Faronel

Saturday 8th February 2025 7.00pm

If you can’t make it to our concert in Crowborough on January 26th, then you can hear us at St Bartholomew’s Church, Cross-in-Hand on February 8th. Tickets are £10 on the door, or £9 for the Friends of Waldron Churches.

We are now starting to get a few dates in the diary for the autumn: we will be performing again at the Medieval Music in the Dales Festival at Bolton Castle from 12-14 September, contributing to the theme of the Medieval Instrumentarium (we have 21 different types of instrument to choose from among our collection, so no problem with that…!), and we also have a return visit to St Matthew’s, Redhill, on October 23 at 1.10pm.

The six-part radio drama based on the Lambton Worm legend, for which we recorded the incidental music, is now available here, along wth some extra content. Set in Sunderland in 1377, we used music from the 12th-14th centuries to help set the scene.

Sunday 26 January 2025, 3.00pm, Green Cottage, Crowborough, TN6 2DF

We are very pleased to report that Michael is now back in full working order and we are delighted that our next concert (postponed from May) will be a return visit to the convivial surroundings of Green Cottage for Crowborough Arts. Our original brief for this concert was to include as many instruments as we could: we have actually incorporated a couple more new ones since then, so hopefully we can fulfil it even better than before!

Sunday 11 August 5.00pm

David and Ruth are pleased to be playing at the medieval castle at Pevensey as part of an event organised by Music Box Wealden in conjunction with English Heritage: booking details here.

The audience is invited to bring a picnic to enjoy in the grounds, and there will be performances including our programme of medieval music from the 12th to 15th centuries in the unusual setting of a subterranean 13th century dungeon.

Among the works featured will be the song Ja Nuns Hons Pris, written in around 1192 by Richard the Lionheart when held as a prisoner in a dungeon in Austria. At this period, Richard was the owner of Pevensey Castle – a nice connection!

… is the inspiration for a series of radio plays by Lewes author Charlie Dobres: set in the late 14th century, Charlie provides a retelling of the famous Northumbrian legend with a contemporary twist. David and Ruth are recording the incidental music for the series using 14th century instruments and repertoire. The project is due to be released later this year: in the meantime, here are some samples from some of the tracks.

Tuesday 18 June 6.30pm Gray’s Inn Chapel

With Michael still hors de combat, David and Ruth will be taking two thirds of Faronel to central London to perform for the Bar Musical Society at Gray’s Inn Chapel in June. Our programme includes music from 13th century England and 15th century France, together with Tudor works by Cornysh (who was imprisoned a stone’s throw from the chapel) and from the Mulliner Book (possibly compiled less than a mile away).

Our member Michael is still hors de combat for the time being, and so we regret that we will not be able to present live concerts until later in the year. We wish him a speedy recovery.

In the meantime, we have recently set up a YouTube channel where you can hear some examples of our music. Some of the videos were made during lockdown for the 2020 Medieval Music in the Dales festival, which was held online that year, and some are more recent. In some of them we discuss how we arrive at our arrangements of the repertoire, and we will hope add to these from time to time. The channel may be accessed here.

It was a great pleasure to return to St Matthew’s, Redhill in December 2023 to present a programme of medieval and renaissance carols from around Europe. You can hear some clips from the concert on our YouTube channel.

We have three concerts coming up over the next few months that may be of interest. Do join us if you can!

Thursday 16 November 7.00pm

Uckfield Music Club, Bridge Cottage, Uckfield, East Sussex

We will be examining Henry VIII as a musician and composer, discussing the musical education he received as demonstrated by the Henry VIII Book (Lbl. Add. MS 31.922), and his ability as a composer. The concert will feature works by Henry himself and other composers at his court. It will be preceded by a short AGM meeting of the Uckfield Music Club (non-members may enjoy refreshments during the meeting).

Thursday 21 December 1.10pm

St Matthew’s Church, Redhill, Surrey

A Christmas programme featuring medieval and renaissance carols from around Europe with instrumental accompaniment. From the sublime beauty of late medieval polyphony to the rumbustious yuletide carols of the fireside and tavern, the music reflects Christmas cheer from the four corners of the continent.

Sunday 3 March 2024, 3.00pm

We very much regret that we have had to cancel this concert due to illness. We offer our sincere apologies to Crowborough Arts.

Green Cottage, Crowborough, TN6 2DF

We are delighted to have been invited back to perform for Crowborough Arts. Their request was for a light, mainly secular programme featuring as many different instruments as possible: now there’s a challenge we couldn’t resist! The works will be drawn from across Europe, focussing particularly on music for dancing, feasting and entertaining.

Faronel at Bolton Castle

David and Michael will be performing at the Medieval Music in the Dales festival at Bolton Castle in Yorkshire in early September. See www.medievalmusicinthedales.co.uk for more info on the concerts, workshops and talks that form this year’s programme.