We are fundraising to record our next CD, “A Gift for your Garden”, with chamber music by Telemann, Handel, Graun and James Oswald.
by Ensemble Hesperi in London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Our project - what's it about?
We are fundraising towards the costs of recording our second CD, A Gift for your Garden, for BIS records, to be released in November 2024. Our 2021 debut CD recording, Full of the Highland Humours, has been highly praised and hugely popular with our audiences, and we can’t wait to share more of our music with our supporters across the world. We have been performing this programme around the UK for the past year, and it will be a real milestone for us to record this intriguing story in musical form for posterity.
Who are we?
We're Ensemble Hesperi, a dynamic and innovative London-based Early Music ensemble, dedicated to showcasing the infectious charm and dazzling virtuosity of eighteenth century Scottish music through imaginative programming and collaboration with other art forms. Since 2019, we have developed a reputation for championing rarely-heard music, bringing forgotten stories to life through original research and joyful collaborations with guest artists, dancers, and actors.
Over the past few years, we have been busy sharing music we believe us unjustly neglected, supported by several grants from the Continuo Foundation, and support from Arts Council England. We have appeared regularly on BBC Radio 3's In Tune and Early Music Show, and recorded in studio for Classic FM alongside regular performances in UK and Europe. In November 2020, we won first prize at the London International Festival of Early Music Young Ensemble Competition, and in 2021, third prize at the International Van Wassenaer Competition in Utrecht. We were also selected as City Music Foundation Artists in 2021, and in fact we first performed "A Gift for your Garden" at CMF's concert series in summer 2022.
A little more about the music...
"A Gift for your Garden" celebrates Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) and his little-known love of plant life! Towards the end of his life, Telemann filled his Hamburg garden with exotic flowers, and often wrote to many of his musical friends abroad, asking them to send plant specimens in the post. These included George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) and Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702-1771), whose beautiful trio sonatas will feature on the disc, alongside music by Telemann himself: one of his challenging "Paris Quartets", a raucous sonata in G minor, and a haunting solo flute fantasia.
Telemann declared in one letter to a friend: ‘I am insatiable where hyacinths and tulips are concerned, greedy for ranunculi, and especially for anemones’. We are therefore delighted to be able to include in this programme three of our favourite Scottish floral airs by our favourite Scottish composer James Oswald (1710-1769): "The Hyacinth", "The Anemone" and "The Tulip". These delightful airs really capture the galant spirit of the age, and are guaranteed to transport you to Scotland itself.
This music is full of charm and energy, and really conveys the chamber music spirit at the heart of everything we do at Hesperi. We believe that it deserves to be enjoyed by audiences around the world.
How can you help?
We need your help to bring our project life! We have many costs to cover, including the services of our brilliant sound engineer, Oscar Torres, our harpsichord tuner, venue hire for rehearsals and the recording itself, travel, accommodation, and much, much more...
We would be delighted if you can contribute to our campaign, no matter how little! Thank-you so much - and do share with your friends if you can.
Mary-Jannet, Magda, Florence and Thomas :)
This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.