Worcestershire Early Music Festival
Exploring links between Early Music and Dance
The festival in one guise or another has been an annual event since 2006 when the first Worcester Early Music weekend, a mini festival within the Worcester Festival, was run by Cathy Dew and Micaela Schmitz.
Each year the festival has grown with participation and education at its heart, and the ever popular Pride and Prejudice Ball taking place in the Guildhall.
Funding in 2016 was received from Bransford Trust, the Elmley Foundation, Co-op and we had support from Worcester Live with reduced Worcester Festival registration fees and a reduced fee for the Guildhall.
2016 Programme
14 April
K’antu sing and play music from the Renaissance
15 April
Duo Dorado play 17th century English music on violin and harpsichord
16 April
Baroque dance daytime workshop with Mary Collins
16 April
The Musical and Amicable Society play baroque music for strings and soloist
14 May
Pride and Prejudice Ball in the Guildhall
Outreach
Croome Four Seasons
We successfully attracted funding from the Arts Council, the Bransford Trust and Worcester Arts Council for this outreach project.
2016 saw the 300th anniversary of the birth of the celebrated 18th Century landscape gardener, Capability Brown. One of Brown’s first projects was Croome Court (National Trust) situated just outside Worcester. Read more …
Peace and Conflict through Music, Redditch
From April 2016, we are running a music/poetry/movement project on ‘peace and conflict’ at a special needs school (Pitcheroak School, Redditch). We are working with 14 Key Stage 2 students over 10 sessions. The final session will be a showcase at the start of lunchtime to parents and carers. The students will learn some original war and peace making songs, and will create their own poems, songs (lyrics, tunes, accompaniment), shields and movement, and present a showcase of their work to the local community on the final session. The goal is to give students experience of working with children who are very different to themselves, aiding their confidence, self- expression, team-working, peace-making and creativity. Through the specific theme they will explore the causes of conflict and the methods for their resolution
Hear My Voice Project – Summer 2015
Our work in seven residential care homes across Worcestershire and in two day care settings for young people with complex needs, began with a very successful pilot project in 2014. We then devised a programme of interactive singing, playing instruments and gentle movement, all with an element of Early Music. We chose shanties, which would have been sung on board the sailing ships discovering the New World in Tudor times, courtly songs, such as Greensleeves, and Mediaeval Dance tunes, as well as folk songs including Bobby Shafto, Blow the Wind Southerly and London’s Burning. These programmes were delivered by six teams consisting of a music therapist, an advisory teacher for children with complex needs, a professional musician, and a former teacher, and Worcestershire’s Poet Laureate. Read more …
The Tudor Wedding Project
To coincide with the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton, Micaela Schmitz, Kate Fawcett and Michelle Holloway ran a ten week programme with Lickey End First School, St Barnabas Middle School and Simon de Montfort Middle School. The project culminated in a showcase including music composed by the students, original early music and a drama around the marriage of Mary Tudor to King Philip of Spain. Funding was received from Worcestershire County Council and Wychavon District Council Community Fund. Read more …
Baroque Orchestra Projects
Kate Fawcett, Henrick Persson, Micaela Schmitz and Andy Watts ran a four day project at the Worcester Guildhall in 2008 for young string players. In 2009 and 2010 this was extended to reed players and a chamber choir and the performances included concerti by Handel, Vivaldi and Albinoni as well as Playford dances. Read more …
Battle of Evesham Project
Micaela Schmitz and Kate Fawcett have recently been working a project pairing students from a Vale of Evesham special school with Simon de Montfort mainstream school to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the Battle of Evesham and the commemoration of the first world war. Funding was received from Worcestershire County Council, Wychavon District Council Community Grants Fund and Evesham Town Council. Read more …
Bromsgrove Junior Waits
When Worcestershire Early Music evolved from Worcestershire Arts Education in 2009 Barbara Dunn and Micaela Schmitz started the Bromsgrove Junior Waits programme at Parkside Middle School with taster workshops at various Worcestershire schools. The Junior Waits performed at the school and at Avoncroft Museum of Buildings and at a fundraising garden party. Read more …
Worcester Waits
Alan Smith from Worcestershire Arts Education, Cathy Dew, Micaela Schmitz and Andrew Watts founded the Worcester Waits, an early music ensemble for students aged 10 to 16. The group practised at Blessed Edward Oldcorne School and, in addition to playing their main instruments, the members all sang, danced and learned to play a range of new instruments. Read more …