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This Merry Pleasant Spring
It is still February, but I started to see some signs of Spring… so here is the notification of Sound Bridge Birmingham’s next concert to celebrate coming spring!
This Merry Pleasant Spring
Saturday 12 March 6-7pm
at St. Mary’s Parish Church, Handsworth B20 2RW
Join us for an evening of English Renaissance music, celebrating the joy of spring! Soprano, Faye Newton, lutenist, Lynda Sayce and a baroque violinist Miki Takahashi will join together to play some of the famous tunes from Dowland, Campion, Holborne and others including Greensleeves.
An hour long concert at the beautiful St. Mary’s Parish Church, Handsworth will surely lift your spirits.
Programme includes:
John Dowland: ‘Flow my tears’ ‘Now O Now I needs must part’
Johann Schop: Lachrime Pavan
Anthony Holborne: Pavane
Anon. This Merry Pleasant Spring, Greensleeves
We will give a short explanation about what we will be performing, so no early music knowledge is required.
Tickets are now on sale at the following link.
https://www.trybooking.co.uk/BMDE
Adult £12, Youth (under25) £6, Children (under 16) £3
Health and Safety:
We will fully follow the government guideline and health and safety guidelines of St. Mary’s Parish Church at the time of the concert. However, out of the respect of others, please consider waring face coverings and keep sensible social distance to other group of people at the church. We also aim to refund the ticket price (minus booking fees) if anyone cannot attend the concert because of the covid related reasons.
It will be free seating system, but I am going to make a socially distanced seating area. Please contact a personnel at the concert upon arrival if you wish to stay socially distanced.
Introducing artists:
Faye Newton (Soprano)
Faye Newton enjoys a diverse repertoire spanning some six centuries and embracing many aspects of the solo voice, from intimate lute-song recitals and consort singing to baroque opera and collaborations with leading orchestras and choirs on the European scene for historically-informed performance. For over a decade she performed as a soloist with the New London Consort, most notably at the BBC Proms and in Jonathan Miller’s productions of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Faye can often be heard performing solo-voice Bach Cantatas with the Feinstein Ensemble at St Martin in the Fields and Kings Place, London. In 2009 Faye made her solo debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, performing Handel’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and in 2013 she was invited to perform in Koopman’s Féstival Itinéraire Baroque en Périgord with the Netherlands-based ensemble Caecila-Concert.
Faye has a particular love for the music of Monteverdi and his contemporaries and performs this repertoire regularly with the Gonzaga Band. Their recent, critically acclaimed, recordings include Venice 1629 (2018) and Amadio Freddi: Vespers (2019) on the Resonus Classics label. Faye also features on Andrew Parrott’s recording of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, singing the role of Euridice.
Lynda Sayce (Lute)
Lynda Sayce is one of Britain’s leading lutenists with more than 100 recordings to her name. She is principal lutenist with La Serenissima, The King’s Consort and Ex Cathedra, and has collaborated with leading historical-informed ensembles such as Le Concert d’Astrée, Les Talens Lyriques and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She also directs her own ensemble, the lute quartet Chordophony.
She also works regularly with modern instrument groups, especially opera companies, and was invited by Sir Simon Rattle to play continuo for the Berlin Philharmonic’s epic staging of Bach’s Matthew Passion which toured Europe and the USA.
Also active as a scholar and researcher, Lynda holds a PhD on the history of the theorbo, which is shortly to be published. She teaches lute and continuo at Birmingham University.
Miki Takahashi (Baroque violin)
Ms. Miki Takahashi is a period violinist, performing as a soloist and a chamber musician world wide. After Miki has studied at Toho-Gakuen University of Music with Koichiro Harada and at the Royal Conservatory of Music with Professor Lorand Fenyves in Toronto (Canada), she has switched her major to historical violin and completed the postgraduate degree at the Univesity of Arts in Berlin with Irmgard Huntgeburth in Germany.
Shortly after Miki has moved to Berlin, she won first prize and the special prize for stylistic ornamentation at the Third International Telemann Competition in Magdeburg,Germany. Also on the same year, she was awarded with the first prize as well as the audience prize at the International Music Competition Musica Antiqua in Bruges.
Miki has made solo appearances with various ensembles including les Nations Japan, Musica Fiorita, Il Gardelino, Ensemble San Soucis Berlin, Brandenburg Baroque Soloists and Collegium Musicum 90. She is currently a leader of St. James’s Baroque, principal first/second violinist with Feinstein Ensemble and a founding member of 2 to Link(Historical Violin&Viola Duo) and Turini Ensemble. Ms. Takahashi is also an enthusiastic teacher and currently she is a guest historical violin coach at the University of Birmingham.
