BREMF – BREMF Emerging Artists Showcase
The BREMF Emerging Artists scheme can be the making of a career. There are four acts named below but we really heard only three and a half. The first act, The Lyons Mouth, is almost fully emerged.
The Lyons Mouth
Their programme, The Byrds & the Bees, was well designed, their performance excellent. Five well-matched voices, thoroughly rehearsed and at ease with a variety of polyphonic styles, English and Italian, religious and profane, getting more lush as the set continued. They probably didn’t need their scores – they weren’t paying them much attention but rather sharing each moment with the audience. Their virtuosity was on full display in the final Byrd madrigal that was taken at a ripping speed and yet given such nuance and attention to detail. It was hectic, great fun and merrily musical. They are stars already, waiting for their big break, and there’s the rub. Theirs is a very competitive field. Their performance doesn’t need much mentoring from BREMF but the introductions, networking and connections are invaluable. So too are the hints on programme planning and budgeting – the hard facts that conservatoires don’t give classes in. Lets hope these stars go far – and come back here with a full programme soon!
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The next ensemble was of a rarer kind. There are not many professional sackbut players, which is a pity as their mellow sound is always a joy to hear. The Royal Sackbut Collective are a young group of seven, perhaps more, and could do well.
The Royal Sackbut Collective
However, in Communion of the Divine they gave us only two works either side of a fine piece of Monteverdi that is a showcase for the solo soprano. The sackbuts were adequate accompaniment but this ensemble will need a genius of marketing and inspired programme development to make a lasting presence on the concert circuit. Perhaps their harpsichordist has these skills, but he is also half of the next ensemble.
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Chantefable consists of a virtuoso soprano, Mariana Rodrigues, and a resourceful harpsichordist, Andrew Cowie. Their selection of music began in the previous set with Monteverdi’s sensuously doleful Lamento della Ninfa, most eloquently delivered.
Chantefable
Their own programme, From Hillside Gardens, was very well selected. They are already established performers and will be welcome on any platform. I’m not fully convinced by their ‘spoken poetry with improvised music’, albeit an art form as old as epic poetry, because there is a skill in listening that we seem to have lost. The harpsichord musings could have been just background music, a distraction rather than an enhancement. I was able to pay more attention when the poetry was in Portuguese, a language that I do not know. This was a brave presentation and deserves to be heard but its ephemeral nature means there is little to show afterwards.
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The fourth ensemble, Londinium Consort, appeared only as a duet performing In the woods soe wylde.
Emanuele Addis & Rachel Allen
The lutenist, Emanuele Addis, should never be without work. He supported soprano Rachel Allen most carefully, allowing her to bloom but it was a case of beauty of tone over diction. I had to check the text in the programme notes that it was the same Shakespeare and Dowland I had learned all those years ago.
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Andrew Connal
St Paul’s Church,
18 October 2025
The Lyons Mouth
Elspeth Piggott soprano
Ailsa Campbell soprano
Ellie Stamp mezzo-soprano
James Botcher tenor
Tom Lowen bass
The Byrds & the Bees
William Byrd c.1540-1623 – Laudibus in sanctis
Claudio Monteverdi 1567-1643 – Io mi son giovinetta
Raffaella Aleotti 1575-post 1620 – Vidi speciosam
John Wilbye 1574-1638 – Sweet honey-sucking bees
Byrd – Though Amaryllis dance in green
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The Royal Sackbut Collective
Jonathan Stevens, Buchen Zhao, Jessica Anderson, Pau Hernández, Ben Holford,
Jonny Lovatt, José Teixeira sackbuts
Andrew Cowie sackbut, harpsichord
Communion of the Divine
Henry VIII 1491-1547 – En vray amoure
Claudio Monteverdi 1567-1643 – Lamento della Ninfa
Giovanni Gabrieli c.1554/1557-1612 – Exaudi Deus
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Chantefable
Mariana Rodrigues soprano
Andrew Cowie harpsichord
From Hillside Gardens
Honoré d’Ambruys fl.1680-1710 – Le doux silence de nos bois
Claudio Monteverdi 1567-1643 – Voglio di vita uscir
Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792-1822 * – Love’s philosophy
Anonymous, Codex Zuola – Entre dos álamos verdes
Luís Vaz de Camões c.1524/25-1580 * – A fermosura desta fresca serra
Marc-Antoine Charpentier 1643-1704 – Sans frayeur dans ce bois
Harriet Cameron b.2000 * – Nature’s perfume surrounds me
Traditional arr. Andrew Cowie – Red is the Rose
* spoken poetry with improvised music
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Londinium Consort
Emanuele Addis lute
Rachel Allen soprano
In the woods soe wylde
Robert Johnson c.1583-1633 – Hark! Hark! The lark
John Dowland c.1563-1626 – O sweet woods
Dowland arr. Ben Finlay – Can she excuse my wrongs?
