The King's Delight

After years of civil war and an Interregnum, the King has returned...

The restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 is generally seen as a time of rejoicing, when all the good things Parliament had tried to ban or destroy could be enjoyed again.

The programme uses 17th-century music, words, and song to give a picture of these times, with ballads about the Plague, the Great Fire, the Frost Fair, horse racing, chocolate, and coffee; loyal songs and theatre songs; tavern rounds, dance music, and divisions and solos for the violin, viol and cittern.

Includes music by Jenkins, Banister, Simpson, Locke, Purcell, and Playford.
Words by Pepys, Evelyn, and Aphra Behn.

Performers:
Emily Atkinson soprano
Richard de Winter actor, baritone
Robin Jeffrey lute, theorbo, guitar
Alison Kinder bass viol, recorders
Tamsin Lewis violin, viol, alto

Passamezzo is an established early music ensemble known for their ability to bring historical events to life through their engaging performances and programming. They specialise in English Tudor and Stuart repertoire.

A group of musicians, singers, actors and dancers with years of experience as historical interpreters, the ensemble delights in all aspects of musical life, from the intimacy of the lute song to the brash raucousness of the broadside ballad, from the sacred part song to the profane insanity of bedlamite mad songs. The programmes are carefully researched, with music frequently taken from manuscript sources, unearthing pieces that have lain hidden for centuries. It is this range of material and overall spectacle, combined with the informative and accessible manner of their presentation, that makes Passamezzo such an engaging group.

They have played in a great variety of venues, including the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Hampton Court Palace and theatres, concert halls, stately homes, churches, palaces and ruins throughout Britain.

Passamezzo also works with Moroccan Sufi musicians, Ensemble Mogador Soufie, performing 17th-century English and Moroccan music in both countries.

Television credits include Danny Dyer's Right Royal Family (BBC1); Lucy Worsley's Twelve Days of Tudor Christmas; Howard Goodall's The Truth about Carols (BBC2); Big Brother (Channel 4) and Becoming Elizabeth (Starz).