The fourth biennial GRAND BAROQUE event, Sances' Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae and Biber's Requiem a 15 and full supporting programme
Director JanJoost van Elburg, featuring The Monteverdi String Band, The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, soloists and choir

BEMP's Principal Musical Director JanJoost van Elburg brings the Bartholomew Consort of Oxford to complete the Spring Festival series in Wellington School Chapel. The Bartholomew Consort was established under JanJoost in 2001 with members drawn from all over the UK and the Netherlands. The group has performed regularly in Oxford and frequently visits other areas of the UK, including Scotland, the South West and London, as well as having travelled in Europe (France, Bulgaria, The Netherlands) on several occasions. In the South West they have performed in Buckfast Abbey on three occasions and were last the guest choir of BEMP in 2011.

Newe Vialles first recital in Culmstock last year was absolutely electrifying;  Caroline Ritchie and Henrik Persson  with Lynda Sayce on theorbo, return to play on Saturday evening May 25th at 8 pm in All Saints’ Church Culmstock. This year's programme will take the audience on a journey from one of the fathers of the virtuosic French viola da gamba school, Jean de Sainte-Colombe via Louis de Caix d’Hervelois to the notorious Antoine Forqueray, whose colourful life was reflected in the music he composed.

Lynda Sayce will bring a number of her favourite examples of members of the lute family to share in her ‘lute roadshow’, offering a history of the instrument, illustrated with 10 or so different and contrasting lutes covering almost a millennium’s worth of music. Each instrument will be described in its historical context and Lynda will then play each one so the audience sees and hears a huge variety of music ranging from a maqam on an Arabic oud to an excerpt from a high baroque suite. Each instrument is chosen with great care so that they make a stunning visual display, ranging from a tiny soprano lute to a 2 metre theorbo.

We are delighted to welcome Gawain Glenton to direct a programme of choral music from the Austrian Habsburg court, seat of the Holy Roman Emperors. The full programme will include multivoice works of Gombert, Valentini, Hassler, both Gabrielis, Zanotti, Bertali and Massaino among others. In addition to voices we will have a team of sackbuts from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, under their tutor Emily White, with violins to add texture and colour to this amazing repertoire.

Renaissance music for Voices and Viols, Morales to Esteves via Guerrero, Victoria, Cardoso and more! Glorious multivoice choral works with instruments. Musical Director JanJoost van Elburg, Newe Vialles and Martin Perkins: organ.

Recital of virtuoso French baroque music for viols and theorbo played by Newe Vialles (Henrik Persson & Caroline Ritchie: viola da gamba and Lynda Sayce: theorbo).

Conducted by Andrew Parrott, with choir and instruments.
Viadana - Vespers of 1612.
Robert Carver - Missa Dum Sacrum Mysterium.

Including music by Rosenmüller and Schelle
Musical Director JanJoost van Elburg
English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
Monteverdi String Band
Natural trumpets and other historic instruments
BEMP Choir

Music from 17th & 18th Century Madrid.
Late Renaissance style compositions retrieved from the archives of the Monasterio de la Encarnacion and Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales.

The fourth biennial GRAND BAROQUE event, Sances' Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae and Biber's Requiem a 15 and full supporting programme
Director JanJoost van Elburg, featuring The Monteverdi String Band, The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, soloists and choir

Including music by Rosenmüller and Schelle
Musical Director JanJoost van Elburg
English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
Monteverdi String Band
Natural trumpets and other historic instruments
BEMP Choir