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 9 members, including myself:
Sara Kelly, Jess Trevett, Caitlin Carr, Johanna Stroud, Cleo O' Callaghan-Yeoman, Daisie Moore, Eleanor Moore and Anisha Harris.
The music
The girls in Concordia love being part of such a wonderful group and we have enjoyed considerable success. We recorded our second CD, live in 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 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.
We are currenty recording our third CD which is a compilation of different styles, ranging from Elizabethan madrigals to contemporny sacred music.
You can listen to some excerpts from Sanctus Spiritus and Puer Natus by clicking of differernt 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 recent years.
In July 2010 we travelled South to peform at:
St Peter's Church, Bedford
Michaelhouse (Cambridge)
St Catherine's Church, Gosfield, ESSEX
Great St Mary's Church, Cambridge
Raby Castle in County Durham, England, where Sanctus Spiritus was recorded
Future performances:
Concordia are very popular performers at banquets and weddings and in 2011 we also sang at a number of tradtional May Day celebrations.
On Friday the 16th of December we will be giving our annual ''Carols by Candlelight'' concert at the Witham Hall in Barnard Castle.
On Wednesday the 14th september: Headland Hall
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 have performed live. 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 have re-recording this music at Middlesbrough College and the new version should be available soon. 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.
