Welcome to the Devil's Tavern

Travel back in time with York’s student musicians to London’s 'Devil’s Tavern' in eighteenth-century Fleet Street. Here, in 1731, composer Maurice Greene established the ‘Apollo Academy’, a rival to Handel’s ‘Academy of Ancient Music’. The Wednesday evening concerts of the academy took place in the tavern’s ‘Great Room’, and were filled with a variety of performances by Greene’s friends and students, with the maestro himself on the harpsichord. As a semi-private performance venue, the tavern concerts were perfect for composers to try out new works ahead of their first public performances. Although the club was exclusive, invited guests were welcome - York-born composer John Hebden, now resident at the Drury Lane theatre, regularly delighted the tavern’s audience with a bassoon or cello concerto. Our programme will recreate a relaxed evening with Greene and his circle, featuring instrumental and vocal music by Greene, Bononcini, Festing, Hebden, Handel, and more!