Turnstone Society presents an exciting, new programme as part of the Tage Alter Musik Medingen on 28 June. The fantastic actor, Sebastian Dunkelberg, will perform his rendition of the first German translation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and this enactment will be combined with music from Purcell’s Fairy Queen and Elizabethan consort pieces. On this occasion, the guest musicians of the group will be recorder player, Anna Fusek, and theorbo player, Gianluca Geremia.  

It will be brilliant to premiere Stef Conner’s new piece, Ghost Weavers, commissioned by The Night With for Ensemble 1604, as part of the New Music Biennial 2025. The new electroacoustic piece incorporates intriguing layers of old and new music, and reflects on the textile industry of Bradford. Our first performance will take place in Bradford itself (7 June), and later, we will repeat the piece at Southbank Centre (4 July). The first performance will be broadcast in the New Music Show of BBC Radio 3, and later in the year it will also be released on NMC Recordings. 

I’m excited to take part in a set of performances that will bring together players of Dunedin Consort and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Dunedin players will perform excerpts from Handel’s Water Music before joining forces with RSNO to premiere Neil T. Smith’s Hidden Polyphony. Catch us in Edinburgh and Glasgow on 16 and 17 May. 

I was really proud to lead NottsCollective during the year, a new student ensemble I started at the Department of Music of the University of Nottingham. Such a great pleasure to co-create and work with the students on diverse programmes that included Hindustani classical music, arrangements of 17^th– and 20^th-century Western art music prepared by group members and/or me, jazz, minimal music, US & Chinese pop, Irish folk, and a brilliant original composition written specifically for the group by one of the players!

Quite the treat coming up: Dunedin Consort is performing an incredible programme featuring JS Bach’s Actus tragicus, Telemann’s Du aber Daniel and a brand new piece, titled Bog Cantata, by the one and only Dave Fennessy. I can’t wait to play all this music alongside a fantastic group of musicians – you can catch us in London’s Milton Court, Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirk, or on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune during the first week of March.

It will be really exciting to adjudicate alongside the brilliant Carla Rees the Flute Ensemble category of this year’s British Flute Society competition, taking place at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. On top of being judges, Carla and I will also lead an adult ensemble workshop on the day. 

It will be a huge privilege to share the stage with Jonathan Manson (cello) and John Butt (harpsichord) to perform our programme ‘Waves of Temper’ at Lakeside Arts in Nottingham. The concert will take place on 30 January, and we will present a turbulent and eclectic selection of pieces by Corelli, Bernstein, Takemitsu, Handel, Ishii, Geminiani, and Vitali. 

A brilliant way to start the year: Ensemble 1604 is performing the full show of Shadows That in Darkness Dwell at the University of Edinburgh’s Reid Hall on 16 January. Click here and have a listen to get a taste of what awaits you if you come along.  

Scots Baroque will perform at the University of Aberdeen on this year’s St Cecilia’s Day! A varied programme coming up, and a particularly exciting aspect of the performance will be to hear our own Lucia Capellaro play on Scotland’s oldest surviving cello, kindly loaned by the special collections of the University to her.

I look forward to perform alongside countertenor Meili Li and Dunedin Consort as part of this year’s Curious festival, organised by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The programme will include Vivaldi, Handel, and Scarlatti, and the event will take place in the lovely St Cecilia’s Hall on 3 September. Do come along if you happen to be free!