(Credit: Ben Ealovega)

The National Center for Early Music has announced a program of online concerts called “Awaken.” The series will showcase some of the best musical artists in the UK and from the city of York.

For the purposes of this article, our focus will be on vocal performances.

The festivities begin on March 27 with a musical tour led by The Gesualdo Six entitled “Beyond these shores: A York Tapestry explores.”

That evening, starting at 7 p.m. local time, countertenor Iestyn Davis will lead “The Sky Above the Roof.” He will be joined by instrumental viola specialists Fretwork as they perform music by Bach and Vaughan Williams.

On Sunday, March 28, audiences will get a chance to see I Fagiolini in performance alongside the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble. The showcase, entitled “Super-Excellent” will be directed by Robert Hollingworth.

The Gesualdo Six will also perform a concert on March 21, 2021 that will be streamed from the National Center for Early Music.

“As we gradually move into Spring, we are delighted to bring you Awaken, which through music brings us the
promise of hope, joy and warmth for the coming months,” said Delma Tomlin MBE, Director of NCEM in a press release. “Since the very first lockdown, we have continued to bring you some of the finest music streamed from our beautiful base of St Margaret’s Church. For Awaken, we’ve
branched out further and are very excited to be able to show off some of the city’s architectural gems which provide
us with a fitting backdrop for the glorious music. We’re also pleased to welcome back some of our most popular
performers and to introduce a few new faces. We hope you’ll join us for these sublime sounds of Spring.”