Music at Wisbech Music Society concert will span 1,000 years

Music spanning a thousand years – and even featuring a hurdy-gurdy – is the delight awaiting audiences at Wisbech Music Society’s first concert of 2020 on Friday.

The ensemble Sirinu will be performing from 7.30pm at Trinity Methodist Church in Church Terrace, Wisbech.

Their concert is entitled “Sounding Space: Music of the Stars & Planets” and will offer something for a wide range of interests.

The highly-talented musicians’ concert will include traditional pieces from the medieval Arab world, plus music from 14th Century Italy and 15th Century France. There will also be a rare chance to listen to music composed by an Astronomer Royal.

Sirinu – Sara Stowe, Lewis Spring, Kira Thomas, Jon Banks and Matthew Spring – play a range of instruments including recorders, guitars, shawm and harps. You will also get to hear a hurdy-gurdy!

Sirinu, formed in 1992, is an ensemble of early instruments and voice, with an established reputation for lively and communicative performances.

They have appeared at festivals and Early Music Networks throughout Europe, North Africa, and South America and also commission new pieces for early, folk, and non-mainstream instruments and combinations, and enjoy using unusual instruments and exploring the connections between different folk traditions.

Friday’s concert is inspired by space and the planets from the Middle Ages to the present day, with projections from Oxford’s Museum of the History of Science, and including a new music-theatre commission by Martyn Harry.

Tickets are £10 (students £7), accompanied children free, available in advance from Fraser Dawbarns at 1-3 York Row, Wisbech, between 9am and 5pm, or at the door on Friday. Admission for society patrons is £5 (single) and £10 (double).

n The next concert in Wisbech Music Society's 74th season is in the Russell Hall at Wisbech Grammar School at 7.30pm on Friday, March 27.

It will feature Wisbech pianist Alex Tsvetkov, plus Ivan McCready, who will be playing the cello.