Music at the Tower: BACH FOR GOOD

Music at the Tower are incredibly excited to announce their offering for Summer 2021; Bach for Good, a pop-up day-long celebration of Baroque music, based around performances of all six Brandenburg Concertos. On August 21st, the beautiful grounds of St Mary’s in Hornsey will be host to some of this countries’ leading Baroque musicians. At the steps of the Tower itself, conductors including Christian Curnyn and Peter Whelan will lead players in the Brandenburgs plus music by Vivaldi, Handel and others; at the ‘wooded area’, chamber groups will perform; and at the top of the Tower itself, singers such as Dame Emma Kirkby will perform intimate sets to small audiences with spectacular views over all of London. 

We are also excited to announce the support of the Continuo Foundation, an organisation formed out of the turmoil the music industry has suffered since last year. The Continuo Foundation have made a grant to specifically allow us to employ 8-10 students of Historical Performance who are in their final year at one of the London conservatoires. These players will have a chance to perform alongside professional colleagues in the main orchestra, and also as part of smaller groups throughout the day. 

Also on offer is your chance to try some Baroque country dancing with Ricardo Barros to the music of Henry Purcell, and opportunities to learn how to sing a Bach chorale with television’s Gareth Malone, ready for a final rendition at the end of the final concert. 

We cannot do this without your help; those of you who joined us in 2020 will know that Music at the Tower was solely funded by its audience through their kind donations. This year we hope to pay all our musicians £200 for the day, which doesn’t seem much but, as was the case last year, we hope to employ as many performers as possible. This means that the more you donate, the more musicians we can ask to play on the day. 

Entrance is totally free, as usual! Audience are invited to bring their own picnics and drinks, or purchase refreshment from the local pub opposite the Tower, the Great Northern Railway Tavern. We hope to also have food stalls set up to really give the day a ’festival feel’.