Abstract
People have always been drawn to the latest fads and gadgets; it was the same 400 years ago as it is today. In the 1600’s instrument-makers came up with a new fusion of string technologies, somewhere between a guitar, a harp, and a viola da gamba: the lyra-viol, with six gut strings for bowing chords and seven wire strings to give it a powerful buzz. Meanwhile English college kids had started the new craze of change-ringing: aerobic exercise, loud music, mathematical puzzles, and dizzying heights – what more could you want? The populace, reeling from the recent civil war, were eager to live their lives to the fullest. New fashions abounded. In the midst of it all, John Jenkins – talented, genial, everybody’s favorite musician – made the most of the new fads. The avid amateur musician, Roger North, said of him, “Of all his conceits, none flew about with his name so universally as the small piece called his Bells.”
Today Josie and the Emeralds continue the tradition of embracing the new while celebrating the old. Their forthcoming program, “New Fashions”, with guest artist Sarah Mead, brings the glorious lyra-viol to the stage in combination with voice and strings, with exuberant pieces reflecting the crazes of 17th-century England (including the ubiquitous bells), as well as new pieces fresh from their 21st-century imaginations.
Dorothy Porter’s Bone-Burning Tunes set to music by Brooke Green. (World Premiere)
Sarah Mead’s Fantasia sine nomine for five viols (Australian Premiere)
Lyra viol music by Jenkins, Coleman, Loosemore (Australian Premieres)
Josie and the Emeralds with lyra viol specialist, Sarah Mead, (USA)
Josie Ryan, soprano
Brooke Green, Fiona Ziegler, Catherine Upex, Laura Moore, viols
Glebe Town Hall, 170 St Johns Rd, Glebe