Come on a journey and experience the immersive sound of madrigals performed by candlelight

Sudden Passions

Imagine travelling with your life’s work in the hope that it would find acceptance in a new environment…

In a day and age where everything lies at one’s fingertips it can be hard to empathise with the practicalities of a world that does not exist anymore… At the height of the Renaissance, émigré musicians such as the Italian Alfonso Ferrabosco travelled across Europe in order to further their careers. These long journeys were often fraught with peril, and there was no guarantee of arrival on the other side.

In Sudden Passions, L’Isola has designed a programme which tracks the journey of the madrigal from Italy to the North, following in the exact footsteps of our composers. During this process we will also piece together history, unveiling new academic discoveries from the University of Cambridge.

Join us. The journey ahead may feel uncertain, but isn’t that part of the beauty?

Doors at 1830 for a 1900 start

Tickets £15

Tickets available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e...

Holy Trinity Goodramgate, York

Holy Trinity Goodramgate is an 800 year old church building.

This performance is taking place over the Anne Lister Anniversary Weekend. On 30 March 1834, Anne Lister and Ann Walker visited Holy Trinity Goodramgate and took communion before starting their lives together and we are home to a rainbow plaque celebrating this.

This is an opportunity for everyone to come and experience live music by candlelight in a venue which is largely unchanged since the days of Anne and Ann’s visit with a history that will transport you back to when these pieces were first written.

Seating will be mainly in the 16th century box pews. Please note that the seats do not all face in the same direction so sightlines are variable, but acoustics are good throughout. Seating is allocated on arrival so please consider arriving early to secure your place. You may be required to share a box pew with other visitors.

Please note that the temperature in the building is usually lower that that outside so please wrap up warmly. Blankets will be made available, but please feel free to bring your own blankets and cushions for your comfort.

Access information:

The floors are uneven and light levels will be low. The building is wheelchair accessible save for the Sunken Chapel, but we recommend that wheelchair users contact us in advance of the performance to agree the best seating plan. Please email york@thecct.org.uk to discuss.

L'Isola

L’Isola [Lee-so-lah] is not a choir; it consists of 4-6 soloists. Consort singing, one to a part, is exposed and technically demanding. We strive not for ‘blend’ but for unity of sound, enriched by individual colour in a “creative democracy” which favours real-time artistic decision-making over predefined rules. The group hope you will experience the difference through sound: raw, organic, unfiltered, immersive.

Directed by Matthew Alec Gouldstone, L’Isola is also an incubator for the cream of young vocal talent emerging from the University of Cambridge and its world-class chapel choirs. The finest voices are hand-picked from within these institutions and then exposed to cutting-edge research and the highest standards of performance practise to equip them for careers within Early Music. During this process, members of L’Isola are trained to read fluently from original manuscripts and performances represent this methodology.

In an academic context, L’Isola functions as a specialist performance arm of the early music research and development lab at the University of Cambridge (Cambridge Early Music Consort) directed by Matthew Gouldstone and Edward Wickham. L’Isola also works in close partnership with CIRS (Cambridge Institute for Renaissance Studies) and the Journal of 16th Century Music in addition to various other arts and education establishments. L’Isola therefore brings to audiences the fruits of Cambridge’s pioneering scholarship on music from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, providing a new understanding about the way music was written and performed.