St Mary Magdalene Thornham Magna
Saturday 7th June 2025 4.00pm
The John Jenkins Consort
Asuka Sumi & Patrick Rimes violins
Louise Jameson bass violin
Peter Holman chamber organ
A programme of music by Henry Purcell and his contemporaries: Blow, Draghi, Falconieri and Matteis alongside great works by Purcell himself. Patrick Rimes will also perform selections of Welsh and Scottish folk tunes from the period.
Tickets: £20, to book ring 01379 788130
or click to contact us via email
students in full time education: free
interval tea and cakes
John Blow (1649–1708): Symphony in D minor to ‘Awake my lyre’ (1676–7)
Matthew Locke (1621/2–77): Suite in G minor from Tripla Concordia (published 1676)
John Blow: Ground in G minor (c.1685)
A Glamorganshire Ox-Driving Song from Edward Williams (‘Iolo Morgannwg’) collection (1747–1826). soloist: Patrick Rimes
Giovanni Battista Draghi (c.1640–1708): The Italian Ground in D minor (published 1686). soloist: Asuka Sumi
Henry Purcell (1659–95): Symphony in G major to ‘If ever I more riches did desire’ (1687)
Henry Purcell: Ground in G minor on Lully’s ground Z807 (Sonata VI, 1697 collection)
Interval
Henry Purcell: Symphony in D minor to ‘Raise, raise the voice’ Z334 (?1685)
Andrea Falconieri (1585-1656): Folias (1650) in D minor
Nicola Matteis (fl. c.1674-93): Divisions on La Folia (Faronel’s Ground) in D minor soloist: Asuka Sumi
William Nisbet of Dirleton (c.1710-1783): The Sow’s Tail, with variations (published 1788) soloist: Patrick Rimes
Henry Purcell: Chaconne ‘Two in one upon a ground’ in A minor (?c.1690)
Henry Purcell: Sonata in F major Z810 ‘The Golden’ (Sonata X, 1697 collection)
Asuka Sumi is a violinist based in Leeds and specialising in historical performance practice.
In 2013, Asuka won the Biber Competition’s “Romanus Weichlein Prize” in Austria; the judges praised her innovative programming, clear style, and a lyrical approach based upon solid technique.
Under the guidance of her father, the violin pedagogue Yasuro Sumi, she began to study historical performance on period instruments, subsequently obtaining degrees from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. From 2009, she studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Lucy van Dael and obtained her Master degree in 2014 under Sophie Gent.
Asuka has been playing a significant role in the formation of several chamber music groups based in Europe, among them are Seconda Prat!ca (CD ‘Nova Europa’ m Harmonia Mundi), Fons Harmonicus (Fabulous Fringe prize at FOMU) and Amsterdam Corelli Collective (winner of Eeemerging). With those groups and as a soloist, she has been invited to perform in prestigious venues and festivals such as Resonanzen Festival in Konzerthaus Vienna, the Sablé and Ambronay festivals in France, Göttingen Handel Fenstival, Utrecht Early Music Festival, MA festival in Bruges and the Cambridge Early Music Festival in the UK.
She has also been active as a member of period instrument orchestras under the baton of Herve Nique, Enrico Onofri, Amandine Bayer, Sigiswalt Kuiken and Paul McCreesh.
Since moving in the UK, she is rapidly playing with groups such as the Gabrieli Consort, the English Concert, the Parley of Instrument, London Early Opera, and invigorating the Early Music scene in North by performing with Manchester Baroque, Baroque in the North and Leeds Baroque with which she is appointed to the orchestra leader from 2021.
Asuka is a passionate educator for both modern and baroque violin, and currently teaching Baroque Ensemble at University of York.
Asuka maintains a strong interest in the historical development of violin technique, especially free-ornamentation in the 17th century, and is engaged in continual investigation of the ‘Late seicento violin music in Bologna and Modena.’ Her recent contribution was a lecture-recital about C.A. Lonati and other Roman violinist at the University of Leeds International Concert Series with the Cecilian Ensemble. https://asukasumi.com
Born and raised in Eryri, North Wales, Patrick Rimes was immersed in Welsh folk music's living tradition from an early age, learning by osmosis from fiddle luminaries such as Huw Roberts, Jeff Hughes and Stephen Rees. After studying at the University of Leeds and Janáčkovo Akademie Musických in the Czech Republic. he enjoys a varied career of performing, composing/arranging and teaching, always with the goal of bringing the melodies and energy of the fiddle tradition into the concert hall. As a founding member of multi-award winning bands Calan and VRï he has produced seven studio albums to date, and toured across Europe, North America and Asia; His works have been performed by a variety of artists from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to Sting, and in 2017 he won a BAFTA for work with regular collaborator Sir Bryn Terfel. When teaching at Cardiff's Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, he enjoys introducing the students to traditional music and performance practices whenever possible.
Peter Holman studied at King's College, London with Thurston Dart, and founded the pioneering early music group Ars Nova while a student. He founded The Parley of Instruments with Roy Goodman in 1979, recording many CDs for Hyperion, and is now director of Leeds Baroque and the Suffolk Villages Festival. He has taught at many conservatoires, universities and summer schools in Britain, Europe, New Zealand and the USA, and was Reader and then Professor of Historical Musicology at Leeds University from 2000, retiring in 2010. He was awarded an MBE in the 2015 New Years Honours list.
Peter is a regular broadcaster and is much in demand as a lecturer at learned conferences. He spends much of his time in writing and research, with special interests in the early history of the violin family and early instrumental ensemble music, and in English music from about 1550 to 1850. He is the author of five books: the prize-winning Four and Twenty Fiddlers: The Violin at the English Court 1540-1690 (Oxford, 1993), Henry Purcell (Oxford, 1994), Dowland: Lachrimae (Cambridge, 1999), Life after Death: The Viola da Gamba in Britain from Purcell to Dolmetsch (Woodbridge, 2010), and Before the Baton: Musical Direction and Conducting in Stuart and Georgian Britain (Woodbridge, 2020). His latest book, The Purcell Compendium, compiled with Bryan White, was published last month.
Louise Jameson took up the cello at the age of seven and has played in orchestras and ensembles ever since. A lover of early music, she is often heard playing the Baroque cello and bass violin in Baroque orchestras and the John Jenkins Consort, and the treble and tenor viol in London Viols. Louise also works as administrator of the Suffolk Villages Festival, and as a freelance concert and tour manager for ensembles such as Polyphony, the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge and St James’ Baroque.