We had a period of R&D with choreographer Will Tuckett and librettist Alasdair Middleton, working with three fabulous dancers, starting the process of a new 'all singing, all dancing' piece about Handel.
We've been lucky enough to have funding from the Norfolk Music Hub, to work with 9 schools in Norwich, enthusing students about Handel and his music, and the interesting times he lived in. That mostly took place in February, with a few events scheduled for the end of March.
Meantime, we started work for Cambridgeshire Music on two projects. One is a series of concerts in Cambridgeshire schools, and the other is a project working with talented young musicians on how to play in a historically informed style.
Our first workshop took place at the end of the February 1/2 term, and we worked with 19 students, looking at ornamentation, bowing, how to read figured bass... to name but a few things. We're working towards a performance with the students, taking place on 21 March, on the European Day of Early Music.
We've been fantastically lucky to have Alan Gotto supply us a harpsichord in Norwich, and for us to have been able to borrow a smaller keyboard instrument for our work in Cambridgeshire schools. I started to keep a tally of the number of keyboard moves in February and March and soon lost count...
Anyway, pics and details of The Brook Street Band's upcoming concerts in March and April to follow. Hopefully there's one close to you!
