Sample Programmes

Songs for Mary Hodgson

with harpsichordist Robert Howarth

A vibrant and fascinating programme of music written for one of the first women to appear on the English Stage at the turn of the c17th. It includes music first heard at Drury Lane Theatre, Lincoln's Inn Fields and Dorset Gardens, for plays such as Congreve's 'The Way of the World' and 'Don Quixote' by Thomas d'Urfey. It includes some real favourites, like John Eccles' 'Love's but the Frailty of the Mind', and 'Sweeter than Roses' by Henry Purcell.

Performed in 2004 at Salisbury Festival, and Bloomsbury Festival at UCL Bloomsbury.

Bardos Band

'Fayre, Feast and Festivitie'

Bardos Band celebrate the turning of the Year with an evening of musical mirth and melancholy, intimacy and fanfare. They breathe life into the festivities of the middle ages, through intimate song and vibrant instrumental music.

'The Oak of Two Greens'

A melting-pot of rare and beautiful music, woven around an ancient folktale; a resourceful harper charms his audience to sleep in order to steal their magical harp. The harp, known as 'The Oak of Two Greens' belonged to the Tuatha de Dannan - a tribe, according to legend, responsible for introducing music into Ireland.

'The Land of Castles'

Castille, the '-Land of Castles' in the 11th-14th centuries was a Christian kingdom, fighting wars against the threatening Moors and other invaders. We explore the rich legacy of the arts in the courts of kings such as the celebrated Alfonso X el Sabio, and other courts such as the Aragonese. Bardos Band perform an eclectic mix of music from the defeated and the victorious - Christian pilgrim songs, Sephardic Jewish and Arabic songs of love and suffering, the Cantigas de Santa Maria, and the Spanish equivalent of French Troubadour poetry.

'A Song of Nothing'

With these words of the first troubadour, the colourful Duke William IX of Acquitaine, Bardos Band follow the story of this well-travelled man. From his 12th century crusades to the Holy Lands and battles against the Moors in Spain, to Lands and battles against the Moors in Spain, to his life and loves in Southern France. This programme takes its inspiration from the music he may well have encountered during his travels: exotic Castilian music, the alluring sounds of Turkish instruments, and the songs of love and drink of the wandering Golliards.

'Sephardi'

The Jews of the Iberian Peninsula, the Sephardim, were to leave the Moorish rule in which their culture flourished when the Christian courts of Ferdinand and Isabella invaded in 1492. Their music was to survive their expulsion, and blossomed with the remarkable tradition of family story-telling through song. Women would pass the songs to their daughters, and a repertoire of haunting and exotic music still exists, through these songs, ballads and romances.

'Stella Splendens- Bright Star of the Mountain'

In this look at the medieval idea of Christmas from functional music to celebratory songs from around the medieval world, Bardos Band perform 15th century carols. Spanish pilgrim songs, music from English medieval drama, and traditional carols from Brittany, Galicia, and Isle of Man and Wales.

Phoenix Rising

'Charles Burney's Grand Tour of Europe'

A musical journey through 18th century European baroque music led by famous music historian Charles Burney and performed by Pan-European musicians Phoenix Rising. Includes excerpts from the writings of Music Historian Charles Burney and explores music by the composers he met on his travels.

Phoenix Rising have performed with Sophia throughout the country at Stratford-upon-Avon Festival, St. Neot's Festival, Oakham School Concert Series and at Utrecht Conservatorium Chapel.

Rosa Mundi

Songs and solos written for Lute and Theorbo, exploring the exquisite music that bridges the renaissance and baroque styles. CD Now Available.

'The Garden of Verses'

An enchanting programme in honour of the English Garden. Consists of Songs, Lute Solos, and readings, evoking the different seasons, and poetic images paralleling the place of man in nature.

'Songes of Sundrie Kindes'

All English music from the turn of the sixteenth century. In honour of the 400th anniversaries of both the publication of Thomas Greaves' first book of lute-songs by that name, and of John Dowland's 'Lachrymae' with it's various adaptions and settings.

'Zabaglione- a Musical Flummery'

Music from the early seventeenth century, explores what happened when the English Renaissance met the birth of the Italian Baroque style. It includes music for voice, and both Lute and Theorbo. Works by Kapsberger, Ferrabosco, Robert Jones, Campian and Coprario.