Contact us

Please contact us if you would like to join the free mailing list or with any other queries. We look forward to hearing from you.

Zelie Jopling, Festival Director

South Green Farm House

Fingringhoe

Colchester

ESSEX CO5 7DP

01206 729 356

info@romanrivermusic.org.uk

We will write to you twice a year only, once with advance news of the Festival and once inviting you to apply for tickets. We never share any of your details with anyone else. If you would like to receive information by post, please give us your address.

Collegium Regale

Collegium Regale (Latin for ‘King’s College’) is the close harmony group made up of the Choral Scholars of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. As Choral Scholars we sing the daily routine of chapel services throughout term as well as undertaking a busy concert and recording schedule in the vacations, often working with leading orchestras notably the Academy of Ancient Music. The Choir is of course most famous for the broadcasts of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on BBC TV and Radio each Christmas, which reach an estimated 120 million people worldwide.

Collegium Regale however functions as a separate entity from the main choir and is run entirely by the members of the group itself. It performs regularly around Britain, touring each Easter in two groups, North and South, and in the past has performed as far afield as Canada, the United States and Hong Kong.

Building on our experience from the main choir, the group has excelled in performance and recording of early renaissance polyphony. Having established a relationship with record label Signum Classics, the group has released a series of discs promoting little known and under-appreciated composers from the European Renaissance. The 2006 recording of music by Orlando Lassus in particular met with great critical acclaim, receiving five star reviews from The Times and The Telegraph, the latter newspaper also listing it in its top ten discs of the year. The 2008 recording of music by Giaches de Wert was similarly well received and is also notable for the fact that much of the music on it was transcribed for the first time by a member of the group making the performances of many of the pieces the first since the late 16th century.

Our traditional repertoire aside, however, Collegium Regale also exists to perform more contemporary material. From spiritual songs to Michael Jackson, these are almost always arranged within the group and give us a chance to sing outside of the ‘classical music’ box. Each summer the group performs this repertoire to around two thousand people on the banks of the Cam and it forms a mainstay of our performance material throughout the year. The group’s recognition as non-classical singers is growing and recent engagements include singing as principal backing vocalists for the English rap artist Dizzee Rascal at the BBC Electric Proms in London, and following on from this for a live session on MTV.

After leaving Kings, many members of Collegium Regale seek to continue a career in music and the group boasts an impressive array of alumni. The baritone Gerald Finley and the tenor Andrew Kennedy are both former members, as is the conductor Sir Andrew Davis and the Director of English National Opera, Edward Gardner. Perhaps the most famous close harmony group in Britain, The King’s Singers, was set up by an especially keen year of Choral Scholars in 1968 and former choral scholars grace the ranks of almost every professional choir in the UK today from The Monteverdi Choir, The Sixteen and Polyphony, itself set up in Kings in 1986, to the Swingle Singers.

Unlike these groups however Collegium Regale faces a constant challenge that its membership is in a perpetual state of flux. Indeed, as The Times once wrote of us ‘the mystery is how the choir achieves its gorgeous blend with such transitory albeit overlapping personnel’. In some ways this can be a weakness for the group, but in other respects it is a tremendous strength for each year heralds a fresh set of voices and ideas about where the group should go; that it has flourished for so long is testament to its ability to change in new and interesting directions whilst retaining its high standards of musical integrity.

Roman River Wind Quintet

The Roman River Wind Quintet has been brought together especially for these concerts by Jeremy Foster, oboist extraordinaire. He has picked the best and most fun people to give a great introduction to classical music to everyone aged 5-12 and older!

Flute Jane Dixon-Wayne

Oboe Jeremy Foster

Clarinet Melanie Foster

Bassoon Rosie Cow

Horn Kate Goldsmith

Alexandra Wood

Alexandra has toured extensively, performing and teaching in festivals worldwide alongside some of the world’s leading tango dancers and musicians, including Miguel Angel Zotto (Tango Por Dos), orchestras Color Tango (BsAs.) and Hyperion (Italy). She regularly performs in the most prestigious milongas in Buenos Aires.

The course of Alexandra’s early formal dance career altered after she discovered her passion for the Tango. She trained in Buenos Aires and was quickly offered tango teaching and performing work. In 2002, with dancer Stefano Fava, she created “Tango In Action”, the first Tango Dance school in London.

From classic tangos, milongas and valses to contemporary tango pieces, Giraldo and Alexandra combine elegance with virtuosic athleticism to create a truly breathtaking performance.

Giraldo Escobar

Giraldo Escobar studied with the greatest tango maestros in Buenos Aires and hasperformed extensively throughout Europe and Latin America.

He has appeared on our screens several times including in Madonna’s Evita, the Channel Four film Dance, and on BBCs Strictly Come Dancing.

From classic tangos, milongas and valses to contemporary tango pieces, Giraldo and Alexandra combine elegance with virtuosic athleticism to create a truly breathtaking performance.

Tango Siempre

“…a brilliant fusion of classical, tango, jazz and roots” - The Guardian

Tango Siempre are the UK's leading tango company. Since 1998 they have worked extensively throughout the UK and Europe touring numerous projects ranging from highly successful traditional tango dance shows (Subitango and Tangomotion) through to collaborations with internationally acclaimed jazz musicians (Gilad Atzmon, Steve Arguelles, Ian Ballamy, Paolo Russo, Huw Warren). In 2009 they were joined by the outstanding bandoneonist Julian Rowlands.

Tango Siempre have recorded 4 albums: 'Nocturno' (2002, ARCM1807), 'Tangled' (2004, ARCM1960), 'Tangents' (2007, GMC024) featuring Steve Arguelles and Gilad Atzmon, and their most recent album 'Only Human', was released in November 2008 by Galileo-MC.

Music for Awhile

11.30am Sunday 10th October, East Mersea Church

Margaret Faultless and Dan Tidhar

In 1996 Simon Whistler and Margaret Faultless decided to celebrate their love of a tiny church in its magical setting with a concert. It brought together musicians of international standing to perform Baroque music on original instruments. The church was All Saints, Alton Priors and Music for Awhile was born.

The annual focus is still the acclaimed summer festival in the Vale of Pewsey and there are many other performances throughout the year, including a chamber series, which for many years was held at Conock Manor. Since 2004, support from the Cecil King Memorial Foundation has enabled the performance of nearly thirty concerts in churches, fundraising for the fabric of the buildings and promoting the music of J.S. Bach.

The Festival programmes have included performances of early English opera, masques and theatre music. Music for Awhilehas premiered new editions of manuscript material from the British Library, including a Masque by Daniel Purcell, and, together with actor Andrew Maud, has created new works combining music and poetry.

The performers are all principal musicians with international ensembles such as The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Dunedin Consort, The English Concert, The Gabrieli Consort, The Monteverdi Choir, Phantasm, I Fagiolini and Glyndebourne Opera.

Music for Awhile also expands to form a larger orchestra performing choral works in venues such as Westminster Abbey, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford and Bristol Cathedrals, Sherborne Abbey and Bristol’s Colston Hall, and has recently appeared at the Three Choirs Festival in an all Mozart programme.

Education projects in schools as well events such as community workshops are an additional and vital part of Music for Awhile aim to encourage participation in music through performance and listening.