Tag: Sam Meredith

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Who will be playing at York Early Music Festival from July 3 to 11? Find out here


I Fagiolini, with director Robert Hollingworth, centre, with sparkler: Performing opening concert of 2026 York Early Music Festival

THE 50th anniversary York Early Music Festival will run from July 3 to 11 with the theme of Beyond Borders.

More than 30 concerts will take place in York’s medieval churches, historic buildings and York Minster over nine days.

The festival was created in 1977 by a small group of Early Music enthusiasts and is long established as the premier British Early Music festival, attracting artists and visitors from far and wide.

Anacronia: Making York Early Music Festival on July 4

The festival will open with Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, presented by I Fagiolini with the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, under Robert Hollingworth’s direction, on July 3 at 7pm at the sold-out Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York. This concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on July 8.

Last in York for the 2025 York Early Music Christmas Festival, Solomon’s Knot will provide a spectacular summer festival finale at The Quire, York Minster, on July 10 at 7.30pm, when Jonathan Sells will direct singers and musicians performing Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns’ St Mark Passion by heart.  

The festival will mark the 400th anniversary of the death of the great English composer and lutenist John Dowland by dedicating a whole day to his works on A Day Of Dowland on July 6.

Organist Ben Horden: To Lubeck and Bach concert at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall on July 7

Katherine Butler, associate professor at Northumbria University, will open the day with her sold-out 10.30am talk at Bedern Hall entitled Dowland’s Dolour: Music, Melancholy and Self-Fashioning in Elizabethan England.

Lutenist Thomas Dunford will present a selection of Dowland’s 90-plus compositions in The Rarest Musician at the sold-out St Olave’s Church, Marygate, at 1pm, and the Rose Consort of Viols, featuring lutenist Jamie Akers, will perform Dowland’s Teares Of Sorrowe And Gladnesse in the Undercroft, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall (again sold out,) at 6pm. Music by Orlande de Lassus and Alfonso Ferrabosco will complement works both sorrowful and joyful by Dowland.

Dowland’s day will end with Tears Into Light: A Contemporary Reimagining of John Dowland’s Lachrimae, performed by Imago Mundi, directed by Sofie Vanden Eynde, at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, at 8.30pm.

Top: Lutenist Thomas Dunford. Bottom: Imago Mundi director and lutenist Sofie Vanden Eynde. Both taking part in A Day of Dowland on July 6

Drawing on the insights of scholar-philosophers and the concept of inspired melancholy, Tears Into Light explores how melancholy has been understood through history and how it offers a lens for viewing the present. Dowland’s Lachrimae will be interwoven with American traditional music in a reminder that light can always emerge from darkness.

The opening of the 50th festival will be heralded by the York Fanfare, a specially commissioned piece by Wakefield-born Sam Meredith for the 2026 ensemble-in-residence, the historical wind band [hanse] Pfeyfferey, comprising Lilli Patzold, cornetto, Alexandra Mikheeva, slide trumpet and trombone, and Laura Dumpelmann, shawm.

York Fanfare will herald the festival opening, ahead of July 3’s first concert, on the grass outside the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, and then be performed around the city during the opening weekend, including outside the West Door of York Minster before The Sixteen’s 7.30pm concert there on July 4.

The Sixteen: Presenting Siglo de Oro, Music from the Spanish Renaissance, at York Minster on July 4. Picture: Johnny Millar

Directed as ever by Harry Christophers, The Sixteen will present Siglo de Oro, Music from the Spanish Renaissance, featuring works by Sebastian de Vivanc and Cristobal de Morales, Sir James MacMillan’s Nothing In Vain and the world premiere of NCEM Composers Award alumna Kerensa Briggs’s Lead, Kindly Light. BBC Radio 3 will air this concert on July 9.

The Great Noyze, organised by the International Guild of Town Pipers, has moved from College Green, York Minster, to St Sampson’s Square on July at 4pm.

Further highlights will be Minster Minstrels, From Holborne To Handel, at the NCEM on July 5, 11am; University of York Baroque Ensemble, with Ensemble Hesperi (in-house band at University of York), in The Music Party, NCEM, July 7, 12.30pm; organist Ben Horden, To Lubeck and Bach, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, July 7, 6pm, and Ghent’s B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort, Da Pacem: Sacred Music by Heinrich Schutz and Contemporaries, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, July 7, 7.30pm.

Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston: Teaming up with tenor Paul Agnew and lutenist Sergio Buchel for A Gentle Air at Merchant Taylors’ Hall on July 9

Clavichord player Steven Devine’s Preludes, Fugues and Fantasies, at All Saints Church, North Street, on July 8 at 12.30pm, has sold out; Yorkshire Baroque Soloists will perform Amphion Anglicus, Chapter House, York Minster, July 8, 7.30pm, and Early Music will meet jazz and modernity in Duo Gambelin’s All’Improviso, Undercroft, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, July 8, 9.30pm.

On July 9 at 7pm, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, tenor Paul Agnew and lutenist Sergio Buchel will feature French songs by Michel Lambert and Sebastien Le Camus in A Gentle Air at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall. In July 10’s Concert by Candlelight at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, soprano Hannah Ely, alto Rebekah Jones and tenor Paul Bentley-Angell will perform songs from the courts of 12th-century France in Love From Afar.

Contre le temps: Le Baiser de la Rose programme at NCEM on July 5

At the heart of the festival is the NCEM’s year-round commitment to supporting emerging talent, this year represented by two young European ensembles, NCEM Platform Artists Anacronía, from Spain, in their festival debut at the NCEM on July 4 at 1.30pm, and the Franco/American medievalists Contre le temps, whose Le Baiser de la Rose programme at the NCEM on July 5 at 8.30pm will be recorded for BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show for broadcast on a date yet to be confirmed.

Held every two years, the prestigious York Early Music International Young Artists Competition will feature 40 musicians in nine ensembles competing for a series of prizes in a day of thrilling concerts at the NCEM on July 11 from 10am to 5pm.

Duo Gambelin: Early Music meets jazz and modernity in All’Improviso concert at Undercroft, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, on July 8

This year’s finalists are: I Mastricelli; Il Parrasio; La Mandorle; Lagrime; Nari Baroque Ensemble; Ossian’s Dream; Quarterino; Tra Noi and The Lyons Mouth (formed at the University of York).  

The full programme can be found at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf. Box office: 01904 658338; email at boxoffice@ncem.co.uk; ncem.co.uk or in person from the NCEM.

Festival director Dr Delma Tomlin says: “We’re very excited to be staging our 50th festival, which is brimming with musical delights. The very first festival took place in 1977 and has gone from strength to strength, inspiring the restoration of St Margaret’s Church and the creation of the National Centre for Early Music in 2000.”

York Early Music Festival director Delma Tomlin

“Our 50th edition features world-class ensembles and emerging artists; celebrates the genius of John Dowland; hosts the prestigious York Early Music International Young Artists Competitionand has commissioned the York Fanfare to open the proceedings, making sure the festival gets off to a flying start.

“Last but not least, our media partners, BBC Radio 3 will be back, broadcasting the hugely popular Early Music Show live from the NCEM, presented by Hannah French on July 5 at 5pm with a line-up of guest artists from the festival. We hope you can join us in York for this very special celebration.”

The full programme can be found at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf. Box office: 01904 658338; email at boxoffice@ncem.co.uk; ncem.co.uk or in person from the NCEM.

Solomon’s Knot: Festival finale at York Minster on July 10

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Sam Meredith to premiere York Fanfare at York Early Music Festival’s 50th anniversary

[hanse] Pfeyfferey: York Early Music Festival 2026 artists in residence. Picture: Vasilisa Gorbacheva

YORK Early Music Festival is to mark its 50th year in July with a spectacular new commission, the majestic York Fanfare, Flourish At 50, to be played several times during the opening weekend.

To create the fanfare, the festival joined forces with West Yorkshire composer Sam Meredith and the all-female German ensemble [hanse] Pfeyffery – it translate as [town] pipes – to create this magnificent piece of music.

Wakefield- born composer and multi-instrumentalist Meredith, who now lives in London, was a finalist in the 2023 NCEM Young Composers Award.

He was chosen from a strong line up of applicants, all alumni from the composers award, to be this year’s Commission Composer for the York Early Music Festival.

“We put out a call to all 100 of our award alumni, inviting bids from these composers,” says festival director Delma Tomlin. “[hanse] Pfeyffery then had conversations with selected composers and settled on Sam.”

Last year, Meredith completed his MA in Opera-Making and Writing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His work has been performed at the Barbican, London, and the annual Bauhaus Festival, London, under the tutelage of John Harle, who has commissioned him to write pieces for big band, large ensemble and most recently a duet for saxophone and piano. 

Meredith has sung and toured with the Idrisi Ensemble and was proud to appear in the choir for Alan Bennett’s 2025 film The Choral, filmed in Saltaire, West Yorkshire, directed by Nicholas Hytner.

The Yorkshire Fanfare will be performed by this year’s festival artists in residence, [hanse] Pfeyffery, a Renaissance wind band that specialises in improvised and rediscovered music from around 1500 played on shawms, cornetto, dulcian, slide trumpet and trombone.

The ensemble of Hannah Geisel, shawm, Lilli Pätzold, cornett, and Alexandra Mikheeva, slide trumpet and trombone, were finalists in the 2024 York International Young Artists Competition when they won the Cambridge Early Music Prize.

Composer Sam Meredith

The York Fanfare will open this year’s festival on Friday, July 3, played on the grass outside the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, at 6.20pm before the opening concert by I Fagiolini, and then be performed outside the West Door of York Minster before The Sixteen’s concert on Saturday, July 4 at 6.45pm, 7pm and 7.15pm.

The last chance to catch [hanse] Pfeyffery playing the fanfare will come on BBC Radio 3’s The Early Music Show, broadcast live from the NCEM, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, on Sunday, July 5 at 5pm.

[hanse] Pfeyffery also will perform Serenade for Isabella: The Casanatense Chansonnier at the York Early Music Friends Coffee Concert, a morning of music, conversation and coffee at the NCEM on July 4 from 10.30am to 11.30am.

Hosted by the Friends and open to everyone, the concert features works from the Casanatense Chansonnier, written as a wedding gift for Isabella d’Este in Ferrara in 1492, but also serving as a repertoire book for her piffari, or court wind-players.

[hanse] Pfeyffery will perform works from the Chansonnier based on vocal originals by Dufay, Agricola and Josquin, alongside instrumentally conceived pieces from Southern Germany, reflecting the powerful cultural exchanges that occurred at the Italian courts, creating a new secular repertory that would become widely popular across Europe.

York Fanfare composer Sam Meredith says: “In this piece, I wanted to emulate the rousing and awe-inducing nature of a traditional fanfare, while also creating a sense of playfulness, joy and celebration, more in the spirit of folk and dance music.

“The often syncopated landscape that emerged, first during the compositional process and then through working with [hanse] Pfeyfferey, is hopefully an exciting and an energetic tribute to the National Centre for Early Music, who commissioned this fanfare to introduce the 50th Early Music Festival in York.”

Dr Christopher Fox, who has been involved in selecting and mentoring the young composers for the NCEM Award since 2011, says: “Every year I am amazed at the imagination and skill of the composers who create music for the award scheme. The workshop day, at which eight young composers develop their work with a professional ensemble, is always very exciting.

“It’s also been a delight to see so many of the NCEM composers, such as Sam Meredith, go on to make a name for themselves. The NCEM alumni are a fantastic bank of compositional talent.”

For the full festival programme and tickets, visit ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on NCEM Young Composers Award 2023, NCEM

English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble

NCEM Young Composers Award 2023, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, National Centre for Early Music, York

EIGHT finalists, selected from more than 70 composers under the age of 25, enjoyed a day of workshops with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (ECSE) and composer Liz Dilnot Johnson.

The outcome was ECSE’s evening concert, which presented the new scores interwoven with 15th and 16th century Spanish works.

This was not merely a satisfying melange. It gave context to the entire enterprise. More than that, it allowed ECSE to introduce the two traditional ‘Spanish’ tunes on one of which the competitors were asked to base their pieces: La Spagna (actually an Italian bassadanza) or Ayo Visto La Mappamundi (I Have Seen The Map Of The World).

It needs to be said at once that the six members of ECSE played superbly, on two cornetts, three sackbuts and an organ, often dealing with technical problems quite outside their comfort zone.

Three of their contributions were lithe organ solos from Silas Wollston. The full group’s highlight was in Counterpoints on La Spagna, taken from the few that survive from the 120 or so written by Constanzo Festa.

Three composers chose La Spagna as their inspiration. Mollie Carlyle’s Not Quite Music To Dance To started slowly, then grew in balletic activity, which included three brief solos, the instruments uniting in a closing unison.

Tommaso Bailo’s Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking – the title of a Walt Whitman poem – was sectional, with detectable motifs, moving from a diffuse start to a racy close. Edwin de Nicolò’s Alameda And Toccata slowly developed into jazzy syncopation, nicely shaded, before a quieter resolution.

The remaining five chose the Mappamundi tune. Rachel Sunter’s Nada Que Perder (Nothing To Lose) also went for syncopation, mostly in the top two sackbuts, against a running counterpoint in the cornetts.

Reese Carly Manglicmot’s Fly! used a number of pedal points to underline its various takes on flight, before coming to an abrupt end. Sam Meredith’s piece employed the full Mappamundi title in clearly structured counterpoint, including the organ, before a bluesy close.

Owen Spafford’s Bog Bodies – mummified cadavers found in peat bogs – appealed to local tastes by adding fragments of the Lyke-Wake Dirge to his underlying motif, contrasting the cornetts against the sackbuts and using quarter-tones evocatively.

Jacob Jordan’s A Ceremonial Dance For Mice, highly syncopated throughout, especially in the sackbuts, stuck to a compelling trochaic rhythm.

These last two were declared winners at the end of the evening, Spafford in the 19 to 25 age group, Jordan – the youngest finalist (17 this year) – in the 18 and under category. But all eight finalists displayed distinctive talents and none of the pieces lacked interest, quite the reverse.

These are all names to watch, without exception. And music of this calibre is breathing new life into period instrument techniques.                       

The concert was streamed and may be viewed at http://www.youngcomposersaward.co.uk . It also will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on Sunday, November 26.

Review by Martin Dreyer