World-class music, family fun and films – York venue reveals its new season

A new season of entertainment, featuring world-class musicians, family fun and film shows, has been revealed by a York venue.

The National Centre for Early Music is bringing an amazing array of performances to its Walmgate home this autumn.

The fabulous guitarist Richard Durrant kicks off the season on Friday (September 22) with his Stringhenge tour with music chosen from eleven centuries of music.

Other world-class guitarists this season include Eduardo Niebla (Fri 20 Oct, 7.30pm); Martin Simpson (Mon 6 Nov, 7.30pm) who features music from his new album Trails & Tribulations and Juan Martin (Fri 23 Mar, 7.30pm) capturing his very pure flamenco sound.  

World music

The centre’s innovative collaboration Making Tracks world music concerts continues this season with two concerts featuring Southern Albanian music from Saz’iso (Tues 7 Nov, 7.30pm) and drums, poetry and trance from Haiti’s vodou heartlands with Chouk Bwa Libète (Wed 21 Feb, 7.30pm).

Book for one of these concerts and receive the second concert free! This offer is valid on full price tickets only and both concerts must be booked at the same time.

Other world music concerts include: the klezmer band Moishe’s Bagel (Fri 13 Oct, 7.30pm), and Bollywood Jazz (Fri 27 Oct, 7.30pm) a new Indo-Jazz quartet promoted by Manasamitra with York based keyboard player James Cave and the amazing singer Supriya Nagarajan.

Later Kayhan Kalhor & Toumani Diabaté (Fri 3 Nov, 7.30pm) are collaborating for the first time to present a captivating and hypnotic performance of kamancheh and kora music from Persian, Kurdish and Malian traditions.

Folk music

There is an abundance of folk this season working in collaboration with The Black Swan Folk Club.

Concerts include Edgelarks (Tues 10 Oct, 7.30pm), winners of the Best Duo at the 2014 BBC Folk Awards, featuring Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin.

York graduate Bella Hardy (Tues 24 Oct, 7.30pm) showcases her new release Hey Sammy, and is joined by Thomas Gibbs (piano) and Anna Massie (guitar). Lady Maisery (Mon 20 Nov, 7.30pm) are the English folk vocal trio whose multi-instrumental talents include Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans.

Christmas cheer is brought to York by John Kirkpatrick (Mon 18 Dec, 7.30pm) and his Carolling and Crumpets concert. And last but by no means least we welcome father and daughter Martin & Eliza Carthy (Tues 13 Feb, 7.30pm) from the famous folk family for a concert that will be pure magic!

New arrangements of Leonard Cohen songs are presented by the Christine Tobin Trio (Sat 11 Nov, 7.30pm) and also featured on their new CD A Thousand Kisses Deep. Classics include Famous Blue Raincoat, Tower of Song and Suzanne.

Christine won Jazz Vocalist of the Year at the 2014 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. As part of a new tour, saxophonist Andy Sheppard (Mon 13 Nov, 7.30pm) is back with his Quartet featuring Eivind Aarset (guitar and electronics), Michel Benita (double bass) and Sebastian Rochford (drums).

Family fun

For our younger audience members, we have two fabulous concerts: Tommy Foggo – Superhero presented by the amazing cellist Matthew Sharp takes audiences on a magical multi-media tale of a life saved by music (Sun 15 Oct, 11.30am), suitable for ages seven and above.

Opera Tales presented by Claire Pascoe and musicians from the Orchestra of Opera North (Sun 26 Nov, 11.30am), takes audiences on a spell-binding journey through the exciting, magical and often strange world of opera, suitable for ages four and above.

Look out for the family ticket for £20 to include two adults and two children.

Sing along

For those of you who enjoy singing, we have a new singing programme available to all. Sing in a relaxed, welcoming and friendly environment and enjoy a cup of tea and a friendly chat!

Cuppa and a Chorus has three autumn sessions (Mon 9 Oct, Mon 13 Nov and Mon 18 Dec from 2.00-4.00pm). The initiative is part of the Culture and Wellbeing Partnership in York.

Also as part of the York Residents’ Festival, Vivien Ellis will be back with her popular Come and Sing sessions (Sun 28 Jan from 10am-noon and 1.30pm – 3.30pm).

Music on film

Catch two music related films, both documentaries that make powerful statements about the power of music to enrich and transform lives.

They are The Ballad of Shirley Collins (Sun 22 Oct, 4pm) and The Music of Strangers (Sun 26 Nov, 4pm) and both are preceded by a short, live sets linked to the film. The Music of Strangers features Kayhan Kalhor who is appearing in concert with Toumani Diabaté (Fri 3 Nov, 7.30pm).  

Early music fans should look out for The Secret Life of Lutheran Chorales (Thurs 23 Nov) featuring Leah Stuttard (gothic harp, voice, bells), and Agnethe Christensen (voice, Nordic lyres, bells).

The University of York Song Day – Songs from the Heart (Sat 17 Feb) features tenor James Gilchrist, mezzo-soprano Mhairi Lawson alongside emerging student singers and Fortepiano specialist Peter Seymour.

It includes Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte and Schubert’s great song cycle Die schöne Müllerin alongside songs by Schumann, Mozart, Zelter, Reichart and Hensel.

Lutenist Thomas Dunford (Wed 21 March) celebrates the 2018 European Day of Early Music with Soul Music from JS Bach and Dowland to mark Bach’s birthday. This concert is presented in association with REMA and will be recorded by BBC Radio 3.

Look out for our new under-35s scheme with a number £5 tickets available. This is a limited offer and is on a first-come, first-served basis. See more here.