Mediaeval Mixture singers to perform at Edlingham church

In 2008 Vivien Ellis, an early music specialist, singer and teacher, led a group of curious and enthusiastic singers who joined the early music singing workshop to discover more about Hildegard of Bingen and early music in general.

The workshop was so successful and popular that many asked where they could sing this kind of music in the future. From that workshop Mediaeval Mixture was born.

Under the unbroken and ‘exceptional’ leadership of Margaret Watchorn, the group have gathered every month for 15 years (except when interrupted by Covid) to sing sacred and secular music from across the centuries.

The music includes some of the earliest music ever discovered from ancient Greece, through European music up to the 1700s. All the music is sung a cappella, though sometimes with simple percussion accompaniments, and includes plainchant, sacred pieces, carols, love songs, folk songs, rounds and and saucy catches.

Many of the members from the original workshop group come from many parts of Northumberland and Tyneside and meet to sing once a month on a Saturday morning in a central location in Morpeth.

At 3pm on Saturday, September 23 in St John’s Church, Edlingham, Mediaeval Mixture will be presenting some of the music they have been enjoying recently, interspersed with relevant readings.

There is no charge and anyone is welcome to go to the old church and listen to a programme of music that is rarely heard today.