2nd- 4th September 2016, Bolton Castle, Wensleydale
Following a successful appearance at the historic Gayle Mill during the 2015 Swaledale Festival, Richmond-based medieval music ensemble Trouvere present a new event for Yorkshire, featuring performers and craftspeople from across the UK, France and Italy.
Medieval Music in the Dales is an ambitious new festival of medieval music and a first not just for Yorkshire but for the UK. The organisers are locally-based medieval musicians Trouvere, and the event will feature some of the finest performers and craftspeople working in the medieval field. For three days this September, Bolton Castle will ring with wonderful medieval sounds as it has not done for over five hundred years!At the heart of the event is a display by some of the finest instrument makers around - making it one of the most comprehensive collection of replica medieval instruments ever put together in the UK. Instruments will range from huge and sonorous medieval great pipes (precursor of the Highland pipes we know and love!) through to delicate harps and lyres strung with gut, taking in varieties of medieval guitar and lute, flutes made from wood, horn and bone - and a whole lot more.
Our farthest flung "luthiers" (or instrument makers) will be bagpipe maker Danilo Turchetti, coming from Padua in Italy, and guitar maker Ugo Casalonga from Corsica in France! With that many instruments, we need plenty of musicians... starting with a professional line-up of medieval performers from across the country. For the headline concert on Saturday night, festival organisers Trouvere will be joined firstly by internationally renowned medieval harpist Leah Stuttard, who has played with Jordi Savall and Ensemble Micrologus. Also appearing will be the superlative duo Steve Tyler and Katy Marchant, playing on hurdy gurdy, bagpipes and shawm. Completing the Saturday night line-up will be the wonderful new wind band Blondel, playing fifteenth-century music on shawms, recorders and bagpipes.
All the headline bands will also be providing short daytime concerts to showcase their unique sounds.But there will be many many more musicians. Medieval Music in the Dales will attract professional and amateur medieval music performers from all across the country to perform on a collection of open stages in and around Bolton Castle. There will also be plenty of dancing, with workshops and displays of medieval dance styles. Indeed, the workshop programme is a whole further and exciting element of the festival, with workshops including instrument performance and maintenance, singing the medieval repertoire - and even the chance to learn to make your own medieval reeds.
All this plus a medieval banquet on the Friday night, and a medieval market throughout the weekend...We could not have a better venue than Bolton Castle. Not only is it a superb survival from medieval times, with plenty of intact inside spaces for our event, but it is set in stunning Wensleydale so that visitors to Medieval Music in the Dales will also discover the splendours of the Yorkshire countryside. The rich sounds of the middle ages, costumes and colour, medieval retail therapy in the market, a chance to join in, the beautiful natural setting - Medieval Music in the Dales will be a unique and thrilling event.