APRIL UPDATE
- Continuo Foundation
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
IN THIS UPDATE:
1. OUR IMPACT
IMPACT - FEEDBACK AND FIGURES
In April, 8 grantee ensembles presented a total of 12 concerts in 12 different locations across the UK. In addition, Musical & Amicable Society released their latest album Fiddlers Three.
The following comment from Wessex Baroque Collective, following their recent grant award, is a testament to the vital role of our grants in enabling programmes to tour to rural venues:
This grant from Continuo Foundation is transformative for Wessex Baroque Collective. As rural venues cannot sustain professional fees through ticket sales alone, this support makes our tour viable while enabling imaginative programming and widening access to both early and new music on period instruments for rural communities.
Continuo Foundation's cumulative impact:
£1,176,000 awarded to 123 ensembles
of which 41 emerging ensembles supported
1,395 freelance musician beneficiaries
400,000 audience beneficiaries
59 recording projects supported
37 new albums released
PARTNERSHIP: BUXTON INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
We are excited to expand our partnership with the Buxton International Festival to create more opportunities for Continuo grantee ensembles, especially emerging groups. The 2026 Festival will include concerts by Vache Baroque (18, 20 July), Newe Vialles (21 July) and Música d'Outrora (22 July). In addition, following their Continuo-supported Buxton 2025 debut performances of Charpentier's La Descente d'Orphée, Vache Baroque will return with a new production of Francesca Caccini's La liberazione di Ruggiero (15-21 July), also supported by a Continuo grant. Tina Vadaneaux, Founder & CEO of Continuo, comments: Together we are further enriching the high quality baroque and early music offering for audiences across the country, and enabling these young musicians to raise their profiles by performing at such a prestigious festival.
COMING SOON: OXFORD EARLY MUSIC WEEKEND
Building on the success of Oxford Early Music Day 2025, we are thrilled to collaborate again with Oxford Festival of the Arts on an expanded Early Music Weekend (20 and 21 June). This will include concerts by Continuo grantees Palisander, Bellot Ensemble and Lowe Ensemble, and a Continuo-supported Emerging Ensemble Showcase with Música d'Outrora, performing the programme from their debut album Still Life, which we also supported. The Festival has arranged an Early Music Evensong with New College Choir at New College Chapel on Saturday and opportunities to hear Dowland's Foundry performing from an original Dowland manuscript in The Old Library at Magdalen College on Sunday. The weekend culminates in an Elizabethan song recital by tenor Nicholas Mulroy and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny. We hope to see you there!
CONTINUO CONNECT BREAKS NEW RECORD
Early Music is flourishing. It was thrilling to see the number of upcoming events being promoted on Continuo Connect reach its highest ever level - surpassing 500 concerts! Do visit the What's On page to find a concert near you using our improved map search.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
with Miriam Monaghan
Described as 'an incredible player' (Classic FM) Miriam Monaghan leads a varied career as a recorder player, conductor, composer / arranger and teacher. After graduating from Guildhall School of Music, she became the first recorder player to be profiled in BBC Music Magazine's Rising Star: Great Artists of Tomorrow. Miriam has recorded for Disney at Abbey Road Studios; won a City Music Foundation award for soloists and was asked by Classic FM to give a recorder lesson to former Top Gear presenter James May. Miriam is a founding member of Palisander recorder quartet, an ensemble which tours internationally, and has received several awards. Miriam acts as the group's music director, curating programmes and arranging or composing much of the group's repertoire. Photo by Holly Cade
How has Continuo Foundation impacted your day-to-day life?
Continuo Foundation has rejuvenated our creative approach to project planning, allowed projects to develop in ways previously very difficult to realise, and encouraged autonomy as an ensemble. Lifting a little of the financial weight has allowed us to follow our creative instincts and steer the ensemble in the way we feel best.
What new doors have opened for you since becoming a grantee?
We have been able to reach new audiences in person (such as on the Isle of Wight and in Liverpool) and online; and make new connections with promoters, venues and series. Being a grantee has allowed us to experiment with alternative concert formats: such as an online concert collaborating with visual arts, and in our Playbook Live! events, working with the amateur recorder community in the UK.
What do you love about being a musician?
It’s an absolute dream come true to play recorder for a living. I love all the different aspects of a portfolio career, but especially the chance to collaborate and make music with other people. I absolutely love the feeling of stepping on stage and connecting with an audience - only made better when you can share with lovely colleagues.
Where did you encounter the most receptive audience?
Three concerts really stand out here: on the Isle of Eigg in Scotland, where the whole community turned out and it had a really party atmosphere; at the Recorder Summer School in 2022, it was so special to share the concert with more than a hundred die-hard recorder fans who were really willing us on; and lastly at a Refugee Camp just outside Athens. We performed an interactive concert for children and their families and I don’t know if we’ve ever played to a more receptive room.
No.1 listening recommendation?
One album I always go back to is Il Giardino Armonico - Viaggio Musicale.
For more about Miriam Monaghan check out her Continuo Connect Interview.
APRIL PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Sestina Music - Bach Easter Oratorio
Sestina Music performed Bach's Easter Oratorio in Belfast to great success, with one of the largest audiences the ensemble has ever attracted. This concert marked Sestina's 15th anniversary. It featured their 2025/26 Next Generation Artists alongside some of the finest baroque instrumentalists and singers from across the UK and Ireland, under the direction of Malachy Frame. Sestina commented: Continuo Foundation is one of the vital organs keeping early music alive and thriving here in Northern Ireland - it is amazing and so appreciated.
Sabi Ensemble - By Special Arrangement
Emerging group Sabi Ensemble presented an exciting new programme 'By Special Arrangement' in Norwich at the end of April. Showcasing original and reimagined works for string quintet by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Louise Farrenc and George Onslow, the programme focused on arrangements - both composer-created and ensemble-devised - and brought music from the margins to centre stage. Continuo's grant supported the concert as well as the filming of highlights from several of the works in the programme.
The Telling - Purcell, The Musical
The Telling began their UK-wide tour of 'Purcell, The Musical' in April, with concerts so far in Wolverhampton, Lewes, Swansea, Glasgow and Edinburgh. This concert-play by award-winning writer Clare Norburn with BAFTA-nominated director Nicholas Renton, explores the life of Henry Purcell through drama interwoven with his music. You can catch further performances in May and June in Cardiff, London, Manchester, Beverley and Devon. The final performance will be at Oxford Festival of the Arts on 6 June. Photo by Robert Piwko
NEW ALBUM ALERT
Musical & Amicable Society - Fiddlers Three
Musical & Amicable Society, directed by Martin Perkins, released Fiddlers Three. The album presents an astonishingly varied cross-section of music associated with Charles II’s ‘Private Musick’ - one of several groups of musicians working at the English court in the 17th century. According to biographer Roger North, Charles had an ‘utter detestation of Fancys’ and the period saw the emergence of the violin as the string instrument of choice. The album includes music by Purcell, Jenkins and Finger, plus little-known gems by Preston, Baltzar, Mell, Pietkin and Isaack. There is also a brilliant set of variations on La Folia by Nicola Matteis. The album is available to purchase on Barn Cottage Records and to stream on major platforms. Click below to hear 'Fantasia Suite in A minor' by John Jenkins (1592-1678).
