On the second day of the Winter Festival…

Spitalfields Music sent to me… a clip from yesterday morning’s performance, Scottish Reels and Winter Riffs, featuring the London Handel Players and renowned Scottish Fiddler Alasdair Fraser.

That’s right, click play below to hear the first movement from Vivaldi’s La primavera (Spring) from the Four Seasons concertos, as arranged by 18th-century French man du jour Nicolas Chédeville for hurdy gurdy (played by Clare Salaman) accompanied by flute and strings.

In video: Musical Rumpus Tour

With the last of the golden egg shakers back in its box and the magical forest all folded up, the Musical Rumpus tour of A Fairy Queen in the Forest to Barking & Dagenham and Newham has come to an end. But worry not, the tour was the start of a three-year programme of musical experiences for babies and toddlers and we will be returning in July with a brand new work.

You can help bring these musical experiences to 750 families by donating through The Big Give Christmas Challenge. Between Thursday 6 and Saturday 8 December 2012, donate via The Big Give website and The Big Give will aim to match your donation pound for pound.

Click play below to find out more about the project so far.

In Pictures: Musical Rumpus

Our hit event series for the toddling audiences is currently sprinkling some musical fairy dust around libraries and community venues in our neighbouring boroughs of Barking & Dagenham and Newham.

Musical Rumpus: A Fairy Queen in the Forest takes Henry Purcell’s opera The Fairy Queen and adapts it especially for 0-2 year-olds. To celebrate the fact that the tour is in full swing, we’ve put together a collection of our favourite images for you to enjoy (along with a short clip with a budding conductor from the beginning of our Dagenham Library performance).

Musical Rumpus on tour is supported by Arts Council England, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham and Garfield Weston Foundation.

In video: Summer Festival 2012 Highlights

So unfortunately Summer seems to be fast-fading… Three-and-a-half days left of the Paralympics, children back to school soon, and it seems to be dark by 9.00pm.

However, we’ve just put the finishing touches on a 2 minute round-up of this year’s Summer Festival, giving you a flavour of what we got up to during 16 crazy days in June. Press play below to find out more (and to enjoy snippets of footage from The Opera Group, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Matthew Barley, La Nuova Musica & Vignette Productions, Alan Gilbey and more)

(And if that’s whet your appetite, we’ll being announcing full programme details for our Winter Festival 2012 on Monday 10 September, with booking opening on Monday 24 September at 10.00am)

In video: Old Earth with Harry Christophers

Our friends at The Sixteen recently sent this over video with conductor Harry Christophers, Jericho director Jonathan Holmes and composer Alec Roth, who have been working with the singers and veteran actor, and national treasure Alan Howard. They will be presenting Old Earth, a music theatre collaboration which includes the first theatrical presentation of four monologues from Samuel Beckett‘s Fizzles series. Play the video below to find out more from the team, and book your tickets online now!

Old Earth
Friday 15 & Saturday 16 June
6.30pm & 8.30pm
Village Underground
More information on the Spitalfields Music website