Bloomsbury Baroque
By 1700, London was the largest city in Europe, and as such began to attract musicians from across the continent to entertain the swelling population. Exclusive venues such as Hickford’s Long Room in Soho ran subscription concerts for the nobility, and the much copied Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens provided entertainment during the season for all strata of society.
Handel, Bononcini, Geminiani, Pepusch and Draghi are just some of the famous composers who beat a path to London, bringing with them the new Italianate style of music, and some of the world’s most renowned performers of the time.
Meanwhile, the parish of Bloomsbury, just to the north of Holborn, was being developed as an elegant residential area, based on a grid plan surrounding leafy garden squares. The erection of of the grand edifices of Montagu House and Southampton (later Bedford) House cemented the area’s reputation as a fashionable place to live, and the later purchase of Montagu House to serve as the first British Museum ensured it would become synonymous with culture and learning.
Merger on the Dancefloor
24th October, 7pm, Holy Cross Church, Bloomsbury, WC1H 8JU
Join Bloomsbury Baroque and friends for an evening of Eighteenth Century song, instrumental music and audience-participation dance. Celebrating the festival’s theme of Human Kind, and the cultural richness brought to London through immigration, we bring a programme of repertoire written by composers active in London at the time, such as Arne, De Fesch, Handel and Sancho. Kick off your shoes in the second half and join our band and caller as they lead us through Georgian dances, à la Bridgerton!
https://bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/events/merger-on-the-dancefloor/
Other Programmes:
A Musical Party at Montagu House -
the musical sound world of Eighteenth Century London
La Douceur - treasures of the French Baroque
Based near Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury Baroque is an ensemble of some of London’s finest historically informed musicians. Performing on period instruments, our mission is to illustrate the cultural life of the eighteenth century through an exploration of the vast wealth of repertoire of that era.
Philippa Hyde, soprano
Diane Moore - baroque violin
William Summers - baroque flute and recorder
Ibrahim Aziz - bass viol
Yeo Yat-Soon - Harpsichord
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