The group
Concordia is an all female ensemble specialising in the performance of medieval and renaissance vocal music.
The Concordia girls!
I formed concordia in November 2005 from a group of young pupils. My aim in establishing the group was to promote quality singing amongst young people, many of whom do not have access to music outside the youth culture and therefore have no knowledge of this repertoire and the sounds which their voices can achieve in its performance. Currently, there are 12 members, including myself:
Jenny Kirby, Cara Firmin, Zoe Howe, Jess Trevett, Sara Kelly, Amy Russell, Clare McAuley, Alice Leaver, Hannah Fulford, Anisha Harris and Caitlin Carr. We recently appeared on Teesdale Radio as part of the promotion of our CD - Puer Natus.
The music
The girls in Concordia love being part of such a wonderful group and we have enjoyed considerable success. We have just recorded our second CD, live from the Witham Hall in Barnard Castle. The music ranges from medieval through to more traditional and modern Christmas repertoire. The CD, entitiled Puer Natus is now available through my web-site if you send a cheque made payable to 'Jane Ford' for £9.50, which includes p&p. You can also purchase the CD on-line from: www.sundanceguitars.co.uk and from local stockists, eg The Witham Hall, Teesdale Mercury shop and The Bowes Museum. Our first CD Sanctus Spiritus is available to buy from the recording company’s website - www.eastcleftstreet.co.uk and also through Amazon.
You can listen to some excerpts from Sanctus Spiritus and Puer Natus by clicking the links below:
- Come Again Sweet Love (824kb, 70 secs)
- Fair Phyllis (543kb, 46 secs)
- Now is the month of maying (517kb, 44 secs)
Performances
We have performed at the Lincoln Early Music Festival ( August 2007), and also at a number of local venues, notably Raby Castle, Bowes Museum and the Witham Hall in Barnard Castle during the course of the last year.
In July we are travelling South to peform at:
St Peter's Church, Bedford - Friday 9 July, 7pm
Michaelhouse (Cambridge) - Saturday 10 July, 1pm
St Catherine's Church, Gosfield, ESSEX - Saturday 10 July 7.30pm
Great St Mary's Church, Cambridge - Sunday 11 July (Choral Evensong) 6.30pm
Raby Castle in County Durham, England, where Sanctus Spiritus was recorded
Julian of Norwich
I have composed a setting of some lines from Julian of Norwich’s famous medieval text A Revelation of Love, some extracts of which I performed last year. The music is a mix of styles ranging from folk to medieval chant and has now been recorded. The original CD is available to purchse direct from me through this web-site. I am currently re-recording this music at Middlesbrough College and the new version should be available by the end of 2010. Please go to the 'get in touch' page for more information.
Listen to some samples below:
Shewings performance
I performed 'Shewings', my setting of Julian of Norwich's 14th century text , with my band at:
- The Witham Hall, Barnard Castle
on Saturday 28th June - Reeth Memorial Hall
on Saturday 18th October
The CD is now available to buy direct from me, priced at £8 (inc p&p).
Please get in touch using the contact form on this site for further information.
You can listen to some samples of the music in one of the earlier posts below.
