Sunday 24 October 2021
Gilbert Consort Reunion
TIME STOOD STILL on Sunday, 24th October, when a troop of alumni from the 1980s,1990s and their successors came together in the Zimmerman Building to meet and play again music familiar to them from their days with the consort. Shoppers in nearby Church Street may well have been startled by the lively strains of the music of John Dowland, Tielman Susato , Giovanni Gastoldi and their contemporaries, issuing simultaneously and -of course- tunefully from the open windows of the Powell Theatre, Sixth Form Centre and Main Hall. Master of Ceremonies throughout the day was our most illustrious alumnus, Robert Hollingworth, who with the lightness of touch and irrepressible wit for which he is deservedly well-known, directed the day’s proceedings , which ended with an informal concert for friends, families and invited guests. Robert is the innovative founder and director of I Fagiolini, the internationally-known Early Music Group, which he created as an undergraduate at Oxford in the 1980s. We are very much in his debt for taking time out between concerts in Europe and his many commitments at the University of York in order to be with us on such a unique occasion. Thanks are also due to Andrew Fowler, who arrived from the North East with a van load of instruments including crumhorns , which were eagerly pounced upon by some, who for many years had been starved of the opportunity to practise the unique skill these instruments demand. It’s safe to add that in the course of the day Andrew himself played at least eight different wind instruments from his collection, which included a bass rackett and a gemshorn. A soprano rauschpfeiffe also made a brief appearance at the concert but in deference to the audience’s sensitive ears was brandished but not sounded. Thanks also to Crispin Fisher, whose idea it had been to celebrate 47 years of Early Music making at HCS, to David Evans and to Helen Pearson and Claire Morgan-Jones for their part in organising an event which was so obviously enjoyed by those who took part and not least by the Gilbert Consort’s founder and director. Dick Rhodes