Southern Early Music Forum

Workshop directed by David Allinson
2023-11-18 10:30 - 17:00 (Europe/London)
Regina Caeli: Polychoral Motets for Mary

David Allinson will direct a live workshop of larger-scale works for voices and instruments.

Scaynes Hill (near Haywards Heath)

This workshop is now full. At this time of year there could be some late cancellations, so we are maintaining a waiting list.

If you would like to come, please book online via this link but DON’T pay at this stage. We will let you know if a place becomes available – inevitably, this may be at short notice.

Online booking form (preferred)

Download further details and the postal booking form (pdf)

What about Weelkes?
2023-10-28 10:30 - 17:00
Live workshop for singers on the music of Weelkes, led by Will Dawes and Katie Banks.

Weelkes died on 30th November 1623.

Bosham, near Chichester

On-line booking form (preferred)

Download paper booking form and further details

Bach’s B minor Mass
2023-09-17 10:30 - 17:00
Live workshop directed by John Hancorn on choruses from Bach’s B minor Mass, for singers and orchestra (ie appropriate instruments!)

Pitch A=440.

Headcorn, Kent

12 September: still room for a few more sopranos

Online booking form (preferred)

Further details and paper booking form (PDF)

Verse Anthems
2023-06-24 10:30 - 17:00
A workshop for voices and instruments on Verse Anthems (Byrd and his contemporaries) on Saturday 24th June directed by Bill Hunt.

Voices, viols, and soft wind (recorders, flutes, well-behaved bass curtals) are all welcome. (Verses will be sung by sections, not as solos, so all singers will have plenty to do!)

*** Workshop full apart from one / two bass singers and maybe an instrument.
*** Please join the waiting list for all other parts.

On-line booking form (preferred)

Download further details and paper booking form (PDF)

The deadline for booking is 7th June.

Workshop for instruments
2023-04-30 10:30 - 17:00
Directed by Emily White

Sunday 30 April 2023 @ 10:30 am – 5:00 pm

Normandy Village Hall (just NW of Guildford)

Online booking form (preferred)

Download further details and paper booking form (PDF)

Not mortals but angels
2023-03-11 10:30 - 17:00
Convent polyphony from the 13th – 16th centuriesWorkshop for female voices plus instruments

Directed by Laurie Stras

Saturday 11 March 2023 @ 10:30 am – 5:15 pm

Bosham Village Hall

For female voices (SAT) plus strings, soft wind, and continuo instruments. Booking for this event closed on 28th February. We will only be able to accept late applications if someone cancels. If you would like to join the waiting list please apply using the online booking form, but do not pay at this stage.

Download flier and paper booking form

Online booking form (preferred)

Byrd and his contemporaries
2023-02-18 10:30 - 17:00
Directed by John Bryan

Scaynes Hill Village Centre

Saturday 18 February 2023 @ 10:30 am – 5:00 pm

William Byrd died 400 years ago, in 1623, an octogenarian whose long life witnessed much change, in the monarchy, the church, and in English society. A Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, he served Queen Elizabeth and James I loyally, but his sympathies lay with the Catholic recusants who continued to worship in secret in the pre-Reformation manner. As a musician he contributed masterpieces to virtually all the styles of his day: music for English services; mass ordinaries and Latin motets for his Catholic friends; songs for plays and for the home, ranging from devout psalm settings to pastoral topics; instrumental consort music; and keyboard music.

This workshop will explore pieces from several of these genres: we will concentrate on parts of the Mass for Four Voices, Latin motets and more ‘ceremonial’ Anglican Elizabethan music. We will also explore some of Byrd’s secular songs and the instrumentalists will also have the opportunity to give the singers a breather by working on one or two dance pieces.

We will adopt a practice that we know Byrd used on at least one occasion in 1580, when he performed music for a recusant mass ‘with instruments’: appropriate instruments (viols, violins, recorders, cornetts, sackbuts, well-behaved dulcians) are invited to join with the singers, and there will be scope for lute or harp to supply continuo if players are happy to work from bass parts and/or scores. We will also put Byrd’s music into its historical framework by investigating pieces by his predecessors in Tudor England such as Philip Van Wilder and Thomas Tallis.

Please note: Altos now full. Room for two more tenors.

Online booking form

Further details and paper booking form

Tradition and invention in the sacred music of William Byrd
2023-02-02 19:30 - 21:00
‘Framed to the life of the words’Tradition and invention in the sacred music of William ByrdAn online talk by David Allinson

Thursday 2 February 2023, 7.30–9.00 pm

William Byrd died on 4th July 1623. This year is certain to see many workshops, concerts and recordings celebrating his achievement. In this live Zoom talk David Allinson will take the opportunity to explore the elements that made Byrd the outstanding English composer of his generation. What did he inherit from early Tudor English music? What did he synthesise from contemporary influences? And what did he bequeath to following generations of musicians?

Focusing on a selection of key pieces, David will trace Byrd’s career, from prodigiously talented apprentice soaking up styles and techniques inherited from Taverner and Tallis to Janus-like journeyman, simultaneously the ornament of Elizabeth’s Chapel Royal and conscience of recusant Catholics. Finally, in his last works we find a master composer seamlessly melding English and continental traditions to create sublime music in the service of his religious community.

David will identify the elements that formed Byrd’s style and, along the way, try to explain why his music is frequently so tricky to sight-read!

Click here to book online.

Download flier with further information.

Live workshop directed by Patrick Craig
2022-11-12 10:30 - 17:00
More music inspired by the two Marys, (plus some of the pieces mentioned in Patrick’s September Zoom talk), with an emphasis on Spanish/Portuguese composers.

For voices plus strings (especially lower strings) and lower soft wind (eg Bass and GB recorders).

Booking is now open.Go to online booking form or download further information and paper booking form (PDF).

Workshop for voices and instruments
2022-10-09 10:30 - 17:00
Directed by Gawain Glenton

Smarden Charter Hall, Smarden (near Ashford), Kent.

This workshop will focus on the works of Heinrich Schütz and his lesser-known German 17th-century contemporaries such as Johann Stadlmayr, Hans Leo Hassler and Johann Staden.

Pitch is A=440.

N.B. The event will take place on a Sunday.

Download booking form and further details (pdf).

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary" - Zoom talk
2022-09-22 20:00
Zoom talk by Patrick Craig on music inspired by the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene.

Some of the greatest music ever written has been inspired by the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. Both women have been shrouded in myths and misunderstandings which a deeper investigation of art, scripture and poetry can help to unravel. Glorious music by Manchicourt, Monteverdi, Mouton and many more will help enrich our understanding of these iconic women.

The session will be recorded so you will be able to view it for a limited time after the event even if you can’t make the date.

Download the flyer with further information. The flyer contains the link to the booking form which can also be downloaded here. Please fill the form in even if you’ve already said you’re planning to come – you’re not booked in until you do!

Fee: There is a minimum charge of £5.00 to attend this event; if you are able and would like to contribute more to show your support for Patrick and other musicians, this would be much appreciated. 50% of receipts above Patrick’s agreed fee will go to the charity Help Musicians. The balance (after deducting any expenses) will go to Patrick.

Associated Live Event on Saturday 12 November 2022

SEMF will also be running a live workshop with Patrick Craig at Bosham, near Chichester, on Saturday 12th November. The music will be linked to, but probably not identical to, the music Patrick uses in this Zoom session – but you’ll be able to appreciate either event without participating in the other.For further information, see the Events page.

Handel, 'Israel in Egypt'
2022-06-04 10:30 - 17:30
A live workshop for voices and instruments directed by John Hancorn.

We have a treat in store on Saturday 4th June in Chichester – we’ve booked John Hancorn to direct a (live) workshop for SEMF on Handel’s Israel in Egypt – lots of dramatic choruses for double choir! The workshop is open to singers, strings, and specified wind and brass instruments – see the attached flyer/booking form for more details.
Pitch will be A=415 (violin family string players please note – but you do NOT have to have a baroque instrument).
The workshop fee includes provision of music on the day – vocal scores for singers and parts for players.If you have any questions about this event, please contact the organiser, SEMF member Malcolm Keeler, at keelermt@gmail.com.

Venue is St George’s Church, Whyke, Chichester.

Online booking form

Download further details and paper booking form (PDF).

Machaut and the Magic of the Mediaeval
2022-04-30 10:30 - 17:00
Scaynes Hill Village Centre, near Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH17 7PG

A live workshop directed by Lizzie Gutteridge.

This workshop will offer an introduction to some of Machaut’s most famous works, alongside a few less familiar numbers and a brief foray into the earlier Montpelier Manuscript where music from the previous generation provides us with some context. We’ll cover the poetic song forms of virelais & rondeau, including the well known Douce dame jolie and Ma fin est mon commencement. Where these are monophonic we’ll look at approaches to building an arrangement with drones and countermelodies. We’ll take some time to get used to navigating the forms and relishing the harmonies in the polyphonic works, which can be startling at first to the modern ear but have a logic and richness that’s worth pursuing. Meanwhile we’ll tackle some of the easier mass movements and also the Hoquetus David, composed in one of Machaut’s more backward looking moments, and will compare with an earlier hocket from the Montpellier manuscript, and while we’re there we’ll take a look at one or two motets on the same tenor.

Electronic booking form

Paper booking form and further details

Alison Kinder live workshop for voices & instruments
2022-04-02 10:30 - 17:00
Bosham near Chichester

Alison Kinder invites singers and instrumentalists to join her on a musical “Grand Tour” of Europe – Candlemas in Germany, Lent in Spain, Italy for Easter (with Ascension day in Venice), and returning home for summer in England. Lots of gorgeous music – you can find more details on the flyer (see link below).

Pitch A=440.

Early booking advised, as numbers will be limited.

Click here to download the flier for important information about the event and how to book (PDF file).

Online booking preferred – but if you’d rather book by post there’s a printable form at the end of the flyer.

Click here for direct access to the online booking form

Rory McCleery on Gesualdo's 5-part motets
2022-03-10 19:30 - 21:00
Zoom event.

Book now for this Zoom workshop led by Rory McCleery (founder and director of the Marian Consort) on Gesualdo’s motets. A dramatic story and some gorgeous music! In this workshop Rory will focus on Gesualdo’s collection of motets for 5 voices, showing how these combined mellifluous polyphony like Palestrina’s with the chromatic style developed by the madrigal composers of Ferrara (Rore, Luzzaschi, de Wert and others). Scores will be available to download so that you can sing or play along with the music if you wish to do so.

To find out more, and to book your place, click here for the flyer and a link to the booking form. Or you can access the booking form directly here.

If you’d have liked to join us but can’t make the date, book now and you’ll be able to watch a recording of the event afterwards.

David Allinson live workshop for singers
2022-02-26 10:30 - 17:00 | Headcorn Village Hall, Church Lane, Headcorn, TN27 9NR
Headcorn

We are pleased to announce that we are running a live choral workshop with David Allinson on Saturday 26 February at Headcorn in Kent. Covid permitting! It is called ‘Preserve us O Lord! – Harmonious music for distracted tymes’.

Music has long been a source of consolation and strength at times of crisis and uncertainty; the pandemic has only served to underline how important it is. As we recover from months during which choral singing has been suspended, and amid continuing uncertainty, David Allinson offers a day of balm for the soul: music drawn mostly from the evening service of compline, whose texts speak of protection, mercy and salvation. The link to the flyer with all details is below.

Note that booking for this event will give you a chance to watch (again) the recording of David’s zoom session on music for Compline last October called ‘Before the ending of the day’. This includes his comments, together with performances, of some of the pieces we hope to sing at the workshop.

This is David’s eighteenth workshop for SEMF, tribute enough to the popularity of these events. It will fill up quickly so don’t delay!

Download further details and booking form as PDF file or Word document.

Patrick Craig on Chant and Polyphony
2022-01-17 20:00 - 21:30
Zoom event

As a beacon of light in the dark days of January, Patrick Craig will lift our spirits with a zoom session on ‘Chant and the origins of Polyphony’. The Old Testament book of Psalms is full of exhortations to worship God with song. But for the majority of history music has been shared without it ever being written down.

Patrick will trace the origins of chant, the birth of polyphony and the invention of notation. He will feature some of the most imaginative and spectacular pieces of music that are based on a foundation of Gregorian chant. He will also reflect on his recent experience of leading his all-female professional choir Aurora Nova through a full 24 hour marathon of chant, recreating the monastic services of the Divine Office.

The session will be recorded so you will be able to view it for a limited time after the event even if you can’t make the date.

Click here for the online booking form.

The link to the booking form is also in the flier: Download further details (PDF file)
