Online Recital: Musicke in the Ayre

The Programme

Recorded live at St Bride’s on Friday 22nd September.

‘The Shepherd Knight and his Star’

Jane Hunt – soprano
Melissa Scott – mezzo-soprano
Din Ghani – lutes

O you that hear this voice

Who is it that this dark night?

Content is rich
Come to me grief, forever

My lute, within thyself

If ever hapless woman

Lady Rich, her Galliard

My joy is dead
In darkness let me dwell

Was I to blame?

Farewell fond youth

The Artists

Jane Hunt left London to study music in Bath, and settled in the area. Under the tuition of Elizabeth Odell she gained a performer’s diploma in singing. She has also taken part in courses and masterclasses given by Evelyn Tubb, Stephen Varcoe and Elizabeth Ritchie, and she sings regularly with Paragon Singers. Jane has performed solos with a number of local choral societies including Chandos Singers and has sung several operatic roles. She gives frequent vocal recitals and has a wide repertoire, with particular interests in early music and English song.

Melissa Scott spent several years in Handel Opera in the ‘80s followed by a long stint in the London Symphony Chorus before moving on to focus on earlier repertoire with Highgate-based 16-voice ensemble Moving Chamber Choir. Occasional coaching from Robert Hollingworth and Christopher Bucknall helps ease her into solo recitals with Musicke in the Ayre, augmented recently by a masterclass with Dame Emma Kirkby. She brings her experience in Arts Marketing and in running her own company to the music world as a Trustee in three Charitable Trusts – London Handel Festival, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Siglo de Oro.

Din Ghani began playing the lute in 1975, and in the last decade took up lute-making; he has made a variety of early plucked string instruments, mostly for his own use, including one of the lutes in this concert. Since 2007 he has participated regularly as an accompanist in lute-song masterclasses given by Dame Emma Kirkby and Evelyn Tubb. The coaching received from David Miller and Michael Fields at these events helped hone his accompaniment skills.

Musicke in the Ayre was formed by Din as a vehicle for exploring and performing the vast repertoire of 16/17th-century works for solo voice/s accompanied by lute or related instruments, working with singers and other instrumentalists from an ever-growing team spread around the country and abroad. Since 2011 they have given over 120 recitals in the UK and in Belgium, France and Spain.