THE KING'S FLUTES
LUXURY, EXCESS AND VIRTUE SIGNALS IN THE AGE OF ENGLAND'S FIRST PROFESSIONAL FLUTE PLAYERS
4-5 musicians. 60 minutes. 2022-
TO BE RELEASED AS OUR SECOND FULL-LENGTH ALBUM IN 2026 VIA PASSACAILLE RECORDS.
The King's Flutes is inspired by the professional flute-players who worked at the Tudor court for over a century, and our own fantasy about making music together using Henry VIII's collection of more than 72 finely-made transverse flutes documented in his final court inventory.
Phaedrus invokes the creativity of those early professional flute players, who collaborated with instrumentalists and singers on a regular basis. Alongside the traverso, the Renaissance lute is also showcased: In The King's Flutes, Emma-Lisa Roux gives voice to the stunning French and English-language songs surviving in Tudor music manuscripts, effortlessly accompanying herself on the lute. This concert program has the option to be performed with a second lute, played by Bor Zuljan in a masterful dialogue with the first.
Through the music and poetry performed in The King's Flutes, Phaedrus speaks beyond a simple fascination with the history of our own instruments. We gaze from the future into the glimmering past to understand our current culture's obsession with wealth and ownership, and on the construction of a virtuous identity through the accumulation of material symbols.
ABOUT THE INSTRUMENTS
The flute consort played by Phaedrus in The King's Flutes is a copy of an original set of flutes made by the Bassano family, who built instruments for the Tudors over several generations. With these Bassano instruments, we can more vividly imagine the long-forgotten sounds of the flute players who lived and worked in England during the early-16th century.
4-5 musicians (depending on the budget of the project).
MARA WINTER
Artistic direction, arrangements, traverso
EMMA-LISA ROUX
Voice, lute
BOR ZULJAN
Lute
RENAISSANCE TRAVERSO CONSORT
Mara Winter
Charlotte Schneider
Luis Martinez Pueyo
Duration
60 minutes