IT’S beginning to sound a lot like Christmas at Leamington Music.
The Mellstock Band welcome audiences to gather round The Christmas Hearth at the Unitarian Chapel in Warwick on December 3 and 4.
The concerts will feature a seasonal mix of jovial songs, stirring dance music, and haunting carols, assisted by Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, John Clare and William Barnes.
Dressed in costume from Hardy’s day, The Mellstock Band celebrate all things comfortable with hearty harmonies, soulful solos, and exuberant instrumentals, bringing to life the sound of a 19th-century village band with voices, fiddle, clarinet, concertina, and serpent.
The music is linked together by carefully selected readings which tell the story of Christmas celebrations in nineteenth-century England.
And the festive spirit continues when early music specialists Joglaresa present a Christmas programme in Warwick’s St Mary’s Church on December 16.
Here We Come A-Carolling! promises an evening of song and spectacle spanning centuries, continents, and traditions, brought to life in vocal harmony accompanied by fidel, harp, recorders, and a range of percussion instruments including a hammered dulcimer.
For this concert, the audience are full-throatedly in the driving seat, provided with an illustrated booklet of lyrics and musical dots which encourages one and all to join in and celebrate the season singing along with the choruses of hummable festive favourites.
Listeners can come straight to the concert and simply sing along with the festive classics or join Joglaresa for a free, short workshop before the concert at 6.45pm to learn the nuts and bolts of a few numbers – with mulled wine and mince pies included to warm up vocal cords.
Visit www.leamingtonmusic.org for full details.
