Flyers ready and out for delivery! A Banchieri comedy and some lovely madrigals by Monteverdi, Marenzio and Casualana next month - tickets via our website! #earlymusic #concert #renaissance #se16 #rotherhithe

Hard copy of our book arrived!

Gorgeous 17th century house going to ruin on the Three Peaks trail today. Original glass in the windows??

Do not forget Gaza. Do not forget Anas Al-Sharif. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The brilliant @lmbd1418.bsky.social has suggested people write to the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper re: my case. If you could spare five minutes, she's created a draft letter which you can use to send to [email protected]. I appreciate everyone's support. ❤️ docs.google.com/document/d/1...

And it’s live! We read every book published in Italy in 1501 looking for references to music, and this is the first volume on what we found. Thanks to @sheffielduni.bsky.social and @leverhulme.ac.uk, it’s free to read, though you can buy hard copies too www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...

And it's Week 5 in our crowdfunder! Donations are slowly coming in but we would love it if you would share, share, share! This week's history lesson is on how nuns had fun, with lovely video spots from Kristiina Watt, Victoria Couper, Yvonne Eddy, and Elspeth Piggott. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fhQ...

“Authentic”

The gentrification of Plumstead begins

When I pointed out King’s will lose 90% of its AHRC student-led places under the new scheme, I got piled on by the AHRC Chair claiming I was wrong and scaremongering. It wasn’t quite 90%. This year King’s students got 27 AHRC student-led scholarships. Next year they’re giving us 3. So 89% then.

Ridiculous new toy given what I actually need is a new harpsichord, but very grateful to Glenn Braun, who makes instruments that are usually wholly unaffordable accessible - in this case a lira da braccio, one of the go-to instruments for self-accompanied singing in the 15th century!

Circe leaves the room when she hears most music, but apparently loves ars nova keyboard intabulations

The Israeli government and the IDF are, categorically, committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Go ahead: arrest me.

Prince William made £22.9M last year. But he won’t say how much tax he paid. What is he trying to hide? We fund the monarchy, so the least we deserve is transparency. ✍️ Sign the petition if you agree:

Ripieno Choir, based near Esher, is recruiting a choral scholar for 25-26. Deadline tomorrow! Looking for Tenor, Baritone or Bass aged 18-30. Sunday night rehearsals and termly concerts. £1200 stipend. ripienochoir.org.uk/join-us/choral-scholarship/

That might be because I’m writing about Renaissance gender bias

Reform has lost 11 councillors and 2 MPs in a matter of months… and when I say ‘lost’ I mean, they’ve quit following rows, impropriety or inability to do their jobs. So, if Brexit weren’t proof enough, then this barrelling shitshow should confirm forever that they should be nowhere near govt.

Another day, another war crime. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

We’re already knee-deep in sources for ornamentation and continuo realisation! We’re all challenging our approaches to Historical Performance with this album, and can’t wait to share our work from this Autumn!

Among many the bizzarre (some terrifying) questions people apparently needed answers to in 1474: ‘why it is better to have a thick neck than a thin one’.

'AI-generated reviews often suffer from five key weaknesses. They rely on vague...language. They misrepresent the paper’s scope....They flag issues that have already been addressed. They exhibit inconsistent or contradictory logic. And they lack the...nuance of a thoughtful human reviewer.' 1/2

Loads of fun (and a completely full house) doing Rameau’s Les Incas Du Perou with @musicaantica.bsky.social on Saturday. Can’t be many trios in western music that manage to get in a love duet, rage aria and erupting volcano all at once! #se16 #earlymusic

Stopped to have a chat with a lady handing out postcards for a new church on the way to play the organ this morning. Asking her about it, it transpired that this should actually read ‘A church for people who believe women shouldn’t be in any position of authority, anywhere, ever’.

Broadbent Career Development Fellow in American History Since 1600 University of Oxford #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DME724/b...

Four years on from Sarah Everard’s murder. We often leave flowers on Clapham Common at this time of year, but this is the first time someone’s memorialised all the women who’ve had their lives taken in similar circumstances since.

We’re adding an oratorio not performed since 1669 to the seasonal mix of music on offer next month! Poster courtesy of Durer (with a lot of editing…) #earlymodern #earlymusic #classicalmusic #opera #lent #baroque #se16 #rotherhithe

🎶💷 www.musicabritannica.org.uk/MBRecAward.h...

This Saturday in central London - workshop with me on Handel choruses for @lhandel.bsky.social Do join us!

Join @musicaantica.bsky.social for an exploration of realms of unconsciousness through testimonies & 17thC music in the UK's oldest surviving hospital chapel. A collaboration with Seb Harcombe & Welkin Theatre. 📅 Fri, 21st Feb, 7.30pm 📍Guy's Hospital Chapel 🎟️ www.continuoconnect.com/events/music...

As Trump’s circus distracts our media, keep in mind the horrific crimes the IDF is committing, with no accountability, daily www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/...

Excited to learn from an email today that @musicaantica.bsky.social will be recording their first album later this year. They're a fantastic outfit, and I really should trek over to Rotherhithe more often. Here are a couple of them performing some French gorgeousness www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYIN...

A brand new piece of theatre for our first event of 2025! Powerful spoken word and beautiful music by Rossi, Landi and Falvetti, all in the oldest surviving hospital chapel in the UK. Tickets via our website!

Bluesky-friendly clip of the first of our latest videos - Marenzio’s lovely ‘Crudel, Acerba, Inesorabil Morte’.

Loving the ‘where to eat’ that @medren2025.bsky.social has published

👇🏼Just signed. Please join me... 👇🏼 If you destroyed anything else this valuable you'd be locked up or sectioned... chng.it/2H7ZZcykJR

Another article out! This time new research from *beyond the thesis* 😱 if you like book history, early music, and history of music education, with a particular focus on english women, check it out 🙃https://tinyurl.com/aca74a27

This was fun (and cold!)

Whether you song professionally or for fun, if you’re interested in joining us next month do come, and tell anyone you sing with! Student tickets for £2.

This is leadership. Thank you Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde, for speaking for those who cannot, or fear to, speak for themselves.

CfP Medieval and Renaissance Music Conf 2025, 30 June- 4 July at Northumbria, Newcastle & Durham. All topics welcome, but themes incl. borders, migration, ideas of north, Gibbons, Palestrina, materiality, editing, popular trads. Deadline 31 Jan. www.medren2025.co.uk/cfp #earlymodern #musicology

Lovely Marenzio from partbooks and candlelight on Sunday - hoping the audio is as beautiful as the scene looked! Table decoration inspired partly by the description of Imperia Cognati’s music table in Bandello’s Novelle

Recording fun tonight, the day after we launched our 2025 season! Six concerts spanning three centuries of music, and tickets for a tenner or less! Tickets and full details for each programme via our website, musicaantica.org.uk #rotherhithe #se16 #earlymusic

Lovely new stained glass for Holy Trinity this morning, courtesy of Jonathan Cooke. I have the valley of the shadow of death behind me at the organ, not entirely sure what point that’s making

Falling for the clickbait - no, Labour didn’t make you evict a 90 year old, you chose to. www.telegraph.co.uk/money/proper...

The problem with introducing entrepreneurialism into the public sector is that in business, it's absolutely fine for your first 5 startups to go horribly bankrupt if the 6th is a success, and also to shut down unprofitable bits of your organisation; That's not really true of schools, hospitals....

This country needs to pull its finger out on many fronts.

A long-lost oratorio, the salon of a Venetian courtesan, and Incas & Mexica coming up next year!