RECITAL SERIES 2025 - 2026

Admission and refreshments free. Suggested minimum donation of £5 to church funds.

A mixed programme for wind quintet including from 18th-21st century, including works by Franz Danzi, Mozart, Elgar and CeciliaMcDowall.

The Coppers have been renowned for their harmony singing, unusual in the English Tradition and possibly church-derived; this fact was noted when the Brothers Tom and James (Brasser) Copper were first ‘collected’ by noted classical singer and musicologist Mrs Kate Lee in 1898. The two were made honorary founder members of the Folk Song Society in 1899 (later to become the English Folk Dance and Song Society) – a fact of which they remained blissfully ignorant!

The land and specifically the Sussex Downland was always the backdrop to the family music and a deep love of the surrounding countryside is never far away from many songs in the repertoire – these were songs in celebration of their everyday work and the pride taken in it; they were treasured and handed down purely through the oral tradition.

SATURDAY 4 October, 4.30 - 5.15 (note changed time)
CROSSING THE POND
Sue Mileham - soprano, Simon Madge - Baritone, Zhanna Kemp, piano
Western American music from spirituals to musical theatre including: Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Amy Beach, John Duke, George Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein and others

Saturday 25 October, 5.30 - 6.15
THE PASTORES ENSEMBLE - AS TYME GOES BY
Robert Carrington - tenor viol, Dominica Lewkow - Mandela and recorders, Paul Neville - viols and guitar, Jacques Ruijterman - plectrum lute
Special Guest: Daniel Rehahn - Trombone
Music from the Renaissance and Medieval period with some jazzy modern touches.

Saturday 29 November, 2.30 - 3.15
DUCK SOUP
English folk music with a dash of the music hall, a dollop of groove and a soupçon of surreality. Dan Quinn – voice, melodeon, Ian Kearey – bass guitar, 12-string dobro, mandolin, tipple, Adam Bushell – marimba, mandolin, triangle, musical saw, phonofiddle, moriin xuur

Duck Soup is a happy accident! Three friends from different musical backgrounds who thought it would be fun to record a tune or two together, and haven't stopped playing in nearly 20 years!  It all ends up as a glorious cross between an English tune session in your favourite pub and a collision in an instrument shop.