted to be able to welcome ensembles from France, Switzerland, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands to our wonderful city. We look forward to welcoming visitors and residents alike to eight wonderful days of music-making.”
The full programme and booking details can be found at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf/. Bookings also can be made on 01904 658338, via boxoffice@ncem.co.uk and in person at the NCEM, Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York.
York Early Music Festival: the back story
ESTABLISHED in 1977, the festival is designed to celebrate York’s myriad of medieval churches, guildhalls and historic houses through historically informed music-making of the highest international standard.
The annual event is the “jewel in the crown” of the National Centre for Early Music’s annual programme, enjoyed by York residents and visitors from all over the UK and across the world.
The Tallis Scholars: Performing Glorious Creatures programme at York Minster on July 5 at 7.30pm. Picture: Hugo Glendinning
Mark Reynolds’s tour poster illustration for Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, playing York Theatre Royal until Saturday
CONTRARIAN comedian Stewart Lee enjoys turning convention on its head.
Swimming like the Canute of comedy against the tide, he likes to heckle his audience, restlessly and constantly throughout his latest acerbic, acid-witted show, especially here in York, where he has never forgotten the flattest night of a previous tour being the Theatre Royal one he happened to be filming for TV and DVD release. “You ruined it,” he says.
Six nights into cutting his lupine teeth on a new tour, he opened a five-night run of Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf at the Theatre Royal on Tuesday, “the worst night of the week for comedy in the dullest town”, as he put it.
It was not so much Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf as Stewart Lee Vs Everything – a false start, a Tuesday night, an “indifferent York audience”, the erratic theatre dry ice machine – but also Everything Vs Stewart Lee.
Everything! Theatre Royal technology; the high-speed turnover of topicality (Gregg Wallace, Toby Young); the dull efficiency of the new Labour Government limiting political content; a button coming off his jacket-coat; the heat emanating from, spoiler alert, his second-half £6,000 werewolf coat.
All that, and his indecision over what this nascent show is about; the purpose, the place, the point of comedy after 36 years on the billboards, now in a world of Trump, Musk and Gervais.
“We’d all love not to care and be off the hook,” he speculates. “To not be accountable.” Like how a werewolf or vampire thinks. Except that Lee holds everything to be accountable.
Stewart Lee: Comic in werewolf’s clothing as he delivers “reactionary material in a reactionary way” in Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
Especially Everything Vs Stewart Lee, and above all, everything about this audience. “It’s not me who’s the problem, it’s you,” he says, berating a lack of sophistication when we should surely be above “entry-level comedy” by this juncture and castigating us for not appreciating his “toppers”, when a run of three of punchlines should each be greeted with a louder laugh, but not so tonight! Not once, not twice, but thrice.
Dear Reader, I should point out that the audience – on first impression, BBC Radio 4-listening, Observer-reading, more men than women – are lapping up his cajoling. They love being worked over by the deadpan grilling of Lee, who makes you work harder than any other comic on the crowded British circuit.
No comedian reflects on comedy in motion and commotion more than Lee, a lover of Sixties’ experimental jazz who brings that avant-garde, deconstructive, unconventional modus operandi to the craft of telling and not telling jokes.
He is constantly thinking on the hoof; you must do so too, amid the rhythmic rat-a-tat-tat of repetition, the teasing and hectoring, to keep up with storytelling that functions like SatNav on the blink, suddenly taking you back to where he’s been before.
Repetition, one of Lee’s trademarks, takes a different form here, where he announces he will play the same material three ways in this age of his bug bear: the comedy of offence perpetrated by Netflix-marketed, 60-million dollar, right-leaning stand-up comedians.
First up, he will tell liberal jokes in a liberal way, then, after a screaming transformation into the Man-Wulf in the first half’s denouement, reactionary jokes in a reactionary way post-interval and, finally, wolf’s head and distracting miniature penile appendage removed, reactionary jokes in a liberal, left-leaning way.
He chides the York audience for not laughing loudest at the American-accented reactionary joker in wolf’s clothing – unlike previous audiences, he says – but he knows only too well he is playing to a liberal crowd who will refract everything through that prism.
Stewart Lee telling “reactionary jokes in a liberal, left-leaning way” against a New York skyline in Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf. Picture: Steve Ullathorne
Along the way, he takes digs at Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, Noel Fielding, Laura Kuenssberg (“if she leans any more to the right, she’ll need scaffolding”), even slyly at erstwhile double-act partner Richard Herring, without naming him.
He gives off a shambling, even shambolic air, and yet a shard-sharp intellect always pierces that front, whether revelling in syntactic pedantry or parading his knowledge of the Ripon curio, the watch-setting Hornblower (although he did say 9.30pm, when 9pm is the precise custom!).
Lee is a cracking mimic too, sending up money-fixated Yorkshiremen and a topical, balladeering Bob Dylan on acoustic guitar, revealing a Dylanesque poetic turn of phrase in his lyrics.
He fires off pot shots aplenty, not only at all around him, but self-deprecatingly at himself too, reeling off a list of Lee lookalikes (from Mark Lamarr and Terry Christian to UB40’s Ali Campbell and Showaddywaddy in 2025) and commenting on how he bores even himself sometimes by knowing exactly what he is going to say next. Yet surprise, unpredictability, is one of his best assets.
Favourite line? “Mark Twain said tragedy plus time equals comedy,” says Lee. “Tragedy plus time equals Morrissey.” Now that’s a topper.
“I’m not a stand-up,” he says. “I’m more of a literary artist. The equivalent of a James Joyce novel.” Only much funnier, if perennially disappointed in humanity at large and York’s Tuesday audience in particular.
Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, York Theatre Royal, until February 1, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. The Shed presents Indeterminacy, featuring Stewart Lee and pianists Tania Caroline Chen and Steve Beresford, National Centre for Early Music, York, February 1, 3.30pm. Tickets update on 31/1/20025: Indeterminacy, SOLD OUT. Box office for returns only: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Stewart Lee, narrator, Tania Caroline Chen, piano, and and Steve Beresford, piano and objects, in Saturday afternoon’s performance of John Cage’s Indeterminacy at the NCEM, York
Ric Liptrot: Exhibiting in The Other Collective exhibition at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
FROM dollops of Dolly Parton advice to Stewart Lee’s werewolf encounter, devilish storytelling to a Cinderella prequel, Charles Hutchinson, cherry picks highlights for the days ahead.
Exhibition of the week: The Other Collective, Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, until March 13
CURATED by Bluebird Bakery, The Other Collective brings together the work of Lu Mason, Ric Liptrot, Rob Burton, Liz Foster and Jill Tattersall.
“These wonderful artists were all missed off the billing for York Open Studios 2025 and we felt that was a real shame,” says Bluebird boss Nicky Kippax. “So The Other Collective was born and we hope the work will get a lot of interest from our customers.”
Mark Reynolds’ tour poster illustration for Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, playing York Theatre Royal until Saturday
Comedy gigs of the week: Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm
IN Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, Lee shares the stage with a tough-talking werewolf comedian from the dark forests of the subconscious who hates humanity. The Man-Wulf lays down a ferocious comedy challenge to the “culturally irrelevant and physically enfeebled Lee”: can the beast inside us all be silenced by the silver bullet of Lee’s deadpan stand-up? Tickets advice: Hurry, hurry as all shows are closing in on selling out; 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Tricia Paoluccio’s Dolly Parton and Stevie Webb’s Kevin in Here You Come Again at Grand Opera House, York
Musical of the week: Here You Come Again, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
SIMON Friend Entertainment and Leeds Playhouse team up for the tour of Here You Come Again, starring and co-written by Broadway actress Tricia Paoluccio, who visits York for the first time in the guise of a fantasy vision of country icon Dolly Parton.
Gimme Gimme Gimme writer Jonathan Harvey has put a British spin on Bruce Vilanch, director Gabriel Barre and Paoluccio’s story of diehard Dolly devotee Kevin (Steven Webb) needing dollops of Dolly advice on life and love in trying times. Parton hits galore help too! Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Hayden Thorpe: Performing Ness with Propellor Ensemble members at the NCEM, York, tonight
Arthouse gig of the week: Hayden Thorpe & Propellor Ensemble, National Centre for Early Music, York, tonight, doors 7pm for 7.30pm start
PLEASE Please You and Brudenell Presents bring Hayden Thorpe & Propellor Ensemble to the NCEM to perform Ness, with the promise of a “sonically spectacular and transformational live show”.
Thorpe, former frontman and chief songwriter of Kendal band Wild Beasts, promotes his September 2024 album. Using a process of redaction, Thorpe brought songs to life from nature writer Robert Macfarlane’s book Ness, inspired by Suffolk’s Orford Ness, the former Ministry of Defence weapons development site during both World Wars and the Cold War. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Sylvie (Aileen Hall), centre, demonstrates her skills to friends Amelie (Perri Ann Barley), left, and Helene (Devon Wells), right, in rehearsal for Blue Light Theatre Company’s Where The Magic Begins!
Premiere of the week: Blue Light Theatre Company in Where The Magic Begins!, Acomb Working Men’s Club, York, tonight to Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2pm matinee
BLUE Light Theatre Company stage York playwright and actress Perri Ann Barley’s new play Where The Magic Begins!, a prequel to Cinderella based on characters from the original Charles Perrault version.
“We meet many beloved characters in their younger days, such as a young Fairy Godmother, who is about to discover her ‘gift’. We follow her journey as she struggles with a secret that could put her life, and that of her family, in grave danger,” says director Craig Barley. Box office: 07933 329654, at bluelight-theatre.co.uk or on the door.
Hannah Rowe: Performing in the cabaret setting of The Old Paint Shop at York Theatre Royal Studio
Cabaret night of the week: CPWM Presents An Evening With Hannah Rowe, The Old Paint Shop, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow, 8pm
YORK promoters Come Play With Me (CPWM) welcome Hannah Rowe to The Old Paint Shop’s winter season. This young singer writes of experiences and shifts in life, offering a sense of reflection within her rich, authentic, jazz-infused sound. Friday’s 8pm show by upstanding York pianist Karl Mullen has sold out. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Adderstone’s Cath Heinemeyer and Gemma McDermott
Devilish delight of the week: Tim Ralphs and Adderstone, Infernal Delights, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, Friday, doors 7.30pm
TIM Ralphs and York alt-folk storytellers Adderstone serve up a winter night’s double bill of dark delights. Let Adderstone’s Cath Heinemeyer and Gemma McDermott lead you down the steps to the underworld with story-songs from wild places in their Songs To Meet The Darkness set.
In Beelzebub Rebranded, Tim Ralphs’s stand-up storytelling exhumes the bones of ancient Devil stories and stitches them into new skins for fresh consumption in his wild reimagining of folktale, fairytale and urban legend. Box office: ticketsource.co.uk/adderstone/infernal-delights/e-xjjber.
Saxophonist Snake Davis, right, double bassist Don Richardson, left, and concertina player Alistair Anderson: Playing together at Helmsley Arts Centre on Sunday
Trio of the week: Snake Davis, saxophones, Don Richardson, double bass, and Alistair Anderson, concertina and Northumbrian pipes, Helmsley Arts Centre, Sunday, 7.30pm
ADD an old mucker to a new pal, whereupon saxophonist to the stars Snake Davis sounds excited. Snake and Don Richardson go back decades, too many gigs and shows to remember. Lulu and Paul Carrack were particularly memorable. Snake and Alistair Anderson met at a wonderfully quirky Northumberland venue in late 2023 and decided to make music together. Here comes folk, jazz, world, pop and more. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Craig David: Combining his singing, master of ceremonies and DJ skills at Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer
Gig announcement of the week: Craig David Presents TS5, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 19
SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night – patented at his Miami penthouse – on the East Coast this summer. Expect a set combining old skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too.
“I cannot wait to bring my TS5 show to Scarborough and the beautiful Yorkshire coast in July,” enthuses David, 43. “2025 is a massive year for me as it’s the 25th anniversary of my debut album [Born To Do It] and my debut number one single (Fill Me In]. What better way to celebrate than bringing the party to Scarborough this summer.” Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List. No 5, from Gazette & Herald
Colour & Light framing the South Transept of York Minster
FROM wildlife illuminations to characterful faces, dog origin tales to dark sky wonders, Charles Hutchinson finds February fulfilment.
Illumination of the week: Colour & Light, York Minster South Transept, February 12 to March 2
THIS free outdoor event promises a “mesmerising projection” of famous and lesser-known stories of York’s animal world, from the Minster’s peregrine falcons and the foxes that roam the streets after dark, to the Romans’ horses for their ride into Eboracum and the legendary dragons carved into the city’s history.
Colour & Light runs nightly from 6pm to 9pm with projections on a ten-minute loop. The final hour each evening is a designated quiet hour with reduced noise and crowd levels. No tickets are required.
Holly Capstick: Capturing expressions and snapshots of moments in everyday life
Exhibition of the week: Holly Capstick, We Are Layers, Pocklington Arts Centre, until February 28
HOLLY Capstick explores the layers of our beauty and character in her textile and mixed-media portraits that capture expressions and snapshots of moments in everyday life. “Faces have always amazed me,” she says. “The subtleties of the changes within a face can show so much of how we feel and how we connect to others.”
Thread and Press CIC tutor Holly will run portrait-themed workshops this month for children aged 7 to 16 (Learn To Draw A Face, February 19) and for adults (Textile Portraits, Free-motion Machine Embroidery, February 28). Find out more at hollycapstickart.co.uk.
Emma Swainston’s Elle Woods in York Light Opera Company’s Legally Blonde The Musical
Musical of the week: York Light Opera Company in Legally Blonde The Musical, York Theatre Royal, February 13 to February 22, 7.30pm nightly (except February 16) plus 2.30pm matinees on February 15, 20 and 22
JOIN Elle Woods, a seemingly ditzy sorority girl with a heart of gold, as she tackles Harvard Law School to win back her man. Along the way, Elle discovers her own strength and intelligence, “proving that you can be both a beautiful blonde and brilliant”.
Emma Swainston’s Elle Woods leads Martyn Knight’s 35-strong cast in this feel-good, sassy and stylish show with its powerful message of staying true to yourself, booted with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
The Tannahill Weavers: Humorous tales of life north of the border
Folk gig of the week: The Tannahill Weavers 2025, Helmsley Arts Centre, February 14, 7.30pm
THE Tannahill Weavers, from Paisley, Scotland, play a diverse repertoire that spans the centuries, taking in fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, ballads and humorous tales of life north of the border.
Roy Gullane, on guitar and lead vocals, Phil Smillie, on flute, whistles, bodhrán and harmony vocals, Scotland’s youngest clan leader, Iain MacGillivray, on Highland bagpipes, fiddle and whistles, and Malcolm Bushby, on fiddle, bouzouki and harmony vocals, demonstrate the rich Celtic musical heritage in their exuberant concert combination of traditional melodies, rhythmic accompaniment, and evocative vocals. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Fideri Fidera in Ugg’n’Ogg & The World’s First Dogg
Children’s play of the week: Rural Arts presents Fideri Fidera in Ugg’n’Ogg & The World’s First Dogg, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 20, 2pm
IN the fresh sparkling world just after the last Ice Age, there were no dogs. How, then, did we attain our best friend and the world’s number one pet? Luckily for us, along came young hunter gatherers Ugg‘n’Ogg to pal up with the wolves, Tooth’n’Claw, to defy flying meat bones, raging forest infernos and even a time-travelling stick to invent the dog.
This original play for families and pooch lovers aged three upwards highlights the evolutionary transition from lupine to canine in a show full of physical comedy, puppets, music and song. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Festival of the week: National Parks Dark Skies Festival, North York Moors, February 14 to March 2
THIS year is the tenth anniversary of the Dark Skies Festival and where better to celebrate than on the North York Moors, one of only 21 global locations to be recognised for pristine dark skies as an International Dark Sky Reserve.
Look out for Stargazing Experiences in Dalby Forest; Stargazing at Ampleforth Abbey; the Robin Hood’s Bay Dark Skies Ghost Walks; Evening Adventure Walks with River Mountain Rescue; a Night Navigation Experience with Large Outdoors; Dancing with The Long Dead Stars and plenty more. For full details, visit: darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/north-york-moors-events.
David O’Doherty, the Tiny Piano Man
Comedy show of the week: David O’Doherty, Tiny Piano Man, Grand Opera House, York, February 15, 8pm
THE dishevelled prince of €10 eBay keyboards tries to make you feel alive with a pageant of Irish humour, song and occasionally getting up from a chair. “It’s gonna be a big one,” says Dublin comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright David O’Doherty, star of The Great Celebrity Bake Off 2024 and Along For The Ride With David O’Doherty. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Gareth Gates: In a Valentine mood at York Barbican
Romantic concert of the week: Gareth Gates Sings Love Songs From The Movies – A Valentine Special, York Barbican, February 16, 7.30pm
EXTENDING the St Valentine ‘s Day vibes to the weekend, Bradford singer Gareth Gates combines beloved ballads from classic films with the electrifying energy of up-tempo hits, from Unchained Melody to Dirty Dancing, in a celebration of love stories that have graced the silver screen.
Joining the 2002 Pop Idol alumnus and musical star will be Wicked actress Maggie Lynne, Dutch singer Britt Lenting, Performers College graduate Dan Herrington and a four-piece band. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Smashing Pumpkins: Playing Scarborough on Aghori Tour
Gig announcement of the week: The Smashing Pumpkins, TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 13
AMERICAN alternative rockers The Smashing Pumpkins will play Scarborough on their Aghori Tour. Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin’s multi-platinum-selling band will be supported on the Yorkshire coast by London post-punk revival band White Lies.
Since emerging from Chicago, Illinois, in 1988 with their iconoclastic sound, Smashing Pumpkins have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and collected two Grammy Awards, seven MTV VMAs and an American Music Award. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday at ticketmaster.co.uk
