Renaissance Players James Wannan and Winsome Evans
The Renaissance Players are back on home turf and will play their next concert series in the Great Hall, Sydney University, on Saturday October 5 and Sunday October 6.
The 35th Runnymede Pop Festival is a unique concert of serious, devout, comic, erotic and miraculous music, mime and poetry from mediæval Spain, Catalonia, France, Germany and England, performed in brightly coloured costumes in the neo-Gothic splendour of Sydney University’s banner-decorated Great Hall.
The singers will include Nicole Thomson, Jenny Duck-Chong, Mara Kiek and Susie Bishop. The multi-instrumentalist musicians are Winsome Evans, Andrew Lambkin, Llew Kiek, James Wannan; Geoff Sirmai will be the poetry reader and Erasmus the miming clown.
The plucked, blown, bowed, keyboard and percussion instruments will include harp, psaltery, mandora, gittern, ud, diwan saz, sinfonye, rebecs, vielles, shawms, lur, mute cornett, gemshorns, whistles, portative organ, tapans, dairehs, darabukka, castanets, tambourines, zils and handbells.
Days of yore: Andrew Lambkin, Winsome Evans, Geoff Sirmai and Llew Kiek
This festival harks back to a great tradition that in its heyday in 1973 boasted eminent performers such as Professor Frederick May, Graham Pushee, Lyndon Terracini, Michael Atherton, Barbara Stackpool, Wayne Richmond, Jonathan Rubin and Winsome Evans.
It went on to become the longest running, regular festival of mediæval music, poetry and mime in Australia. These festivals continue to reinforce The Renaissance Players’ long-standing association with Sydney University and its Great Hall where in September, 1966 they presented their first concert.
The Players have been busy recording, mastering and remastering six new CDs, followed by a performance during Sydney’s Greek Folk Festival.
The 35th Runnymede Pop Festival concerts will be held at 7pm on Saturday October 5 and 3pm Sunday October 6 in the Great Hall, Sydney University.
Suggested donation: $35
Tickets: (02) 4751 4910; 0414 716 968; or at the door.
