This yr’s Beverley & East Using Early Music Pageant takes Miracles & Mysteries as its theme. For one charming weekend, 22 to 24 Might 2026, Beverley’s guests and residents will have the ability to take pleasure in concert events, expertise talks by specialists and participate in workshops. Miracles & Mysteries intertwines the story of St John of Beverley, probably the most highly effective miracle-workers in England in medieval instances, with music from a number of visiting ensembles.
The competition opens with French instrumental ensemble Près de votre oreille directed by gamba specialist Robin Pharo in Lighten Mine Eies, that includes music by William Lawes who loved a quick however dazzling profession as a singer and lutenist to Charles I. The live performance is predicated round music from the ensemble’s 2025 album [see my review]. Their look is a part of a European tour supported by the
Centre nationwide de la musique with the help of Institut
Français du Royaume-Uni.
Peter Phillips and The Tallis Students spotlight the competition theme of miracles and mysteries via music impressed by the tales of the lifetime of Christ, starting with an outline of Christ’s start as envisaged by two of the Renaissance’s most famous composers, Gabrieli and Victoria. The Telling return to the East Using Theatre with Purcell: The Musical, a drama by Claire Norburn based mostly on the lifetime of Purcell, that includes assorted instrumental and vocal compositions by him, from bawdy theatre ballads and joyful celebrations of affection to sluggish airs and numbers from his semi-operas.
The competition is very delighted to welcome a number of rising younger expertise, with three NCEM Platform Artists. Pseudonym carry out 18th-century French music in a classy intermingling of Italian virtuosity and Polish people rhythms, with works by Couperin, Rameau and Telemann of their programme, Discret et distrait. Intesa duo (viols and voice) rejoice the union between Armenian and Italian traditions in Voices of San Lazzaro. Medieval ensemble Rune presents Misplaced in Contemplation, with 4 outstanding medieval miracle tales paired with music from throughout Europe.
Nonetheless specializing in younger artists, the ultimate guests to the competition are the Bellot Ensemble, newly appointed New Technology Baroque Ensemble. Their programme, From the Sound of Battle to the Silence of Peace presents a vivid journey from the clamour of battle to the quiet miracle of peace, with music by Lawes, Schmelzer, Biber and Falconieri.
Full particulars from the competition web site.
