MARCH UPDATE
- Continuo Foundation
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
IN THIS UPDATE:
1. FILM: OUR 5-YEAR IMPACT
2. 2026 GRANTS & FUNDRAISING
3. CONTINUO CONNECT TURNS 3!
4. OXFORD EARLY MUSIC WEEKEND
5. PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
6. PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
7. NEW ALBUM ALERT
CONTINUO'S IMPACT 2021-2026
To mark the fifth anniversary of our first round of grants in March 2021, we commissioned Ian Skelly to help us tell the story of our impact over the past five years, the positive momentum this has created and how it is compounding over time. We hope you enjoy the film as much as we did!
Continuo Foundation's 5-year impact in figures:
£1,176,000 awarded to 123 ensembles
of which 41 emerging ensembles supported
1,360 freelance musician beneficiaries
353,000 audience beneficiaries
59 recording projects supported
35 new albums released
2026 GRANTS & FUNDRAISING
A message from Tina Vadaneaux, Founder and CEO:
We had much to celebrate last month, not least of which was excellent progress on fundraising. Thanks to the generosity of new and existing donors, Continuo raised over £35,000 in March.
As we move into spring, we are looking forward to the continued support of our many wonderful and generous donors who together provide the bedrock financial support for Continuo's work - each of you is so appreciated.
In parallel, the campaign continues to try to identify a third Principal Supporter, able to commit £80,000 per year for three years, to join the two we have secured. These key donors will underpin Continuo's development and help to ensure our long term financial sustainability.
To discuss how you can help us to keep supporting the future of Baroque and Early Music, please contact me at tina@continuofoundation.co.uk or visit our Support Us page.
CONTINUO CONNECT TURNS 3!
We launched Continuo Connect in March 2023 to increase the visibility of the UK's vibrant, yet hidden, Early Music scene.
Since then, this searchable, interactive platform has grown into an essential source for Early Music concert and festival listings in all regions of the country. Moreover, it offers artist profiles, Early Music news, and hundreds of specially commissioned features, from interviews with stars of today and tomorrow, to curated playlists, videos and films - and more is being added every week.
We have grown from several hundred to 15,000+ monthly site visitors, thousands have subscribed to our fortnightly newsletter and nearly 4,000 Early Music concerts have been promoted on the site. View our latest newsletter and sign up via the Continuo Connect website.
COMING SOON: OXFORD EARLY MUSIC WEEKEND
Expanding on the success of our Oxford Early Music Day in July 2025, we are thrilled to be collaborating with Oxford Festival of the Arts on an Early Music Weekend (20 - 21 June). The weekend will comprise concerts by Continuo grantees Palisander, Bellot Ensemble and Lowe Ensemble, as well as a Continuo Emerging Ensemble Showcase with Música d'Outrora, performing the programme from their debut album Still Life, supported by Continuo Foundation. On Saturday, there will be an Early Music Evensong with New College Choir at the New College Chapel, and on Sunday there will be opportunities to hear Dowland's Foundry performing from an original Dowland manuscript in The Old Library at Magdalen College. The weekend will culminate in a recital by tenor Nicholas Mulroy and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny. For more information, please click the button below - we hope to see you there!
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
with Kinga Ujszászi
Kinga moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music after graduating from the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest. At the Academy she was drawn to historical performance and picked up the baroque violin. Since then she has played with many leading groups in England and Europe. She is Director of Spiritato and regularly leads numerous other ensembles, including L'Arpeggiata, Barokkanerne, and Irish Baroque Orchestra. She is also a member of The English Concert and OAE. Her solo album ‘Assassini, Assassinati’ with baroque duo Repicco, featuring music from turbulent 17th century Italy, was praised by major critics and awarded 5 diapasons.
How has Continuo Foundation impacted your day-to-day life?
Personally, a remarkable number of the projects I’ve been involved in over the past five years have been supported by Continuo. It’s almost unbelievable how one organisation single-handedly managed to change so much in the field. The support it provides has enabled a huge range of activity – concerts, recordings, collaborations – which in return has fuelled creativity. The result has been very noticeable, expanding the variety and raising the standard of the whole scene in the UK.
What new doors have opened for you since becoming a grantee?
I’m not sure I would describe them as entirely new doors for me, but existing ones have certainly opened much wider. My ensemble, Spiritato, has received Continuo grants that have allowed us to put on ambitious projects involving larger forces. This has been very crucial for us to further establish our artistic identity. We have been able to explore repertoire that would previously have been out of reach, and to programme based on what genuinely excites us, rather than what is most practical within very limited resources.
What do you love about being a musician?
That I get to play wonderful music with wonderful colleagues. There are moments on stage, when you look around and it suddenly sinks in, that you are performing in an amazing concert hall, surrounded by extraordinary colleagues – you feel like the luckiest person in the universe. You are immersed in great music, sharing the stage with incredibly talented artists, and you wonder how on earth you deserve to be there. You get to listen to these wonderful musicians, make music with them, and get inspired by them.
Where did you encounter the most receptive audience?
Often, it’s in the most unexpected places. Smaller venues frequently attract deeply engaged and curious audiences—people who are truly there to listen and whose openness creates a special atmosphere. But one particularly memorable experience was during lockdown, when Mary Bevan began organising Music at the Tower in North London. Local musicians came together to perform outside a church on weekends, offering some of the first live music people had heard in months. The experience was extraordinary. Audiences gathered with a kind of 'hunger' which is hard to describe. It was a powerful reminder of how essential live music is and how deeply it can connect people, especially in difficult times.
No.1 listening recommendation?
I’ve never been very good at choosing a single ‘No. 1’ of almost anything. I don’t think anything is superior to anything else. Except maybe ramen. So here are three wonderful albums I keep coming back to; each feels complete from the beginning to the end.
Firenze 1616 by Le Poéme Harmonique – An extraordinary introduction to the emotional intensity of early seventeenth-century music. The harmonies, the dissonances, the sound, the dramatic storytelling — starting with ‘Io moro’ (‘I’m dying!’) – prepare for goosebumps for an hour straight.
Joni Mitchell: Blue – A perfect album. I love the simplicity of the instrumentation and the poetic quality of the lyrics. I used to wish it was longer, but I came to realise it is in fact a perfect example of how to leave your audience both perfectly satisfied and wanting more.
Keith Jarrett: The Köln Concert – a masterclass in improvisation and a reminder of how much emotional range a single instrument can have in the right hands.
For more about Kinga Ujszászi check out her Continuo Connect Interview.
MARCH PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
In March, four grantee ensembles presented a total of seven concerts supported by Continuo, in four locations across the UK. In addition, The Vauxhall Band completed recording sessions for their Basset Horn Trio album, and Florilegium released their latest album - Telemann Ino Cantata & Double Concertos - with guest artists Elizabeth Watts (soprano) and baroque violinist (and Continuo Foundation Patron) Rachel Podger.
The Vauxhall Band - Basset Horn Trio
In March, The Vauxhall Band completed their recording of repertoire for basset horn trio, orchestra and voices. In the 18th century, Bohemian basset horn trio Dworschak, David and Springer performed at Vauxhall Gardens as concerto soloists more than forty times. Before arriving in London, the trio had toured Europe for ten years and met Mozart in Vienna. This recording celebrates the basset horn at the height of its popularity, in the 1780s, showcasing its versatility in concertos, orchestral and chamber music. Basset horn soloists Katherine Spencer, Sarah Thurlow and Fiona Mitchell were joined by bassoonist Chris Rawley, sopranos Grace Davidson and Julia Doyle, and bass-baritone Edward Grint for this recording. The Vauxhall Band was directed by violinist Matthew Truscott.
Cambridge Handel Opera Company - Imeneo
Cambridge Handel Opera Company presented four sold-out performances of their production of Handel's Imeneo at the Festival Theatre, Cambridge Buddhist Centre in March. Centred on a professional staging of Handel’s opera, CHOC’s production was an ambitious, inclusive initiative that placed young people at the heart of opera creation and performance. The project invited young participants to explore opera from the inside out through workshops, professional mentoring, and hands-on experience. The production received four-star reviews from both The Stage and The Guardian. Photo by Craig Fuller
It’s exhilarating, often meta-theatrical stuff, and director Guido Martin-Brandis and the Cambridge Handel Opera Company capture all its knowing, self-referential charm in this delightful staging. - Alexandra Coghlan, The Guardian
Oxford Bach Soloists - JS Bach: Cello Suites
The Oxford Bach Soloists performed the fourth concert of their JS Bach: Cello Suites series in March. This six-part concert series features all six Cello Suites alongside choral music from OBS scholars and keyboard works from its co-principal keyboardists. JS Bach’s Cello Suites BWV 1007–1012 are now among his best-known works, but they were largely forgotten until the early 20th century. Most likely written during his time in Köthen, each suite is based on Baroque dance forms, combining clarity, control and expressive detail. There is still time to catch the last two concerts in the series on Saturday 2 May and Saturday 27 June, both in Oxford.
NEW ALBUM ALERT
Florilegium - Telemann Ino Cantata & Double Concertos
Ashley Solomon and his period-instrument ensemble Florilegium present a selection of orchestral and vocal works by Georg Philipp Telemann – with soprano Elizabeth Watts and baroque violinist Rachel Podger as featured soloists. The programme combines Telemann’s dramatic cantata, Ino, with instrumental concertos and chamber works, highlighting the composer’s remarkable versatility and imagination and illustrating why he was one of the most prolific and influential composers of the late Baroque era. Available to purchase here, or to stream on all major platforms. Listen to an extract from Telemann's Cantata Ino in the recording session video clip below.
