The Company of Musicians
The Company of Musicians is an ad hoc group that meets for regular music workshops with expert tutors. At the end of every workshop, we do an informal sing-through of the music we’ve learnt. These are usually in St Mary’s Church, Sawston, CB22 3JR at 6.15pm, and last for less than an hour.
We don’t dress up to sing and whoever has run the workshop will talk about the music we perform, so it’s all very informal - a great way to get to hear new music or try out classical music if you’re not sure what you like. You can also bring children along: there are toys for babies in the church, and because the performances are so short, children as young as one or two often enjoy them.
We usually sing music for voices from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but have also sung pieces by Elgar, Parry, Poulenc, Vaughan Williams, Britten, and many more.
(Conducted by Kieran Cooper, we’ve also sung the final concert in Sawston Music Festival since it started: in 2005, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle; in 2006 Orff’s Carmina Burana; in 2007 Brahms’s German Requiem, in 2008 Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen and Vivaldi’s Gloria, and in 2009 Mozart’s Mass in C minor. In 2010 we’ll be performing Haydn’s Nelson Mass.)
NEXT WORKSHOP
Our last workshop was directed by Sally Dunkley of the Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars and we sang music entirely by one of England’s greatest composers, William Byrd.
Another workshop was planned for Saturday 9 January, directed by Robert Hollingworth of I Fagiolini, but had to be postponed because of the snow. This was Italian heat in an English winter and we were going to sing pieces by Monteverdi, Wert, Palestrina and Gabrieli for five-voice consorts, and then Gabrieli’s Del gran tuonante for ten voices, with our usual sing-through in St Mary’s Church at 6.15pm. We’ll be arranging another date for this – perhaps in July...