2020 has been a difficult year for us all, with loss of family, loss of work, inability to travel and isolation from our friends and colleagues. We are hoping that with a gradual reduction in Covid cases and with the increased use of the vaccine, we will have the opportunity to meet, to rehearse and to begin to perform in public again. On that note: we are extremely excited to announce that, restrictions allowing, we will not only be returning to Devon for a concert of English division viol music on May 20th, but that we may even be able to offer some one-to-one tuition for viol players in the area. Obviously, consort coaching is off for now, but that may resume at some stage too. Please check this page for further details, as of course the situation is constantly changing!

Looking ahead, we are also excited to be returning to Kent for a new programme based around Dowland’s Lachrimae. This is scheduled to take place in October 2021 – details will again be announced as soon as we know what is possible.

In the meantime, please stay safe and stay healthy, and we look forward to seeing you all when restrictions are lifted. If you would like to hear us play why not order or download our Buxtehude recording?

In August 2019, we spent a wonderful week in Cambridge, recording verse anthems and consort music by Thomas Tomkins and Orlando Gibbons with Andrew Arthur, Orpheus Britannicus and the choir of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. The recording is scheduled for release in late 2021.

We are delighted to promote a new programme of consort songs by William Byrd, featuring Helen Charlston, mezzo soprano. Helen was the winner of the 2018 London Handel Singing Competition and is a fantastic interpreter of this repertoire. This programme was premiered as part of the Saxon Shore Early Music series in Kennardington, Kent on 12th October 2019.

We are delighted to announce that our disc of Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, recorded in 2018 with our colleagues at Trinity Hall, Cambridge under the directorship of Andrew Arthur, has been released on the Resonus Classics label, and has already received some airtime on BBC Radio 3. Details here

We are returning to Devon in May for another weekend of consort and solo coaching, concerts and more! For details, please see here or get in touch for more details!

Newe Vialles began 2019 with an appearance in the On Your Doorstep concert series in Golders Green, London. We performed an intimate and reflective programme of French baroque music for the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, featuring Viallers Henrik Persson, Caroline Ritchie, and Lynda Sayce. The concert was very well-received and the venue – Golders Green Unitarian Chapel – a delight to play in. Thank you to everyone there for hosting us and making us feel so welcome.

In May, Henrik and Caroline will be coaching viol-players of all ages and levels at the second South West Viols Fest, hosted by our friends at the Blackdowns Early Music Project in Culmstock, Devon. Feedback from last year’s event was excellent and there are still some places for this year’s course available! Details will go up here soon – for more information in the meantime, please contact the BEMP at the link above.

In August, we will return to Cambridge to record Gibbons verse anthems with Andrew Arthur and the choir of Trinity Hall. This is our second CD with Andrew and the choir, and we are really excited to collaborate on some of our favourite repertoire. Our first recording together, of Buxtehudes Membra Jesu Nostri, will be released this year.

Please follow back for more Newes, events and upcoming performances. Happy New Year!

Join us in beautiful Culmstock in Devon at the beginning of May for a weekend of masterclasses, recitals, a visit to the workshop of master viol-maker Jane Julier and much more! The inaugural South West Viol Fest will be taught by Henrik and Caroline, with continuo assistance from Lynda and featuring a recital by all three of their favourite French music for viols and continuo. The weekend runs parallel to the Blackdowns Early Music project, and participants have the opportunity to take part in its culminating recital of Spanish and Portugese polyphony under the direction of Jan Joost van Elburg. For more details, please click on the link below, or feel free to get in touch and we can tell you more!

Viol Fest Call

We’re back online with exciting plans for 2018! We will be performing and recording Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri in Guildford and Cambridge, and widening our knowledge of the music of Buxtehude and his contemporaries with ideas for a future CD project. Plus, viallers Caroline and Henrik will be giving a weekend of viol masterclasses and recitals in the beautiful village of Culmstocke in Mid Devon. For details, please see our dedicated post, above! As ever, we are open to all ideas for collaborative projects, so if you have an idea for a concert involving viols, do get in touch – you can see and hear some of our past projects here.

On March 5th we will be performing our Shirley Partbooks programme at St Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol, followed by an evensong with the choir of St Mary Redcliffe, where we will accompany them in Orlando Gibbons’ Second Service. The concert will be at 3.30pm followed by Evensong at 6.30pm. Further details and ticketing information to follow soon!

We are delighted to announce that we are giving a concert in the International Festival of Viols at the Royal College of Music on the 14th of November. The festival is now in its 10th year, and brings together viol players from all over the world for a series of concerts and masterclasses. We are very excited to be part of a line-up that also includes concerts by Fretwork and masterclasses by Richard Boothby and Reiko Ichise. We will be performing a version of our Shirley Partbooks programme, featuring 4- and 5- part consorts by Ferrabosco, Lupo, Coprario and Lawes, alongside instrumental madrigals by Monteverdi, Marenzio and Pallavicino.

The next day, on the 15th of November, three of our Viallers will be among the 12 viol players who are giving the UK premiere of the newly-discovered 12 Fantasies for Viol by Georg Philip Telemann, also as part of the festival. This is a unique and historical event and well worth hearing!