Events
Almshouses Chapel Hosts Lecture / Recital of Female Musicians
In yet another full house, the beautiful City of Wells Almshouses Bubwith Chapel (Wells’s loveliest hidden gem, soon to be restored and made much more accessible to the people of Wells thanks mainly to a generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund) was the venue for a lecture and recital on Female Musicians of the Renaissance given by the multi-talented Sara Stowe. Windows were opened onto an almost entirely neglected world of female musicians of the baroque and early classical eras, covering Italy, Spain, Germany, the British Isles and beyond. Sara enthusiastically provided the audience with a range of fascinating facts and tales interspersed with compositions for keyboard and voice which she played on her own harpsichord and sang with charming musicianship and skill. The audience was then invited to a glass of sherry in the Almshouses Guild Room (which used to be the town hall in olden days), although many stayed in the chapel to chat with Sara and admire her beautiful harpsichord. Sara and her husband Matthew Spring, a highly regarded lute and hurdy-gurdy player, also perform with the groups Galliarda and Sirinu, so should you have the chance to attend a concert by either of those two groups, you will certainly not regret it. Altogether a most enjoyable and informative evening as well as several hundred pounds being raised to contribute to the chapel restoration project.
