Chelys Viol Consort: music made for King Charles

The Chelys Consort

Saturday 16 October, 7pm

Come and hear music that was made for this venue, the 17th century church of King Charles the Martyr. The music is as exquisute and elegant as the architecture. And it's the kind of music that would have been very familiar to King Charles himself, as well as the people who frequented the walks to take the water in the early days of Tunbridge Wells.

Ticket information here

Ibrahim Aziz, Alison Kinder – treble viols
Kate Conway, Sam Stadlen – tenor viols
Harry Buckoke, Jenny Bullock – bass viols

Ibrahim writes: "This concert explores the repertory for a ‘chest of viols’, which was a term used in the 16th and 17th centuries in England to denote either a consort of six viols, or a cabinet specially made for them. Thomas Mace, in his Musick’s Monument (1676) wrote that “a good chest of viols” should contain “2 Basses, 2 Tenors, 2 Trebles, all truly proportionally suited”. Our programme tonight showcases the repertoire that might have been played in a 17th century English household fortunate enough to afford such a collection of instruments, players and music."

Ticket information here

Described by Gramophone as having released 'unquestionably the most beautiful recording of the Lachrimae', Chelys have garnered a reputation for their faithful yet fresh interpretations of the consort repertoire. They take their name from an ancient Greek word which referred to a bowed lyre, said to have been invented by the god Hermes. The word was borrowed by the English violist Christopher Simpson on the title page of his treatise 'The Division Viol' when he translated the work into Latin.