City of London Festival:
July 2nd- July 7th, 2011
York Early Music Festival:
July 8th - July 16th, 2011
The Bate Collection of Early Music Instruments (Oxford University):
July 17th-July 18th, 2011
Detailed Travel Plans
We will arrive in London on July 2nd. After attending a free Sunday Evensong at Westminster Abbey (an afternoon service made up almost entirely by sung and chanted music of the 14-17th centuries), we will attend the City of London Festival for the next four days. This Festival is a major event that includes many local venues and churches and is strongly geared toward classical music and education, with 40-50 classical performances in the schedule. A typical day might include some morning sightseeing in the city, followed by an afternoon concert by a local classical trio at St. Paul’s Cathedral and then an evening concert by the London Symphony Orchestra in Barbican Hall.
From London, we will travel to York, England for the York Early Music Festival from July 8th – 16th. York is home to the largest cathedral in all of northern Europe and the National Centre for Early Music, which is based in the medieval St. Margret’s Church. The Early Music Festival has more than 30 events over its 9-day span, mostly consisting of concerts, but also including lectures on early music topics and smaller chamber performances and events. The York Early Music Young Artists Competition gives us the opportunity to see the very age range that we teach playing early music and competing for scholarships. Major concerts for 2011 are: the Gabrieli Consort, The English Concert, the Dufay Collective, the Rose Consort of Viols, and The Sixteen, one of the world’s top performing choral ensembles. During the day, many smaller chamber concerts, demonstrations and lectures about topics in early music take place.
Our final stop will be Oxford University where we will begin our visit by attending another afternoon Evensong service, this time at Christchurch Cathedral. Oxford University is home to the Bate Collection, Britain’s most comprehensive collection of musical instruments from 1400 to modern times. Visitors can also make appointments to study the Bate Collection’s musical archives, which contains original sheet music, books, and papers concerning the development of historical instruments.
