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It is with sadness that I came to the end of the Beowulf project. As a musician, it is always such a privilege to be part of the creation of something new, and to nurture it as it begins its fragile journey into the world.

To spend a week in the company of such incredible professional musicians and almost 1000 young people from different AC Academy projects, building and rebuilding the performances on each of the four days, was a tremendous privilege and one I will never forget. 

Rise up! Rise up!

Rise up, rise up for the King.

We are all very excited at the Armonico Consort’s headquarters today as our artistic director, Christopher Monks leads the first rehearsal with the pro singers and the soloists, soprano Elin Manahan Thomas, harpist Catrin Finch, composer Toby Young on keyboards and Harry Potter actor Mark Williams in the title role.

During a break from the last session before next week’s concerts, Maame from AC Academy Coventry tells us why she loves Beowulf.

It’s fair to say I’m not the first person to have sat wondering how best to interpret Beowulf. Since it was written over a thousand years ago, it has inspired films, comic books, video games and even board games.

We are thrilled to announce that Mark Williams, better known for his roles as Mr Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, Doctor Who and Father Brown for BBC TV, will be our special guest narrator in the forthcoming tour of Toby Young’s epic musical tale, Beowulf.

About two years ago the soprano Elin Manahan Thomas came to me having just worked on another project elsewhere with our composer in residence, Toby Young.  She, like I was really taken by his music and his ability to work proactively and inspiringly with the musicians he was writing for. Elin convinced me that the epic story of Beowulf was the right starting point for a collaboration.