Music, Heritage, Place: Unlocking the Musical Collections of England’s County Record Offices.
Sheffield’s Melrose Quartet present powerful settings of traditional material alongside some of the best modern songwriting and composition coming out of the folk world.
Renowned performers Nancy Kerr, James Fagan, and Jess & Richard Arrowsmith have become known and loved internationally for their tight harmony song and energised, dance-inspired instrumentals.
Following the Folk Chart success of 2023 album “Make the World Anew”, new project Music, Heritage, Place hears them uncovering gems from hundreds of years of musical history to inspire a new generation of musicians of all ages across communities in present-day England.
This Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project (led by Royal Holloway, University of London and Newcastle University in partnership with the English Folk Dance and Song Society) is investigating over 600 music manuscripts and items of printed music held in England’s county record offices. Crucially, the project is cataloguing these musical gems in an international repertoire database (RISM) for the first time.
A performances and workshop will explore how the music discovered in the archive can be reworked for new audiences – some for the first time in centuries – and inspire a new generation of musicians of all ages across communities in present-day England.
Project pilot website: www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and-teaching/departments-and-schools/music/research/research-projects-and-centres/music-heritage-place/
