New season at National Centre For Early Music in York

The English Song Day, promoted in association with the University of York, kicks off its celebration of song settings from both sides of the Atlantic as early as 10.30am.

Taking part in the day of concerts and workshops will be soprano Yvonne Seymour, tenor Jason Darnell, bass Roderick Williams and pianists Christopher Glynn and Peter Seymour, along with Ian Partridge.

Highlights of the programme of English and American song by Copland, Barber, Vaughan Williams and Butterworth include On Wenlock Edge and 12 Poems Of Emily Dickinson, finished off with music in a lighter vein by Sullivan, Coward, Weill and Sondheim.

Steve Knightley, the songwriting force behind regular York visitors Show Of Hands, plays a sold-out solo show next Friday at 7.30pm, when his special guest will be the Devonian singer Jim Causley, of Devil’s Interval and Mawkin Causley. Jim will be performing his own songs and joining Steve for duets.

This will be the first of two folk shows promoted in tandem with the Black Swan Folk Club, the second featuring Spiers & Boden, twice winners of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Duo, with their 21st century spin on spontaneous, punked-up English folk on April 11.

In a further folk night, Heidi Talbot makes her NCEM debut on April 14, showcasing her latest album, The Last Star. Produced by John McCusker, this 2010 release has prompted two nominations for two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards: best traditional track for Willy Taylor and Folk Singer of the Year.

The NCEM’s series of world music concerts under the Making Tracks umbrella continues with Lo Cor de la Plana and their witty, funky Occitan vocal grooves on February 19. These six a cappella singers from Marseilles present life’s dramas in song to the accompaniment of percussion instruments.

The Making Tracks showcase for “well-travelled music” also welcomes the Congolese dance vibes of Grupo Lokito on May 14, when guitarists Burkina Faso and Limousine, Kinshasa singer and dancer José Hendrix Ndelo and British salsa pianist Sara McGuinness re-activate the Cuban Rumba that was such a hot trend in West Africa in the 1950s.

Saxophonist Denys Baptiste leads off the jazz nights on February 26, letting rip with his fiery improvisations when showcasing his robust new album, Identity By Subtraction. The Paul Baxter Trio, rising stars of the British scene, will be performing music from their debut album, Evolution, in an April 1 concert for the York Late Music Festival series that had to be postponed last year amid December’s bleak snows.

The Snake Davis Band returns to the NCEM on April 30; watch out for saxophonist Snake playing an ancient Japanese wind instrument, the Shakuhachi, that night.

Dutch fiddler Tim Kliphuis makes his NCEM bow with his acoustic trio on May 21, when they combine gipsy, classical and folk music with tango, world music and Grappelli jazz. The TG Collective had been booked to play the NCEM last year but the show was later re-arranged for June 18 2011, when jazz, gipsy hotclub, flamenco and contemporary classical music come together.

The classical programme serves up I Fagiolini’s 25th birthday cocktail in a March 17 programme of early music entitled It Don’t Mean A Thing. Expect a night of Renaissance madrigals with a 21st century twist.

May 7 will be the University of York’s annual Baroque Day at the NCEM, and this year the theme will be The Grand Tour of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Taking part will be Compagnia d’Istrumenti, the University of York Baroque Ensemble and vocal chamber groups in concerts at 10.30am, 1pm, 3.30pm and 7pm.

Violinist Oliver Wilson-Dickson and guitarist Dylan Fowler played the NCEM as part of the Téa Hodzic Trio last year and now return, this time accompanied by storyteller Daniel Morden, for Sleeping Beauty & Alcestis on May 10. In a show unsuitable for children aged under 12, they tell Sleeping Beauty’s haunting tale of death and rebirth alongside the Greek myth of Alcestis, both stories underscored by “heart-stopping live music”.

Once summer is in the air, the June calendar promises Songs of Smyrna, The Blues of the Aegean, sung by Cigdem Aslan on June 4 and the Dave Newton Trio in a jazz concert in memory of Alf Peacock on June 25. Pianist Newton will be putting his new album, Portrait Of A Woman, in the spotlight.

On June 17, Ambrose Field leads University of York music students in an instrumental and vocal performance of The Greatest Story Ever Told?, a glimpse of the future of the York Mystery Plays that incorporates digital imaging, pre-Renaissance music and new composition.

The season concludes with The Sixteen Insight Day 2011 from 10.30am to 3.30pm on July 2, when musicologist John Milsom, music editor Sally Dunkley and members of Harry Christopher’s vocal ensemble The Sixteen explore the 16th century music of Tomas Luis de Victoria.

The NCEM programme for 2011 may be slimmer – such are the harsh realities of the present economic climate – but the quality and diversity are undimmed.

Tickets and brochures are available from the NCEM at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk