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ROUND TEN GRANT APPLICATIONS
Incantati
ENSEMBLE INFO
Ensemble Contact:
Rachel Stott
Email:
Ensemble Connect URL
UK Registered Charity No:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Project: to present two ‘showcase’ performances of our programme Counting the Hours, which was premiered to an enthusiastic audience in March 2025. The aim of the project is to present professional concerts in venues which cannot normally support professional fees and also to use these events to engage with other concert promoters. See paragraph 3 below.
Counting the Hours presents Bach's Goldberg Aria and the complete set of variations, some on harpsichord and others, including all of the canonic variations, on violin, viola d’amore & viola da gamba. The programme also includes medieval canons by John Dunstable, Edward Gibbons, Guillaume de Machaut and Niccolo da Perugia which follow the same format as the Bach canons – two canonic voices over a free bass. Each has a different 'twist' to the concept of a canon, just as each of Bach’s canonic Goldberg variations works at a different interval. Counterbalancing the medieval music, the audience hears 'music of nighttime', arrangements of pieces from Leos Janacek's On the Overgrown Path: The Little Owl Continues Screeching, So Unutterably Anxious and Good Night. Bizarre as it might seem to include Janacek in a programme of early music, it has a rationale, since Janacek was a keen composer for viola d'amore. The mood of these pieces also fits the theme of Counting the Hours. A narrator guides the audience through the programme, and some musical items are combined with spoken poetry or sung text.
The first concert is planned for Churchill College, Cambridge on 28th January 2026. The Recital Hall at Churchill has a David Rubio double manual harpsichord, making it an ideal venue for Counting the Hours. To this concert we will invite concert promoters from East Anglia and the East Midlands. Our other target audience will be students with emerging interest in early music. The second concert is planned for 29th January at Sands Music Room, Rotherhithe, which is perfect in a different way, having the appearance of a small 18th century theatre. To this performance we will invite concert promoters from Greater London, the Home Counties and the coastal counties of southern England, as well as alerting promoters further afield to the livestream. Our other target audience will be people not yet engaged with early music but who are attracted by the theme and narrative presentation of the event.
Neither of these venues holds ticketed events. Churchill College offers free concerts to its community of Fellows and students as well as the wider community. It has a small budget available to cover performers’ expenses. Sands Music invites audience donations but the room capacity is small so the revenue is not great. Sands Music also makes performances available as livestream, which attracts modest donations. Both venues offer performers AV recording for future promo purposes free of charge. For these reasons, they are ideal for our purposes, except that there is insufficient revenue to pay performer fees
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Project: to present two ‘showcase’ performances of our programme Counting the Hours, which was premiered to an enthusiastic audience in March 2025. The aim of the project is to present professional concerts in venues which cannot normally support professional fees and also to use these events to engage with other concert promoters. See paragraph 3 below.
Counting the Hours presents Bach's Goldberg Aria and the complete set of variations, some on harpsichord and others, including all of the canonic variations, on violin, viola d’amore & viola da gamba. The programme also includes medieval canons by John Dunstable, Edward Gibbons, Guillaume de Machaut and Niccolo da Perugia which follow the same format as the Bach canons – two canonic voices over a free bass. Each has a different 'twist' to the concept of a canon, just as each of Bach’s canonic Goldberg variations works at a different interval. Counterbalancing the medieval music, the audience hears 'music of nighttime', arrangements of pieces from Leos Janacek's On the Overgrown Path: The Little Owl Continues Screeching, So Unutterably Anxious and Good Night. Bizarre as it might seem to include Janacek in a programme of early music, it has a rationale, since Janacek was a keen composer for viola d'amore. The mood of these pieces also fits the theme of Counting the Hours. A narrator guides the audience through the programme, and some musical items are combined with spoken poetry or sung text.
The first concert is planned for Churchill College, Cambridge on 28th January 2026. The Recital Hall at Churchill has a David Rubio double manual harpsichord, making it an ideal venue for Counting the Hours. To this concert we will invite concert promoters from East Anglia and the East Midlands. Our other target audience will be students with emerging interest in early music. The second concert is planned for 29th January at Sands Music Room, Rotherhithe, which is perfect in a different way, having the appearance of a small 18th century theatre. To this performance we will invite concert promoters from Greater London, the Home Counties and the coastal counties of southern England, as well as alerting promoters further afield to the livestream. Our other target audience will be people not yet engaged with early music but who are attracted by the theme and narrative presentation of the event.
Neither of these venues holds ticketed events. Churchill College offers free concerts to its community of Fellows and students as well as the wider community. It has a small budget available to cover performers’ expenses. Sands Music invites audience donations but the room capacity is small so the revenue is not great. Sands Music also makes performances available as livestream, which attracts modest donations. Both venues offer performers AV recording for future promo purposes free of charge. For these reasons, they are ideal for our purposes, except that there is insufficient revenue to pay performer fees
PROJECT COSTS
Number of performers:
Instrumentalists:
Vocalists:
Other:
4
1
0
Project Income (£):
Ticketing/Fees:
Public Funding:
Other trusts/foundations - confirmed
Other trusts/foundations - pending
Other
Income - Total sources
650
0
0
0
500
1150
Project Expenses (£):
Artists' fees
Artists' travel/accommodation
Venue - Rehearsal/Concert:
Recording/Filming:
Marketing/Publicity:
Management/Contingency:
2500
715
700
0
100
Total Project Costs:
4015
Amount (£) of Grant Requested:
2865
Detailed Budget (Download):
IMPACT OF GRANT
Incantati has so far only performed in small-scale music series and festivals which could afford fees for 3 performers at most. To pursue Counting the Hours (5 performers) we need to market the group to festivals with larger funds. Our selected venues for this project are ideal for events to which we can invite other concert promoters. However, these venues cannot pay professional fees. Continuo Foundation funding could therefore have a huge impact in making these concerts viable.
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