Everything you need to know about the Birmingham International Recorder and Early Music Festival

The Birmingham International Recorder and Early Music Festival returns to the city next month.

Presented by the Birmingham City University’s Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the musical festival is a unique event combining fantastic professional concerts, demonstrations and participatory events, with a newly enlarged early music market.

The Birmingham International Recorder and Early Music Festival combines fantastic professional concerts, demonstrations and participatory events

What are the highlights?

Birmingham Young Recorder Soloists Competition
Professional and student concerts including Dan Laurin, The Gonzaga Band, London Handel Players, Musical and Amicable Society, Art of Moog, Bonfire Radicals
Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration concert for Walter Bergmann
Early music taster workshops
Demonstration events
Recorder Masterclasses
Early Music Market

When and where?

The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire's Recorder Department — The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Recorder Department

Birmingham Young Recorder Soloists’ Competition

Friday 16 February (preliminary rounds) and Saturday 17 February (finals)

An international competition for solo recitalists aged 18 and under, with valuable prizes given by Tim Cranmore recorders, The Early Music Shop and Recorder Music Mail.

Open Masterclasses

Friday 16 February
10am-12 midday: (Grades 1-5 with Chris Orton, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire tutor)
4.45pm-6.15pm: (Grades 6-8+, including Diplomas, with Michelle Holloway, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Junior Department tutor)

Saturday 17 February
9am-12 midday: (Grades 1-5 with Michelle Holloway, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Junior Department tutor)
9am-12 midday: (Grades 6-8+, including Diplomas, with Chris Orton, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire tutor)

Taster Workshops

Saturday 17 February
9.30am-10.30am: Baroque Flute Taster with Annabel Knight
11am-12 midday: Baroque Violin Taster with Miki Takahashi

Sunday 18 February
9.30am-10.30am: Harpsichord Taster with Robin Bigwood
11am-12 midday: Baroque Oboe Taster with Gail Hennessy

Taster workshops for baroque instruments including harpsichord, flute, violin and oboe. No registration required.

Concerts

Thursday 15 February
6pm-7pm: The Recital Hall
• The Gonzaga Band – UK ensemble dedicated to the authentic performance of 16th and 17th century music, presenting their recently recorded programme ‘Venice, 1629’.

8pm-11pm: The Lab
• No strangers to Birmingham audiences, contemporary folk band Bonfire Radicals perform globe-spanning, energetic folk music like nothing you’ve heard before.

Virtuoso Swedish recorder player, Dan Laurin with harpsichordist Anna Paradiso will be performing a mixed programme of Swedish baroque music

Friday 16 February
12.10pm-1pm: The Recital Hall
• Virtuoso Swedish recorder player, Dan Laurin with harpsichordist Anna Paradiso perform a mixed programme of Swedish baroque music.

7.30pm-9.30pm: The Recital Hall
• London Handel Players with baroque dancers Mary Collins and Steven Player present a programme of Baroque dance in full 18th-century costume.

10pm-11pm: The Lab
• Marking the 50th anniversary of Wendy Carlos’ seminal ‘Switched on Bach’, The Art of Moog plays Bach, completely live, on multiple synthesizers.

The London Handel Players will present a programme of Baroque dance in full 18th-century costume, with baroque dancers Mary Collins and Steven Player

Saturday 17 February
12.10pm-1pm: The Recital Hall
• Annabel Knight and members of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Recorder Department perform ‘Twentieth Century Originals’ – original and influential recorder works from the mid-20th century.

7.30pm-9pm: The Concert Hall
• Musical and Amicable Society performs Bach’s concerto for four harpsichords, alongside the première of a Vivaldi concerto newly arranged for four harpsichords.

10pm-11pm: The Lab
• Aficionado of the Renaissance cornett, Jamie Savan presents a unique blend of old and new technology in Late Night Loops

The Art of Moog will play Bach, completely live, on multiple synthesizers

Sunday 18 February
12.10pm-1pm: The Recital Hall
• Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Early Music Department Concert give an exciting mix of music from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

3pm-5pm: The Concert Hall
• Walter Bergmann Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration Concert
A special event commemorating the life and achievements of the recorder player and early music pioneer Walter Bergmann, thirty years after his death. The concert will feature performances of Walter’s music given by Ross Winters, Chris Orton and Annabel Knight, plus Conservatoire students and young recorder players from across the country. The event also includes the premiere of a brand new work for young recorder players, ‘The Shepherdess’, based on an anonymous storybook dedicated to Walter given to the Conservatoire in 2015.

Other Events

Early Music Market
Thursday 15 – Sunday 18 February 2018
A variety of instrument makers, shops and organisations will set up stall in the foyer areas throughout the festival.

Public Research Seminar: Elizabeth Kenny – Extending the repertoire for Extended Necks
Thursday 15 February
3.30pm-5pm: Workshop 1

Warwickshire Youth Waits
Saturday 17 February
1.15pm-2pm: Foyer (Level 2)

Electronics Demonstration with Francesca Clements
Sunday 18 February
1.30pm-2.30pm: The Lab
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire alumni and graduate from the Conservatory of Amsterdam Francesca Clements, gives an introductory workshop for teachers and performers to demonstrating how teachers can include live electronics within their music lessons.

Details

Birmingham International Recorder and Early Music Festival
Thursday 15th – Sunday 18th February, 2018
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Jennens Road, City Centre Campus, Birmingham City University, Birmingham B4 7AP

Directions and where to park: www.bcu.ac.uk/citycentrecampus

More information and to book day/individual event tickets: www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/recorder-fest