Illustrated talk: From Caledonia to the Capital

Event details

University of York lecturer and rising star of the Early Music scene, Mary-Jannet Leith is joined by the renowned harpsichordist Masumi Yamamoto to explore the craze for Scottish music in eighteenth-century London through the life of the Scottish composer and music publisher James Oswald. After moving to London in 1741, Oswald opened a successful music-printing business near the Strand, the historical home of London’s Scottish community. From there, Oswald published several collections of Scots tunes, and his own compositional style was carefully designed to appeal to the enthusiastic followers of the enduring London fashion for Scottish songs and instrumental music.

Baroque+ Day: London Calling!

Staff, students and alumni of the University of York celebrate the cultural mecca that was eighteenth-century London in their annual mini-festival. York alumna Dr Masumi Yamamoto, Continuo Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, leads the London Obbligato Collective in a performance of rarely heard works for harpsichord, violin and cello by Giardini, JC Bach and Abel. York lecturer and rising star of the Early Music scene, Mary-Jannet Leith explores the craze for Scottish music and the expression of Scottish musical identity in London. Finally, University Baroque Ensemble depicts the spell cast over the London public by Italian music, in a programme of concerti grossi by Arcangelo Corelli, his student Avison and that most influential of immigrant musicians, Handel.