Programme

CARMINA MAXIMILIANA. Music from the court of Maximilian I (1459-1519) for vocal quartet with winds (Jamie Savan – cornett / mute cornett, Sarah Humphrys – shawm / recorder, Adam Woolf – sackbut), keyboards (Steven Devine) and lute (Jacob Heringman) – nine musicians in total. The programme is based around Isaac’s Missa Carminum, each movement of which is a parody of a different popular secular song of the day. We intersperse the Mass movements with virtuosic instrumental settings of these popular tunes. Programme premiered at the Birmingham Early Music Festival, 2004.

SONGS FOR THE WHITE KING. A smaller-scale alternative to ‘Carmina Maximiliana’. Secular songs for solo soprano (Faye Newton) accompanied by lute (Jacob Heringman), harpsichord (Steven Devine), and wind trio (Jamie Savan, Sarah Humphrys & Adam Woolf) – six musicians in all. Programme premiered at the York Christmas Early Music Festival, 2005.

VIRTUOSI OF VENICE & ROME. Music from c.1580-1630 for soprano (Faye Newton), cornett, sackbut (Adam Woolf) and keyboards (Steven Devine), by composer-improvisers such as Frescobaldi, Bassano, Dalla Casa, Rognoni and Bovicelli. Programme premiered at the Brighton Early Music Festival, 2003.

IL VERO MODO is a long-term project, rather than a single programme. Drawing on the talents of soprano Faye Newton, harpsichordist Steven Devine, and theorbist Richard Sweeney, together with cornettist Jamie Savan, Il Vero Modo’s approach is concerned with rediscovering techniques that musicians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries employed to perform (and often transform) music, in ways that sometimes went far beyond the original ideas of the composer. Il Vero Modo reached the finals of the York International Early Music Competition in 2003, and has since appeared on BBC Radio 3’s ‘The Early Music Show’ and made numerous festival appearances throughout the UK.

SONGS & DUETS OF MONTEVERDI AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. This programme combines expressive lyricism with virtuosity and improvisation. It includes some rarely performed gems by Merula, Donati and Cazzati. Premiered at the York Early Music Festival, 2003.

VESPERS a 4. Taking a creative approach to Monteverdi’s 1610 setting, and drawing on music by some of his Venetian contemporaries, this programme illustrates how large-scale church music can be transformed into devotional chamber music. We employ a range of historical techniques to reduce poly-choral textures into ravishing duets with continuo accompaniment. The music is further transformed by scintillating improvised ornamentation.

Demonstration recordings of extracts from our programmes are available to promoters on request. The Gonzaga Band has this year recorded a programme entitled Spargite flores: Music from the Age of Monteverdi. Watch this space for release information!