Among Friends: English Consorts and Country Dances
Watch online here, or on YouTube

Midnight Viols, a renegade consort of viols, recorders, voices, and “air viol” (aka English concertina), return with a repertoire of airs, consort songs, and country dances from the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods in Great Britain.
Sarah Cunningham ~ treble viol
Lisa Terry ~ tenor viol
Charles Reed ~ tenor viol
Motomi Igarashi ~ bass viol
Patricia Ann Neely ~ bass viol
Gene Murrow ~ English concertina (“air viol”), recorders
Ruth Cunningham ~ soprano, flutes and recorders
The Midnight Viols includes some of the top viola da gamba artists working today and their friends: Sarah Cunningham, on the faculty of Juilliard, a co-founder with Monica Huggett of Sonnerie and member of numerous ensembles around the world; Motomi Igarashi, a ubiquitous presence on the early music scene, featured with the American Classical Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society, among many others; Patricia Ann Neely, director of Abendmusik and teacher of music at many early music workshops; Charlie Reed, just graduated from Juilliard’s Historical Performance Program and founder of Nuova Pratica, a New York based collective dedicated to composing and improvising in historical style; Lisa Terry, co-director of Parthenia and past President of the Viola da Gamba Society of America. Gene Murrow, Executive Director of GEMS and internationally known teacher of English country dancing, has “sat in” with distinguished viol players for many years playing the treble parts on his English concertina. Viol player Martha Bishop dubbed his instrument the “air viol” when he was invited to join the others one late evening at Pinewoods Camp Early Music Week to “violate” some music. Soprano Ruth Cunningham was a member of the much-celebrated ensemble Anonymous 4 and remains an active performer of early music and improvisational music in both liturgical and concert settings, as well as devoting herself to music as a healing art.
1:15 – 2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.
In person at The Church of the Transfiguration, 1 E 29th St, New York City
Live stream details: You can watch it on your computer in any of two places by clicking on the name you wish: our website or YouTube.