Northumbrian Voices

If you’d like to come to one of the Northumbrian Voices shows touring the UK this autumn please  contact venues as soon as you can; some performances have sold out and others are getting very full. The show is based on recordings Kathryn’s done over the years with family members and the older generation of musicians from whom she learnt. Kathryn says, “It’s not just a nostalgic look back to the past though. Many of the people whose words we are using are still alive and very much of the modern age: my neighbour, my cousin — both Northumbrian farmers. When I play tunes I am very aware of their context and of the people I learnt the tunes from. I always wish that audiences could meet some of the people I learnt from — they were such characters — and this show feels as if we are letting those people speak.”  If you’re at Sage Gateshead this Friday or Saturday we’d love to know what you think about the show — please do post a comment! A few responses from the audience at a work in progress in August:

“Absolutely blown away… It was just terrific. So powerful.”

“So moving, so special.”

“A night I will remember for a long time. I was totally transfixed.”

“I was hooked from the first second. The whole piece was so rich and perfectly paced.”

 

The author David Almond (Skellig, Kit’s Wilderness) was moved to comment: “History, ecology, music, myth… the local and the universal. This is beautiful and important work.”

 

The ensemble:

Kathryn Tickell — Northumbrian pipes, fiddle, voice

Mike Tickell — voice

Kit Haigh — guitar, piano

Patsy Reid — fiddle

Julian Sutton — melodeon

Hannah Rickard – voice

 

Northumbrian Voices is directed by Kathryn Tickell and Annie Rigby (Unfolding Theatre) and is supported by Arts Council England.