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ROUND TEN GRANT APPLICATIONS
La Locura
ENSEMBLE INFO
Ensemble Contact:
Ana Beard Fernández
Email:
Ensemble Connect URL
UK Registered Charity No:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
We are seeking support for a Christmas concert of our new programme Nātīvitās, to be performed in December 2025 in St Clement Danes Church. This immersive, cross-cultural celebration of festive music brings together the Nativity with seasonal favourites from Jewish, Moorish, and secular song, through the lens of Mediterranean and New World traditions.
The full-length concert features medieval Galician cantigas, Sephardic Hanukkah melodies, Spanish villancicos, Neapolitan lullabies, and fragments of song from the early settlers of the New World, evoking the mysticism of winter celebrations across centuries and cultures. All repertoire has been specially researched and arranged for La Locura by Ana to suit our unique instrumental forces and explore the connections between oral traditions, folk and early music, and devotional song.
The six-strong ensemble comprises Ana Beard Fernández (voice & violin), Louise Duggan (percussion & voice), Iain Hall (recorders & cello), Matthew Jorysz (chamber organ), Oliver Wass (harp), and Konstantinos Glynos (kanun). Each musician brings a wealth of experience in historical performance, world traditions, and collaborative improvisation.
The concert is in partnership with Iberian and Latin American Music Society and Instituto Cervantes who are providing support in kind by marketing and publicising the concert. There is strong audience participation in the programme - each chorus is taught as a ‘call and response’ and sung by the whole ensemble; we will also share the stories behind the music and introduce unusual instruments such as the kanun and medieval percussion in an accessible way.
This project will create meaningful freelance work for each of the members of the ensemble, and enable us to deliver an ambitious, high-quality production that might otherwise be scaled down (or under-rehearsed!) due to budget constraints. We have already invested as an ensemble in a high quality video-recording of a preview of Nātīvitās that will be ready in time to promote this concert. Continuo Foundation’s support would allow us to assure fair fees to the group, invest further in marketing and publicising, develop key partnerships with venues and promoters, and consolidate our identity as a bold and culturally engaged new voice in the early music landscape.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
La Locura is a recently formed early music ensemble founded in 2024 by Ana Beard Fernández, bringing together instrumentalists and vocalists with shared interests in cross-cultural early repertoire. Our work is to connect early music with a modern audience, passing on oral traditions through historically informed performance.
The musicians of La Locura are all freelancers with extensive experience performing nationally and internationally with folk bands, and with groups including I Fagiolini, Florilegium, the English Baroque Soloists, the Academy of Ancient Music, Solomon’s Knot, and La Nuova Musica. The ensemble was formed to create space for exploratory projects that might fall outside the conventional concert hall.
Our launch programme Je suis la Folie premiered at Festival de La Gente (France), and was later performed in London at Handel & Hendrix House and St Clement Danes. Nātīvitās emerged as a natural next step, a way of reconnecting audiences with festive music rooted in storytelling, communal experience, and the evocative soundworlds of early instruments. From lively Sephardic dances to haunting villancicos, this concert is designed to be joyful, reflective, and moving, suitable for family audiences, early music enthusiasts, and newcomers alike.
All arrangements are original, created by Ana and the ensemble to showcase the melodic and rhythmic potential of our instruments, including kanun, medieval percussion, harp, violin, cello, recorders, chamber organ, and voice. The music is performed in its original languages, including Spanish, Gallego, Ladino, Neapolitan, and Latin, with spoken contextual introductions.
This project meets several Continuo Foundation criteria:
- High-calibre, diverse freelance instrumentalists
- Public performance (with potential for repeat dates)
- Innovative and culturally inclusive programming
- Original repertoire development
- Blending early and traditional idioms in historically informed performance
- Outreach and educational potential
- Long-term ensemble trajectory
We believe this performance will help establish La Locura’s artistic profile, support audience development in London and beyond, and create a festive moment of connection through unearthing and championing this beautiful, historically rich music.
PROJECT COSTS
Number of performers:
Instrumentalists:
Vocalists:
Other:
6
(6)
All 6 instrumentalists also sing in this programme
Project Income (£):
Ticketing/Fees:
Public Funding:
Other trusts/foundations - confirmed
Other trusts/foundations - pending
Other
Income - Total sources
1100
0
0
500
470
2070
Project Expenses (£):
Artists' fees
Artists' travel/accommodation
Venue - Rehearsal/Concert:
Recording/Filming:
Marketing/Publicity:
Management/Contingency:
5100
0
345
0
470
100
Total Project Costs:
6015
Amount (£) of Grant Requested:
3945
Detailed Budget (Download):
IMPACT OF GRANT
This grant would enable us to realise Nātīvitās at full scale: it would provide assured artist fees for rehearsal and performance, cover venue hire, and allow us to publicise/market the programme/ensemble for future promotion and touring. As a recently formed group, this would be a transformative step in building momentum, visibility, and credibility in the UK early music scene.
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Video from recently formed ensemble (if provided. If not, the CF 'Happy Holidays' video will appear by default)
PDF of detailed programme notes (if provided):
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