Continuo Connect is a concert-finder for music lovers looking for the best of Classical, Baroque, Renaissance and other Early Music events happening across the UK.
Corporate member Continuo Foundation, a grant-making charity helping live music to flourish in communities across the UK, recently launched Continuo Connect - a non-profit digital hub for all things Early Music.
Tina Vadaneaux, Continuo’s Founder and CEO, commented:
This new platform has been designed in response to our learning from making grants to Early Music projects over the last two years. Ensembles often struggle to raise their profiles and to publicise performances to attract larger, more diverse audiences. At the same time, audiences often don’t know about upcoming events until they have already taken place. We often hear people say ‘I wish I had known …‘ So addressing this information gap seemed a natural next step in our mission to help the UK early music ecosystem to flourish.
The Early Music scene in this country is astonishingly vibrant, imaginative and inspiring. A June 2021 article in The Economist refers to period instrument performance as ‘one of the glories of all British music.’
Continuo Connect will provide a platform offering professional UK-based ensembles and musicians greater visibility and will help them to connect with new and more diverse audiences.
What exactly is Early Music? Does it start with Byrd and stop with Bach?
The term ‘Early Music’ originally referred only to the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods of Western music. However, as time has moved on, the definition has stretched to include the Classical and Romantic periods as well. The lines are definitely not set in stone. We find that what unifies Early Music concerts is the approach to the music – a historically-informed approach.
The events on Continuo Connect span a wide variety of repertoires – encompassing 800 years of classical music – played on period instruments (originals from the time the music was written, or faithful replicas). These Historically Informed Performances (HIP) are based on an exciting blend of thorough research, a bit of guesswork and an enormous amount of imagination and creativity.
So, you never know what to expect at these concerts?
More often than not you will discover music you may not have heard before or a new interpretation of a piece you thought you knew. Because of its investigative nature, a HIP performance can often break through to something completely and surprisingly new.
Early Music concerts tend to be relaxed and welcoming experiences, and are a great way into classical music for new audiences. We invite you to have a look on Continuo Connect to discover an inspiring event near you.
Sign up to receive monthly concert recommendations and curated playlists with music ensembles with upcoming events via the Continuo Connect website. Follow Continuo Connect on Facebook/Instagram and Twitter.
