Brighton Early Music Festival BEMF
The Day of the Witches
St Pauls+, West Street, Brighton
October 31, 2015
This sponsored concert where the BEMF brings new and established musicians together to showcase their talents was a spectacular success.
With music from five different groups of these talented young musicians we were taken us on a real treat of a musical journey from the last few hundred years.
‘Palisander’ brought us some curious, thrilling and rather toe tapping music of tarantulas and their musical cures from the times when folk believed dancing would cure toxic bites. 17th-century victims of venomous spider bites were offered no medicinal cure or relief. Instead, the local musicians would work together to find a curative melody, Palisander then cured us of our woes, chills and shivers.
‘Duo Seraphim’ gave us a short but bitter-sweet collection of love songs and this startlingly proficient young duet of countertenor and lute. Singer Joe Bolger dressed ironically in Hendrix T-Shirt and jeans transported the audience church with aplomb, I was very impressed with them. You can hear Mr Bolger sing here, his was an outstanding voice in a day of superb voices
‘Duo Luminarium’ and their collection of simple, pure and somehow sombre suites for harpsichord and viola da gamba were accomplished and studied and I found myself going back to their music later in the day.
‘Ceruleo’ brought up bouncing into the effervescent soprano songs from the early Italian Baroque and another soprano joined ‘Ensemble Moliere’ to take us to the late French Baroque, effortlessly summing up the steamy intrigues of Versailles and the French court.
For full details of the musicians and singers, click here:
A great collection of music and artists in a superb venue, exactly what the BEMF is all about, interesting quality music brought to us by passionate and accomplished players.
There’s still more excellent music from the Brighton Early Music Festival to come.
For more information and to buy tickets, click here:
You may want to camp outside St George’s Church tomorrow and pray for a ticket for Emma Kirkby’s appearance in Heroines of the Golden Age.
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