Blondel | Medieval and Renaissance Wind Band

Blondel bring professionalism, musicality and enormous verve to everything they do. Hugely stimulating and enjoyable. We look forward to their next visit!

Gill Page, director, Medieval Music in the Dales

You are doing a most fantastic job at this event, people just love your music, thanks for being so brilliant, self-sufficient and collaborative

Eva Koch-Schulte, Creative Programming & Interpretation Producer at Historic Royal Palaces

Photographer: Sally Parkinson

Blondel performs medieval and renaissance music on shawms, bagpipes, curtals and recorders.

Blondel gives engaging and spirited performances of Medieval and Renaissance wind music. It is easy to imagine how the bold tones of a shawm band cut across the hustle and bustle of dance and banquet halls, or even a city square. More surprising to modern ears is the joyful and sophisticated beauty that results from this uniquely blended sound.

Blondel’s past performances include concerts in the Cheltenham Festival (broadcast live by the BBC) Cambridge Early Music, King’s Lynn Festival, Beaminster Festival, Leeds International Medieval Congress, the Wimbledon International Music Festival, Totnes Early Music Society, Barnes Music Festival, Worcester Early Music Festival, and Colchester Early Music. The Agincourt600 Committee commissioned us to record a CD based around the life of Henry V which is available as a free download.

Dufay (shawms, sackbut, percussion)
Se la face ay pale

Ciconia (recorders)
Ray au soleyl

Landini (shawms)
Adiu, adiu dous dame

Anonymous arr. L. Gutteridge (bagpipes)
Allez a la fougere

Due to be released this Autumn by First Hand Records

Of arms and a woman: A chronicle of love, loss, chivalry and memory.

Music by Dufay, Binchois, Bedyngham, Morton, Ciconia, Landini and Machaut performed on shawms, recorders, bagpipes, sackbut, slide trumpet and percussion.