OCTOBER 2026 UPDATE
IN THIS UPDATE:
1. OUR IMPACT
OUR IMPACT
October was an incredibly busy month for Continuo Foundation grantees: 15 ensembles presented a total of 30 concerts in 23 different locations across the UK.
We were delighted with this comment from Fiori Musicali following the completion of their recent Continuo-funded series of concerts dedicated to the legacy of David Munrow:
The effect of The Continuo Foundation on early music in recent years has been enormous. Your amazing support and your belief in what we can all do has truly given the early music movement a whole new lease of life. Please keep supporting this vibrant sector so we can all keep bringing the best of what we do to audiences around the country!
Continuo Foundation's cumulative impact:
£1,280,000 awarded to 128 ensembles
of which 46 emerging ensembles supported
1,462 freelance musician beneficiaries
442,000 audience beneficiaries
63 recording projects supported
40 new albums released
GRANTS & FUNDRAISING
A message from Tina Vadaneaux, Founder and CEO:
The next grant round opens in January, just two months away. Musicians are already shaping exciting plans for the second half of 2027, knowing that our funding will be available for outstanding projects.
As I shared last month, we are aiming to increase each of our two annual grant rounds by 25%, from £100,000 to £125,000, beginning in January. Our rounds have stayed at around £100,000 since 2021 while musicians’ costs have risen, and we continue to receive many more excellent proposals than we can fund.
We are making very good progress with securing the necessary support and I will report further in coming updates. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who has recently made a gift or pledge.
If you are considering donating to Continuo, or even increasing your giving, I would be delighted to speak with you. I am always happy to share more about who and what we are supporting. Introductions to individuals and trusts are appreciated too, and are often very fruitful, so please do not hesitate to get in touch if there is someone you feel would be interested in hearing what I have to say about our work at Continuo.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
Abel Balazs
Abel Balazs is a violinist and viola d’amore player specialising in historical instruments, with a particular interest in late 18th- and early 19th-century German repertoire. An alumnus, scholar and prize winner of the Royal College of Music, he studied with Catherine Martin and Bojan Čičić as a Parnassus Award Holder, and was awarded the McKenna Prize in 2019 for the highest mark in a baroque instrument. He performs and records with leading UK ensembles including Florilegium, AAM, OAE, Gabrieli, Early Opera Company, The English Concert, La Serenissima and La Nuova Musica. Abel was a Handel House Talent member in London (2019–21) and held a La Serenissima Emerging Artist Chair in 2020.
How has Continuo Foundation impacted your day-to-day life?
Continuo Foundation has enabled early music/historically informed ensembles to put on projects that in most other environments simply wouldn’t have happened. In particular, traditionally it’s been very difficult for newer or up-and-coming groups to be offered the financial backing required to organise interesting, less usual or some might say musically 'risky' programmes. Continuo Foundation has been really supportive of these kinds of projects, particularly in locations and venues where early music is seldom heard.
What new doors have opened for you since becoming a grantee?
Going back to what I mentioned about 'risky' programmes, I’ve played in a few concerts supported by Continuo Foundation that have really opened my mind to music and composers that I normally wouldn’t have the chance to perform in public. Schubert's Octet comes to my mind - by no means an unknown composer and piece but still relatively niche when played on period instruments. I was never really the biggest fan of Schubert before this but the experience of working on that piece gave me a newfound admiration for his music. Having these grants really helps alleviate the financial risk and uncertainty that comes with programming less usual repertoire and allows musicians to focus on the artistic side!
What do you love about being a musician?
To be honest, I don't know any life other than being a musician. I was born into a family of musicians and started learning the violin very young, so I was always pretty sure this was the right path for me. What I really appreciate about the profession, particularly in historical performance, is the adaptability of my colleagues – everyone thinks quickly on their feet and accommodates one another, whether that's agreeing on musical choices or being considerate of other instruments’ volume ranges.
Where did you encounter the most receptive audience?
Probably in Shanghai or Incheon. Baroque music seems especially well received there and it was after a performance in Incheon that, surprisingly, I was asked for my autograph by someone in the audience.
No.1 listening recommendation?
It keeps changing but I’m a big fan of Rinaldo Alessandrini & Concerto Italiano’s recordings of Monteverdi madrigals. Mozart’s The Magic Flute is probably my favourite opera and the late Sir Roger Norrington & London Classical Players' recording is one I come back to a lot.
For more about Abel Balazs, check out his Continuo Connect Artist Profile or read about his campaign to buy a violin to keep his flourishing career going when he has to return the violin on loan to him as a young artist from the Harrison-Frank Foundation: Violin Crowdfunder.
OCTOBER PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Nocturnalia - Touring Tartini
Nocturnalia performed their Touring Tartini programme four times in October: at the Brighton Early Music Festival, at Salisbury Musick (where the group also did a workshop for modern string players curious about historical performance) and in two different areas of London. This project explored the groundbreaking work of Giuseppe Tartini and his students, whose influence shaped 18th-century violin technique and composition. Composers included Tartini and his disciples Nardini, Stratico, Pugnani, and Sirmen - a female composer. Contemporary works by Nocturnalia complemented the Baroque pieces. Nocturnalia created valuable professionally-filmed video material to promote the ensemble. Next, the trio will perform at York Early Music Christmas Festival on 11 December as part of a new collaboration between the NCEM and Continuo Foundation to provide performance opportunities for recently formed ensembles.
In Echo - The Salt Road
In Echo continued touring The Salt Road in October, to the Little Missenden Festival, the Brecon Baroque Festival and to Birmingham. This collaboration with writer Horatio Clare took as its inspiration Bach's iconic walk from Arnstadt to Lübeck to visit Buxtehude in the autumn of 1705. The performances included music by Isaac, Brade, Walter and new transcriptions of Buxtehude and Bach, all on the theme of journeys both physical and spiritual. These were interspersed with readings by Horatio from Something of his art, written after he walked Bach's entire route. The programme also included the premiere of a new piece by composer Silas Wollston entitled ‘White Gold’. You can read more about the project in this Continuo Connect feature by Lindsay Kemp.
Photo credit: Robert Piwko
Consone Quartet - Beethoven Mixtape
Following on from their Sheffield performance earlier in the year, the Consone Quartet presented their Beethoven Mixtape programme in Barnsley and Goole in October. This programme of carefully-selected movements by composers who influenced, were influenced by, or were in close contact with Beethoven, included familiar and lesser known names: Carl Czerny, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Nikolaus Zmeskall, Joseph Haydn, Emilie Mayer, Fanny Mendelssohn, Luigi Cherubini, George Onslow, as well as Beethoven himself. Developed in collaboration with Sheffield’s Music in the Round, and writer/broadcaster Dr Katy Hamilton, the programme aims to illuminate the lesser-known threads of musical influence and mentorship surrounding Beethoven. The tour continues to Birmingham (12 November) and Portsmouth (25 January).
Linarol Consort of Viols - Epitaph for a Green Lover
Linarol Consort and soprano Héloïse Bernard have been touring the programme of their recent album Epitaph for a Green Lover, with performances in Edinburgh, Banbury, Crowborough and Folkestone. The programme celebrates the remarkable life of Margaret of Austria, one of the 16th century’s greatest patrons of the arts, and brings her world to life through music from her own manuscripts. The album title comes from the chanson Soubz ce tumbel, with a tragic text by her court poet Jean Lemaire from Epitaphe de l’Amant Vert (referring to her beloved green parrot). Click below to hear this poignant song.
