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Midsummer Season 5 June – 11 July Provisional Autumn Season 21 – 24 October Brighton Early Music Festival 2021
MYTHS & LEGENDS 1
WELCOME TO THE BRIGHTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL 2021 What a year we have all experienced! 2020 will be remembered as the year live music was suddenly switched off, and although BREMF was able to hold an online festival of 10 programmes specially crafted for the screen, we are delighted at last to offer two seasons of live performances. Given the unpredictable nature of COVID-19 and the fact that the pandemic is not yet over, we have decided not to risk a return to a single autumn festival in 2021. Our Midsummer Season will allow you safely to enjoy a rich selection of music from North Indian ragas to Italian madrigals and French cantatas, all exploring ancient myths and legends in beautiful outdoor settings. A special highlight will be a magical midsummer evening of drama and ‘dreamy’ music, featuring Shakespeare and Mendelssohn, curated by the inimitable Thomas Guthrie. We have included provisional details of our autumn weekend, based around our ever-popular BREMF Live! Showcase and including public screenings of our opera film, a new production of Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero. This will also be a highlight of another BREMF@home during November, allowing us to share BREMF with our friends across the globe. Deborah Roberts Artistic Director
We would like to thank our supporters and all of our Festival Friends. Without your generosity, Brighton Early Music Festival could not continue to bring top quality artists to Brighton or deliver its vital work in the community. Thank you! Brighton Early Music Festival gratefully acknowledges financial support from Arts Council England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport through the Culture Recovery Fund. We are grateful to several trusts and foundations for their support of our work at the time of publication. Concerts by BREMF Live! alumni Pocket Sinfonia and Fieri Consort are funded by The Fidelio Charitable Trust. Our early opera La liberazione di Ruggiero is supported by the Ambache Charitable Trust – raising the profile of women composers. Thanks also to other donors who joined us after this brochure went to print. Lighting design and supply for all Festival events provided by Natalie Rowland and Pitch Black.
Funders and partners:
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MIDSUMMER SEASON Saturday 5 June, 6pm & 8pm Royal Spa, Queen’s Park EVENT 1
Pierre Mignard, Pan et Syrinx (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)
THE FOREST OF MYTHICAL BREEZES Flauguissimo Ensemble
Emily Atkinson soprano Yu-Wei Hu flute Magdalena Loth-Hill violin Henrik Persson viola da gamba Johan Löfving theorbo, guitar with Steven Player dance From a forest in the Arcadian Mountains, mythical creatures of antiquity come to life through a mini ‘opera’ built of French baroque repertoire. Stories uniting gods and humans unfold to music by Charpentier, Lully, Couperin and Rameau.
Tickets: £15; for half price tickets see page 6
EVENT 2 Sunday 6 June, 1pm & 3pm Royal Spa, Queen’s Park
BHRAMAVISHNU-SHIVA Assembled by Jaymini Sahai
Creation, preservation, destruction Aradhana Arts
Sanju Sahai tabla Jaymini Sahai Kathak dance Tofail Ahmed voice Debipriya Sircar voice, sitar Indrani Datta Kathak dance and narrator Music composed by Pandit Vishwa Prakash Join Aradhana Arts, who featured in last year’s BREMF@home: The Four Faces of Gaia, for a magical family-friendly journey through time and space. The great poet Rabindranath Tagore’s mesmerising poem Bhrama, Vishnu, Shiva is brought to life in a vibrant fusion of poetry, Indian Classical music and Kathak dance. Tickets: £15; for half price tickets see page 6 Brighton Early Music Festival 2021
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MIDSUMMER SEASON Saturday 12 June, 6pm & 8pm, Royal Spa, Queen’s Park
JOSQUIN & FAYRFAX 500 BREMF Consort of Voices Deborah Roberts director
Two renaissance legends, one English and one pan-European, who both died in 1521 are commemorated in an evening of contemplative and uplifting polyphony. Tickets: £10; for half price tickets see page 6
EVENT 4
A 1611 woodcut of Josquin des Prez, copied from a now-lost oil painting
EVENT 3
Sunday 13 June, 3pm, Royal Spa, Queen’s Park
THE NEW TROY
James Johnstone
The Legend of London in the 17th century Lux Musicae London Angela Hicks soprano; Daniel Thomson tenor Mirjam Münzel and Sophie Creaner recorders Harry Buckoke viola da gamba Aileen Henry harp Toby Carr lute, theorbo A trip through London’s mythical origins featuring music associated with famous landmarks, from the Globe to Whitehall, including works by Byrd, Coperario, Lanier, and Henry and William Lawes.
EVENT 5
Tickets: £15; for half price tickets see page 6
Sunday 13 June, 7pm, Royal Spa, Queen’s Park
THE DESTINED KNOT
Madrigals by Marenzio on fated lovers in Arcadia Fieri Consort Matt Martin
Hannah Ely soprano Sarah Anne Champion mezzo-soprano Paul Bentley-Angell, Chris Fitzgerald-Lombard and Tom Kelly tenors; Ben Rowarth bass with members of Lux Musicae London Giovanni Battista Guarini’s tragicomedy play Il pastor fido (The faithful shepherd), set in the mythical and idealised pastoral world of Arcadia, inspired a whole generation of madrigal composers. Character names, especially those of the two lovers Amarilli and Myrtillo, even appeared widely in English madrigals. Enjoy an evening of exquisite music from two award-winning ensembles in the idyllic setting of the Royal Spa. Tickets: £15; for half price tickets see page 6 4
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MIDSUMMER SEASON Sunday 20 June, 6pm & 8pm St Mary’s House, Bramber EVENT 6
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM An enchanting midsummer evening of music and drama Pocket Sinfonia
Deborah Roberts
Rosie Bowker flute Eleanor Corr violin Thomas Isaac cello Emil Duncumb fortepiano with Thomas Guthrie baritone, actor/director Thomas Guthrie hosts a specially devised, intimate performance moving between the atmospheric gardens and historic music room of St Mary’s House. Combining music by Mendelssohn with Shakespeare’s magical story, this memorable event offers a midsummer to dream of.
Limited capacity
EVENT 7
Tickets: £40; for half price tickets see page 6
Saturday 3 July, 6pm & 8pm, Royal Spa, Queen’s Park
THE MADRIGAL REIMAGINED Monteverdi String Band
Martin McColgan
Oliver Webber and Theresa Caudle violin Wendi Kelly and David Brooker viola Christopher Suckling bass violin with Toby Carr lute, theorbo Hannah Ely soprano
Andrew Mason
The ever-flexible madrigal was always a blank canvas subject to endless interpretations depending on the resources and imagination of the performers. Adding some ornamental ‘frizzante’ this programme explores the full dramatic possibilities of the form, vocally and instrumentally, including music by Monteverdi and words from Ovid. Tickets: £15; for half price tickets see page 6 Brighton Early Music Festival 2021
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MIDSUMMER SEASON EVENT 8
Sunday 11 July, 7pm, Royal Spa, Queen’s Park
Ruggiero held captive, Lebrecht Music & Arts/Alamy
OPERA @ THE SPA GALA FUNDRAISER Highlights from Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero Deborah Roberts and Oliver Webber musical directors Thomas Guthrie director; Claire Williams continuo lead Meet the international cast and band of young performers, straight from a week of filming this colourful and witty first opera by a woman. Enjoy this sparkling music with a glass of fizz! Tickets: £30 including a glass of fizz; for half price tickets see page 6
Supported by the Ambache Charitable Trust – raising the profile of women composers
BOOKING INFORMATION TICKETS Advance booking is strongly recommended as audience numbers will be restricted to allow for social distancing. We cannot guarantee the availability of tickets on the door. Online booking will close at 11am on the day of the event. Tickets will be sold mainly online at bremf.org.uk (£1 transaction fee) or by post (£2 transaction fee). A postal booking form may be downloaded from bremf.org.uk. Half price concession tickets are available only for young people (age 12-25 inclusive), full time students and those in receipt of Universal Credit (or equivalent benefits) or Pension Credit (but not state pension alone). Free tickets are available for children under 12 and carers. We regret that tickets can only be refunded if the event is cancelled or in exceptional circumstances.
VENUES All the Midsummer Season events will be outdoors or partly outdoors. Please bring warm clothing, waterproofs or sunscreen as appropriate. Toilets are available for public use at both venues. Dogs are not permitted at either venue, except for assistance dogs. 6
Royal Spa, Queen’s Park, Brighton BN2 0BT (entrance off South Avenue) Please bring your own seating (folding chairs or picnic blankets). Royal Spa is fully accessible although some ground is uneven. St Mary’s House, Bramber BN44 3WU Seating will be provided but part of the performance will take place as a promenade in the gardens. Please bring a small folding chair if unable to stand. We regret that St Mary’s House is not accessible for wheelchair users. Please see bremf.org.uk for public transport and parking information. Programmes will only be available to download as a PDF file from bremf.org.uk. Picnics are welcome at both venues. Please avoid noise during the performance itself and take away all litter. Professional filming will take place at some events for our autumn BREMF@home programme. Full terms and conditions may be found at bremf.org.uk. Brochure design and production by: Kate Benjamin – katebenjamin.com visit bremf.org.uk to find out more
PROVISIONAL AUTUMN SEASON Venues, times and booking details for these events will be confirmed later in the year – check for updates at bremf.org.uk Thursday 21 October, evening Saturday 23 October, evening Sunday 24 October, afternoon Premiere public screenings
An international cast and period orchestra of young performers Deborah Roberts and Oliver Webber musical directors Thomas Guthrie director The first opera by a woman, produced as a film inspired by the work of Georges Méliès
Robert Piwko
FRANCESCA CACCINI LA LIBERAZIONE DI RUGGIERO
Saturday 23 October, afternoon
BREMF LIVE! SHOWCASE Our ever-popular showcase of emerging talent returns with, we hope, the customary home-made cakes!
Sunday 24 October, evening
FIVE MARIAN LEGENDS Joglaresa Francesca Caccini (‘La Bella’), Palma il Vecchio
Belinda Sykes director The legendary Joglaresa presents an evening of medieval cantigas telling of weird and wonderful miracles performed by the Virgin Mary, saving body and soul of many a hapless knight!
BREMF@HOME Having proudly launched our own Vimeo channel, we will present another digital season during November (dates TBC):
Friday 22 October, evening
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY Canzona
Theresa Caudle violin Mark Caudle viola da gamba Alastair Ross harpsichord with Stuart O’Hara bass-baritone
BREMF@HOME
MYTHS & LEGENDS This will comprise expanded films of the live summer events, a specially crafted BREMF Live! Digital showcasing films made by selected young artists and, of course, our opera film La liberazione di Ruggiero. See bremf.org.uk for updates
Music by Rameau, Clérambault, Marais and Leclair Brighton Early Music Festival 2021
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BREMF EARLY OPERA APPEAL Help us raise £5,000 to Free Ruggiero
Our 2021 production will comprise a feature film of the first opera by a woman, the fabulous La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina by Francesca Caccini – aka ‘Free Ruggiero’! This highly witty and colourful opera, based on a fantasy tale from a larger epic story, Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, tells how the noble hero Ruggiero is lured to an enchanted island, ruled by the beautiful but evil Alcina. The story of his rescue is beautifully embroidered with a cast of characters from sea spirits and fiery monsters to a mermaid siren and singing plants, all played by an international cast of talented young artists. The film will be screened locally in October and will be available on your home screens from November.
Funding this ambitious project, which also involves a high level of training for young artists, is extremely challenging in these difficult times and is not covered by our Culture Recovery Fund grant. We need to raise £5,000 by the end of June to bring our Free Ruggiero to fruition so that we can share this extraordinary work with the world.
Find out how you can help at bremf.org.uk Those living in or near Brighton can attend our live fundraising gala performance of opera highlights on Sunday 11 July.
Full details and tickets (from Monday 10 May) at bremf.org.uk Registered charity no 1097288 All events subject to change or cancellation 8
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