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IN THIS UPDATE:
5. NEW ALBUM ALERT
IMPACT - FEEDBACK AND FIGURES
In February, eight grantee ensembles presented a total of fourteen concerts, in twelve UK locations. Londinium Consort completed recording sessions for their debut album Crossing Paths, and The Orlando Gibbons Project released the latest in its series of recordings with the Magdalena Consort, Fretwork and His Majesty's Sagbutts & Cornetts, directed by William Hunt.
We were delighted to read this wonderful feedback from an audience member in Sutton Coldfield, shared with us by grantee ensemble Sounds Historical reporting on their '600 Years!' concert tour:
"My son aged 11 and I had a wonderful evening at the concert. The historical journey through music was wonderfully curated. Sounds Historical's use of period instruments added an authentic layer to the performance, transporting the audience back in time. Their ability to blend music with insightful commentary about the historical context of each piece made the performance both educational and captivating. I also appreciated the group’s effort to introduce and explain their instruments and the composers, making the event more engaging and accessible. The ensemble's passion for early music was evident, and it significantly enhanced the overall experience. My son, who already plays the piano, now wants to play the lute!"
Continuo Foundation's impact since inception:
£850,000 awarded to 102 ensembles
1,126 freelance musician beneficiaries
261,000 audience beneficiaries
26 CD recordings released so far
FUNDRAISING - 2025 GRANTS
A message from Tina Vadaneaux, Founder and CEO:
February was a busy month, due in large part to the incredible response to our ninth grant round. Sixty-three ensembles submitted applications, the largest number since covid. A third of these were from emerging ensembles, formed since 2020, and twenty-two applications were from groups which have not yet benefited from Continuo grants.
The Advisory Panel and Trustees have been enjoying reading the creative proposals in need of funding and, as always, we will aim to support as many as possible with the £100,000 available. However, with a very high overall standard and grant requests exceeding funds available several times over, there will inevitably be strong projects which we will not be able to support.
Rigorously evaluating and selecting the projects which will receive the new grant awards will be our primary focus until 21 March, when the results are announced.
As Continuo's total grant awards approach the £1,000,000 milestone, we are very aware that our success in enabling early music and musicians to flourish is due to the wonderful generosity of our donors and the outstanding work of the Continuo team - my heartfelt thanks goes out to all of you.
Of course there is still significant work to be done to raise the funding required to make our plans for 2025-2027 a reality. If you would like to discuss how you can help, I would be delighted to speak with you. Please contact me at tina@continuofoundation.co.uk.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
with Oliver Webber
Oliver Webber has been specialising in historical violins and their relatives since the early 1990s. He has been a passionate advocate for bringing research and performance together: his work in the field of string-making has been transformative, inspiring individuals and ensembles worldwide. Oliver has a particular fascination for the art of ornamentation: he teaches courses on ornamentation in a range of styles for singers and instrumentalists at the Guildhall School in London, where he is a professor of baroque violin and viola. Oliver is also the founder and director of Monteverdi String Band, whose performances have been inspired by literature, science and the carnival entertainments of the Venetian nobility.
How has Continuo Foundation impacted your day-to-day life?
Continuo has become a friendly and supportive presence in the world of historical performance in all sorts of ways. Access to funding has been a crucial element: one can feel very alone when trying to persuade promoters to commit funds to your particular programming ideas, and Continuo offers a very much more musician-friendly approach to applying for financial support.
Of course, not every application can be successful, but the knowledge that there is an organisation ‘on our side’ which wants to support interesting projects is very reassuring. Seeing members of the Continuo team regularly at concerts is a lovely reminder of how in touch they are with what we actually do!
The evolving Continuo Connect website is also very exciting, offering a new way to keep in touch with colleagues and audience members, and to reach new ones.
What new doors have opened for you since becoming a grantee?
The most important thing for me is the sense that ambitious or complicated musical projects are not necessarily out of reach! For many years we relied on Arts Council funding for larger projects, which became harder and harder to apply for – in terms of both the application process itself and the chance of a successful outcome. Our last project before Covid was a London production of our ‘Galileo’ programme, something we were really proud of; however, we learnt only a few weeks before that our second attempt at ACE funding had been rejected, and we had to cut back on players, rehearsal time, and various other things – the performance was a success, but extremely stressful as a result of these compromises. It so happened that this was our last performance before lockdown, so it marked a rather sorry turning point in everyone’s fortunes!
Our first post-lockdown project was The Madrigal Reimagined, which we have just released on Resonus Classics, thanks in large part to Continuo Foundation grants (for concerts and for the recording itself). Continuo's user-friendly application process had me in tears of relief the first time I applied! So, although work is in general somewhat thinner on the ground since Covid, Continuo provides a little optimism for us all.
What do you love about being a musician?
Music is fundamentally ‘live’ by nature in an age of digital media, instant ‘content’, pausing Netflix while you make a cup of tea, etc. When you’re performing, everyone lives in the moment in a way which I think we all need but find increasingly hard to achieve. In the historical performance world in particular, preparing and performing is a constant learning experience. There is always motivation to refresh one’s knowledge: everything from instrument & bow design to styles of ornamentation to programme planning offers a chance to learn more, and being very much the eternal student, I find this wonderfully rewarding.
Where did you encounter the most receptive audience?
I think the most rewarding performance I’ve had with MSB was in Edinburgh, where we presented ‘The Madrigal Transformed’, a purely instrumental programme with readings from cultural and intellectual figures of the early 17th century. Not only did they show their appreciation amply during the performance, but we had some wonderful conversations with audience members afterwards, on topics ranging from Monteverdi’s style and ornamentation to the rhetoric of Galileo’s argumentation. We felt very much at home.
More recently, at the suggestion of the Roman River Festival in Essex, we have begun collaborations with youth choirs; in September, we were joined by the Wyvenhoe Youth Choir, who sang several choruses in a sequence from Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Of course, parents in the audience certainly helped with the levels of enthusiasm, but we felt a wonderful combination of warmth and excitement from the audience.
No.1 listening recommendation?
Giovanni Cantarini's recording ‘Udite Selve’ from the album Sulla Lira. This wonderful singer embodies the intimate connection between poetry and its musical setting better than anyone I’ve heard!
More about Oliver Webber is available in his Continuo Connect Interview.
FEBRUARY PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Saraband - Twickenham, Kenwood House and Kew Palace
Saraband performed three concerts in February. Their Painted Ladies programme was presented in the beautiful setting of Kenwood House's Music Room, surrounded by portraits by leading 18th century painters. The programme wove together music and stories by and about 18th-century ladies, actresses, courtesans and milkmaids. Saraband also performed The Twickenham Set, exploring the artistic circles of the area through some of its famous residents: Swift, Pope, Hogarth, Walpole, attracting an enthusiastic audience of well over 100. Don't miss the final concert in the series at Kew Palace on 4 May.
Dialogue Viols - Before the Guillotine
Dialogue Viols presented three concerts, in Blackheath, Chipping Norton and Barnstaple, celebrating music for the pardessus de viole, the quinton (hybrid viol/violin) and the viola da gamba in the period before the French Revolution in their programme Before the Guillotine. Tracing the evolution of the viol, the programme explores music by Hotteterre, Morel, Dandrieu, Corelli, Leclair, Marais and Forqueray. Dialogue Viols will record this programme in the coming months. The rehearsal clip below offers a taste of the Courante from Forqueray's ‘Pièces a trios violes.’
Ensemble Molière - Hidden Gems
Ensemble Molière gave two concerts of their Hidden Gems programme in January and February, in Folkestone and London, which also provided excellent preparation for their upcoming recording project of this programme. Shining a light on the wealth of underperformed French baroque repertoire which has been unjustly neglected, in many cases remaining out of the limelight for centuries, Ensemble Molière give new life to music by composers such as Jean-François Dandrieu, Louis-Gabriel Guilleman and Michel Corrette. Watch this space for an album of discoveries to come!
Londinium Consort - Crossing Paths
The Londinium Consort completed recording sessions for their debut album Crossing Paths in February. This programme delves into the profound themes of journeys, exile and immigration, centred on the works of John Dowland and his contemporaries. New works by emerging composers are interspersed with songs and dances from the turn of the 17th century. Crossing Paths also features the premiere recording of Threshold by up-and-coming composer Owen Spafford. Londinium premiered this work in February in their Wigmore Hall concert as the winner of the New Elizabethan Award from The Musicians Company. The Crossing Paths programme will tour to several locations in April and May.
NEW ALBUM ALERT
His Majesty's Sagbutts & Cornetts and Fretwork - In Chains of Gold Vol. 3
In February, His Majesty's Sagbutts & Cornetts, Fretwork and the Magdalena Consort released their recording In Chains of Gold: The English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthem Vol. 3. The final album in a series which began in 2017, it is centred round two verse anthems by Thomas Tomkins, set in the context of works by lesser known composers whose anthems are being heard for the first time in over 400 years. Enjoy a brief glimpse into the recording process in the video below of William Stonnard's Hearken, all ye people from the Magdalena Consort and Fretwork. CD available at Signum Records.