AUGUST 2026 UPDATE
IN THIS UPDATE:
1. OUR IMPACT
OUR IMPACT
In August, 5 grantee ensembles presented a total of 9 concerts in 8 different locations across the UK, from Scotland to Somerset, sharing a vast array of repertoire with their audiences.
We were delighted with the feedback from Música d'Outrora, following the completion of their Continuo-funded 'Still Life' debut album launch tour to Edinburgh, Birmingham, York and Oxford:
We are enormously grateful to Continuo Foundation — for an emerging ensemble, support of this kind is genuinely enabling rather than merely helpful. The effect has continued well beyond the funded dates: the profile and momentum it helped build led directly to further engagements across 2026, deepened our relationships with leading early-music venues, and supported real professional development for our musicians. The promotion through Continuo Connect, both the newsletter features and our artist profile, extended the reach of our work considerably. The support has helped establish Música d'Outrora as a distinctive and bookable voice in UK early music — the foundation on which a lasting ensemble is built.
Continuo Foundation's cumulative impact:
£1,176,000 awarded to 123 ensembles
of which 41 emerging ensembles supported
1,460 freelance musician beneficiaries
438,000 audience beneficiaries
58 recording projects supported
40 new albums released
CONTINUO CONNECT IMPACT REPORT
Over the summer, we carried out an in-depth analysis of the impact of our Continuo Connect website and promotion activities on the UK early music scene over the past year (June 2025 - June 2026). We are delighted with the audience growth and geographical reach our team has been able to achieve, and the way this is amplifying the impact of our grants. We have also had wonderful feedback from audiences and musicians about the difference it makes to have this centralised hub and promotion resource for Early Music. Click below to access the report and find out more.
GRANTS & FUNDRAISING
A message from Tina Vadaneaux, Founder and CEO:
We have been overwhelmed by the sheer quality and creativity of the applications for Continuo's Grant Round 12. We received 57 proposals from UK period instrument ensembles, of which 24 are emerging groups formed since 2020. The future talent pipeline is looking very healthy!
There will be difficult decisions to make, with proposals ranked by our experts in the highest category of artistic merit amounting to £180,000 in requests. This means that many outstanding projects will not receive Continuo funding, a missed opportunity for musicians and audiences. Grant Round 12 award decisions will be announced on 24 September 2026.
In the meantime, we are working toward securing the £200,000 required for our 2027 grant rounds, with the ambition to raise sufficient funds and pledges to increase each round to £125k to reflect increased project costs, and to offer support to more groups.
If you would like to help us achieve this ambition, or if you know of an individual or trust who may be willing to do so, I would be delighted to speak with you.
Please contact Tina Vadaneaux by replying to this email or visit our Support Us page.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
Tabea Debus
Described by The Times as a 'charismatic virtuoso' Tabea Debus is constantly exploring the horizons of music for the recorder. As a soloist, collaborator and teacher, she travels widely and performs across Europe, Asia and the US, performing at Early Music series in London and San Francisco, Spoleto Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and collaborating with ensembles including La Serenissima, The English Concert and the English Baroque Soloists. In 2023, Tabea joined recorder quartet Palisander, whose theatrical concerts are devised for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Her keen interest in contemporary music for recorder has led to prize-winning commissions and premieres. She has held a recorder professorship at the HMTM Hannover since 2024, and became a visiting professor at GSMD in 2026. Passionate about outreach work, Tabea runs workshops for schoolchildren in the UK and abroad, and regularly leads masterclasses. Photo by Benjamin Ealovega
How has Continuo Foundation impacted your day-to-day life?
So many projects I’ve been fortunate to be involved with have been made possible by funding from Continuo Foundation - from working with La Serenissima or the Cedar Consort, to my latest venture with Palisander: the launch of our Palisander Playbook series and tour of playing days and concerts. I reckon my diary would be emptier (and less varied) without the Continuo Foundation. And it’s wonderful to be able to spend (at least part of) your days dreaming up and planning new musical adventures, having the security that Continuo is able to provide.
What new doors have opened for you since becoming a grantee?
It has helped keeping the “door" between the UK and Germany open for me: teaching (and performing) in Germany, and continuously returning to the UK to perform with ensembles here.
What do you love about being a musician?
The variety it brings to my life and the people I meet along the way! No week is the same as the last, travelling to places I would never otherwise discover and performing with wonderful colleagues and friends — what could be better?!
Where did you encounter the most receptive audience?
I find that audiences generally tend to be won over by the variety of the recorder and its music. But perhaps the most receptive and curious audiences I have found in schools. With Palisander, outreach work is central to what we do as a group, and its so rewarding to play for and with children of all backgrounds, and to give them an idea of what being a professional musician can be like.
No.1 listening recommendation?
(Of course, a recorder one!): 'Baroque Recorder Concertos' with Pamela Thorby and Sonnerie. I love these interpretations, and especially Pamela’s ornaments. This album inspired me to return to the UK to continue my studies here!
For more about Tabea Debus check out her Continuo Connect Interview.
AUGUST PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Ensemble Hesperi - Baroque Bridges
The combined forces of award-winning chamber group Ensemble Hesperi and the South African Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble came together for two performances, in Bath and in London. For this special collaborative project, the two ensembles presented a joyful programme of familiar favourites and lesser-known gems for strings, recorder and harpsichord, building musical bridges across time, borders and cultures. The programme included works by JS Bach, Telemann and Handel, a string symphony by the French composer and performer of African descent Joseph Bologne; and dances by British-African abolitionist and composer Ignatius Sancho. The concerts ended, as Buskaid concerts always do, with Kwela music, an improvised genre of street music with roots in traditional African township music and anti-apartheid protest songs, arranged and performed (with dance moves!) by members of the Buskaid Ensemble, all of whom are teachers as well as performers. Don't miss the beautiful rehearsal clip below.
Palisander - Palisander Playbook Live!
In August, recorder quartet Palisander led three of their 'Palisander Playbook Live!' event days, in Nettleham (Lincolnshire), Maidenhead and London. Celebrating the launch of Palisander’s new recorder ensemble sheet music range, each event day comprised a 'playing day' for amateur recorder players followed by an evening concert from Palisander open to the general public. Both parts draw on repertoire from the new Palisander Playbook editions, including arrangements of medieval, renaissance and baroque music for recorder ensemble, alongside new compositions inspired by the historical art of consort writing. The final two dates in the series are coming up in Edinburgh (17 Oct) and Ely (18 Oct).
NEW ALBUM ALERT
Baroque in the North - Friends in High Places
Best described as a delicate classical bagpipe, the musette’s patronage by Louis XIV meant that it became a novel plaything of composers, performers and makers seeking royal favour. However, by the 1760s it had become an integral part of French culture and music-making, featuring in music for the theatre, court and salon, and played by amateurs and virtuosi alike. Disappearing with the French Revolution, the musette was only rediscovered during the 1960s and this album showcases the instrument’s unique sound world and virtuosity in combination with baroque flute, baroque cello and harpsichord. The album has already received several outstanding reviews, including Pizzicato website's top award, the 'Supersonic Award': '...the performers do a formidable job of exploring the full range of possibilities vividly and with verve... Amanda Babington, the central protagonist of this journey into a unique world of sound, proves herself to be a skilled performer. Not only does she have technical mastery of the instrument, but she can also leap and dance through the notes. Her fellow instrumentalists carry this lively vision forward with great energy.' Listen to extracts below.
