Early Music in the Marches

Well-known period instrumentalist and artistic director of Early Music in the Marches, David Hatcher, is providing A Century of Italian Music featuring the work of Lodovici Grossi da Viadana and Diego Ortiz amongst others.

As well as the two-day workshop led by David and I Fagiolini's director, Robert Hollingworth, there will be two concerts which will be held at historic Upper House. There are a few places left in the workshop - specifically for a lute or keyboard player, early brass and wind, and lower voice.

Tomorrow at 7.30pm, David has gathered together early music colleagues Frances Eustace on dulcian (early bassoon), Emma Murphy on recorders and Hilary Norris on Italian virginals and chamber organ to join him in a programme entitled 'Musica en Nuestros Tiempos' featuring the music of Diego Ortiz and Barolome de Selma y Salaverde.

On Saturday at 8pm David will be joined by VivaBiancaLuna Biffi, an Italian soprano based in Milan. Their programme, entitled Fermate il Passo, explores the very origins of opera through the earliest madrigals, or 'frottole'. David and VivaBianca are both leading exponents of the Viola da Gamba, a magical bowed instrument that, like members of the violin family, comes in several sizes. Unlike the violin and viola, the instrument is held on the leg, rather like the spikeless baroque cello, and is rarely heard in concert. The frottola became the dominant secular vocal form in Italy and provided a vital stage in the development of expressive song - leading to opera one hundred years later.

Weekend ticket (including Saturday evening buffet at Upper House) £90. Concert and workshop tickets also available separately.

For further information email DiscoedEarlyMusic@BTConnect.com or call 07989 091949

Both concerts are supported by the Arts Council of Wales