Music at Great Meeting

19/10/2024

It's tonight folks! Last few tickets up for grabs ... don't miss out!

‘Astonishing, all-out virtuosity’. (New York Times) We are delighted to welcome this internationally acclaimed folk duo to Great Meeting.

16/10/2024

A taste of this Saturday night 19th October !Ciderhouse Rebellion coming to Great Meeting, Leicester doors 7pm licensed bar tickets Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ciderhouse-rebellion-at-great-meeting-tickets-986067834437?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&_gl=1*lbxiwj*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTU0MzQ2OTgzMS4xNzI5MDg2Nzg0*_ga_TQVES5V6SH*MTcyOTA4Njc4NC4xLjAuMTcyOTA4Njc4NC4wLjAuMA..

The finale of Manchester Folk Festival, Adam Summerhayes and Murray Grainger were captured in full flight by Pete from Good Habits Band as they took the Fest...

13/09/2024

We have a real coup for our next folk gig at Music at Great Meeting (Leicester) Saturday 19th October - The Ciderhouse Rebellion feat. Adam Summerhayes (fiddle) and Murray Grainger (accordion) are an internationally acclaimed folk duo. Doors 7 pm programme starts at 8pm. Licensed bar.

"Astonishing, all-out virtuosity" says no less than the New York Times.

🎟 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ciderhouse-rebellion-at-great-meeting-tickets-986067834437?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

20/08/2024

We have a real coup for our next folk gig at the Music at Great Meeting venue (Leicester) Saturday 19th October - The Ciderhouse Rebellion feat. Adam Summerhayes (fiddle) and Murray Grainger (accordion) are an internationally acclaimed folk duo. Doors 7 pm programme starts at 8pm. Licensed bar.

"Astonishing, all-out virtuosity" says no less than the New York Times. Hurry as tickets will sell fast!

‘Astonishing, all-out virtuosity’. (New York Times) We are delighted to welcome this internationally acclaimed folk duo to Great Meeting.

20/08/2024

*2 May 2024*
Thursday 2nd of May saw the well-attended folk gig at the chapel. Thanks to all who came out to enjoy the music and a fine summer’s evening in the garden and chapel. It featured locally and nationally accomplished musicians Roger Wilson and Chris Parkinson and local folk legend George Thomas from Frolesworth. We were delighted to welcome Roger fully recovered from a serious illness which had seen him have to cancel his last scheduled gig with us a year previously. The evening commenced with George on vocals performing a comic and touching rendition of one of his own tunes about wag the dog a canine he has taken ownership of and his I mpact on their lives. His performance of sands of time was a wonderful dreamy guitar and vocals piece about a fictional character called jack and his meandering course through life. We were engaged by his personal and intimate style.

Next up Roger and Chris took to the stage. Their set began with an up-tempo reel entitled Willow Creek followed by Pretty Sarah, a North American song. It was a rootsy soulful ballad featuring Roger’s vocals. Then followed some jigs performed in a medley: including the Holy Ha’penny. The melodies flowed in interplay between Roger’s fiddle and Chris’ deft accordion playing. They continued with Roger’s adaptation of famous nature writer Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken a lifting melody about tea drinking and walking in the woods. If course it would not be a Roger Wilson gig without a murder ballad as counterpoint to all the uplifting themes! So we were treated to their take on Hendrix’s Hey Joe which they had cunningly reformed while preserving the hooks which were so familiar to us. Pay Day was an original composition with hints of Americana as Chris played haunting blues harp. The theme was raves in country settings and the freedom to party, harking back to the nineties. Rounding things off before we all enjoyed a drink was The Burnt Old Man and Saddle the Pony, a couple of rousing jigs to finish first set.

The start of the next set saw George mount the pulpit to deliver a poem about safari in the Kruger – a remarkable tale of an encounter with an elephant. He then picked up his guitar and sang to us about Matty Grey, a story about a man speaking truth to power this roused the audience who joined in with his last song as he adeptly taught us the ways of folk music! As Roger and Chris took to the stage once more they picked up on the audience’s enthusiasm and again had us singing along with momentum to” if you can’t build a boat in life what’s the bloody use”. Then came a Greek tune Risk Pity, a jaunty tune with diminished scales and continuing the Eastern European theme a Moldovan horror story set to sparkling fid- dle rhythms. Roger battled bravely through a coughing fit to deliver a sublime Ewan McColl number. Showing true profes- sionalism they adapted the set. We enjoyed John Henry a tale of a man vs machine featuring blues harp and guitar followed by Leaving my Family and Leaving my Friends a wistful song of leaving and moving on.

Chris also had had health issues and had lost a tooth but as testament to his professionalism as well he deftly covered by delighting us with his fine accordion playing. The interplay between fiddle and accordion was stunning and left us wondering how incredible it would have been to hear their voices intermingle in the same way. We hope to have them back to discover! The evening concluded with Sleepy Eyed John, an up-tempo jig and Northern Lass a soulful ballad as an encore. All in all it was a most successful evening and the acoustics of the chapel were shown off to great effect as the entire performance was unamplified. We look forward to hosting another night soon.

Roger and the guys kindly donated some of the evenings proceeds to our After 18 club for young refugees for which we are most grateful. Most kind spirited.

Photo: Chris Tweed

20/08/2024

20/08/2024

*19 April 2024*
Coro Nostro Chamber Choir returned to the Great Meeting Chapel with a mesmerising concert themed around love, Spring, and the wonders of nature, featuring works of Josquin des Prez, Holst, Bjork, and Gjeilo and many more. The evening’s highlight incuded the world premiere of George Mackay Brown’s poem “A New Child” arranged by Coro Nostro’s own Lydia Hind to the famous “Farewell to Stromness” by Peter Maxwell Davies!

The Chapel’s exceptional acoustic space provided the perfect backdrop for the choir’s harmonies. The choir director, Lydia Hind, reflected that “it was a pleasure to perform in a church committed to music making.” – referring to our long and proud musical heritage.

We extend our sincere appreciation to Coro Nostro Chamber Choir for a truly memorable concert and anticipate their return to the Great Meeting Chapel in the future.