medieval minstrels
Trouvere are medieval musicians Paul Leigh and Gill Page
We have been playing music together for nearly ten years, and our particular love is for the music of the high middle ages - the time of the crusades and of the arts of courtly love. We enjoy rediscovering, recreating and re-interpreting the magnificent music of these times, based on thorough historical research alongside our musical experience and understanding. We are also the directors of Medieval Music in the Dales - the UK's only festival of medieval music.
The rich interweaving of strings is perhaps our signature sound, played on the gittern and harp. But we have an amazing array of instruments, and also love to combine flutes and harp, bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy, whistles and drums...
We like to give a medieval context to our performances and to that end we often perform in authentic clothes of the period - another of Gill’s enthusiasms!
Trouvere are based in North Yorkshire, UK.
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At the moment Trouvere have two big projects in hand. Our recent Kickstarter project has just completed and we are now surrounded by parcels all filled with our new 'Medieval Instrumentarium' CD, waiting for dispatch all around the world. These CDs will soon be in our online shop.
We also have a new album that has nothing to do with medieval music! Gasp, shock and surprise!! Yes, our latest album 'The fox, the owl and the otter' by Northern Skies (the same performers as in Trouvere) is full of instrumental ambient sounds produced on guitars, flutes and other softer instruments. This album is digital only and can be streamed or downloaded right now from all the usual places - here's a Spotify link.
You might also have noticed that we are slowly but surely building up a YouTube presence. Our most recent album, Saeculorum, features music from five different medieval centuries. So Gill decided she would flex her medieval historian sinews (she's a Doctor you know...) and use this as a basis for five short videos telling the history of the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was quite a task to distill down such a lot of potential information into five short videos of about 10-15 minutes each. The Saeculorum collection has been out for a while but if you haven't seen it do take a look, and it would be great if you could subscribe to our channel. Here's a link to the Saeculorum playlist.
CALENDAR
Events for 2023 are coming in and more will be added as soon as we have firm information!
All the events listed here are public events, although these days many are ticketed and you might need to contact the relevant organisation in advance. It would be great to see you!
Public events for 2023
1st January - Trouvere: Ludus Danielis in concert for Colchester Early Music. 2.30pm at St Andrew's Church, Marks Tey. Tickets
23-25 March - Music for Richmond ADS "Swive", at The Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond. Tickets
1-3 April - Music at Alnwick Castle.
23 April - The North East Early Music Forum Playing Day. Temple Newsam House, Leeds.
29, 30 April and 1 May - Richmond MayFest. Richmond, North Yorkshire.
27-28 May - Tales and Music with Geoffrey of Monmouth. Chepstow Castle, Monmouthshire
29-31 May - Music at Alnwick Castle. Twenty instruments in twenty minutes.
3 June - Medieval music at Brampton Museum (Newcastle-under-Lyme)
10 June - Tudor Music at Prescot (tbc)
25 June - Medieval Music at Open Garden, Mr Yorke's Walled Garden in Richmond - in aid of Richmond MayFest.
1 July - Denholme Gala, Denholme, West Yorkshire
4 July - International Medieval Congress (IMC) in Leeds. The Ludus Danielis - music from the 12th century. More information.
26-27 August - Beeston Castle. Music for the tournament and our twenty instruments in twenty minutes show.
8-10 September - Medieval Music in the Dales, Bolton Castle, North Yorkshire