Sirinu

Since their acclaimed debut in 1992, Sirinu have established a reputation at the cutting edge of Early and World music performance. Their first national tour was the most successful in the history of the Early Music Network and they have since undertaken extensive tours all over Europe, as well as British Council tours in Turkey, Egypt and South America. Sirinu have a particular interest in rural South American music and have performed at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall as guests of the Bolivian group Rumillajta.

Sirinu’s innovative programmes offer musical journeys through some of the world’s great cultural melting-pots, with themes including the Spanish invasion of South America, the epic voyage around the world of the Tudor adventurer Francis Drake and the Mexican Day of the Dead. Combining a staggering array of instruments with elements of theatre, ritual and dance, their extrovert performances and meticulous research have won critical acclaim and rapturous receptions from audiences around the world.

As well as concert performances, Sirinu have recorded an extensive catalogue of CDs, most notably for the Chandos and Hyperion labels. They have featured in numerous broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, including a four-part series devised, researched and performed by Sirinu, called ‘The Road to Toledo’ which was reviewed by The Guardian as ‘A gorgeous set of programmes...beautifully performed.’ Sirinu were also featured guests on the soundtrack of Aardman Animation’s film ‘Watt’s Pig’.

The Players

The four members of Sirinu – Sara Stowe (soprano/keyboards), Henry Stobart (recorders/wind instruments), Matthew Spring (lutes, early plucked/hurdy-gurdy) and Jon Banks (harp, gittern, percussion) – perform not only on their principal instruments but also, depending on the programme, a great number of less orthodox European and ethnic instruments. As imaginative and natural communicators their performances guarantee a freshness and variety of approach in which they capture the excitement of the most concentrated formative periods of musical history.

Recordings

‘Gentile Spiritus, Lute Trios and Spanish Songs from the Segovia Codex’ (EML053, 2004)

‘Out of the Orient: Music from the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries’ (EML 054, 2004)

‘All Goodly Sports: The Complete Music of Henry VIII’ (Chandos CHAN 0621, 1998)

‘Stuart Age Music’ (Griffin GCCD 4007, 1996)

‘Court Jesters: Music from the Court of Henry VIII’ (Griffin GCCD4013, 1996)

'The Cradle of the Renaissance: Music from Italy, 1480-1500’ (Hyperion, CDA66814, 1995)

‘Bold, Fearless and Rash: Music from the Courts of Burgundy, 1363-1477’ (EML 007, 1994)