What is 'Continuo' anyway?
continuo n. – in baroque music, the continuo (or basso continuo) instruments are used to support the harmony and to hold the ensemble together.
We are sharing a few highlights, in the video above, of the work enabled by Continuo Foundation, our parent organisation. In case you’re new here, this UK charity was created in 2020, amidst a turbulent world, with a clear mission — to uplift and support period instrument ensembles and musicians.
Since then, Continuo has been awarding £200,000 each year in grants to help early music projects come to life, benefiting over 1,000 musicians and 260,000 audiences across the UK and beyond. The Continuo Connect website and this newsletter were created to open access to early music for wider, more diverse audiences.
Early music, or Historically-informed performance, with its unusual instruments, unique sound worlds and extensive scholarship, has been described by The Economist as ‘one of the glories of British music.’ We couldn’t agree more.
Continuo Connect showcases this fascinating world by providing comprehensive concert listings, artist profiles, interviews and articles. We aim to make it easy to discover the best early music concerts and festivals across the UK, while helping musicians to share their work more widely.
The Continuo Connect newsletter offers curated highlights selected from events and articles on the website, as well as monthly playlists. The newsletter and playlists are created by Daphne Delfas (below) — a music graduate from Clare College, Cambridge, and a conductor and violinist.
So whether you're here to discover, support or simply indulge your curiosity — we are glad to have you with us and hope you will be inspired.
As Chairman of the Fiori Musicali Charitable Trust many thanks for your recent support which has enabled us to provide an exciting programme of concerts including the joyous Bach Christmas Oratorio. It is helping us to rebuild audiences and reach new ones. The number of musicians we use has increased for a performance requiring a larger band and this was hugely enjoyed and many of those attending had not heard it before. It is ensuring beautiful music is reaching audiences in more remote rural areas. We are looking forward to the rest of the current series made possible with your support to have world class musicians promoting early music.