NO longer spelling it out in so many words, the National Centre for Early Music in York is undergoing a re-branding.

As can be seen on the cover of the brochure for the autumn season and beyond, the Walmgate venue now places NCEM as its masthead, a cleaner look matched inside by the programming being displayed under headings for York Mediale, Folk, Early Music, World Sound, Jazz, WW1 (World War One), Christmas Take Part, Film and a taster for Spring 2019.

NCEM director Delma Tomlin explains the reasoning: “The brochure has evolved to highlight genres of folk, world, jazz, early, film etc, rather than to list everything in date order – but don’t worry, there is a clear calendar of events on the back page.”

York Press:

Emily Smith: Christmas copncert at NCEM on December 18

The brochure first highlights York’s newest festival, York Mediale, which presents The Untuning Of The Sky, Parts 1 and 2, on September 29 and 30 as “sound and vision combine to produce a stunning immersive experience”.

Laura Cannell draws on fragments of medieval and renaissance for the world premiere of a new commission inspired by the ancient idea of the Music of the Spheres, reimagining the music in new works for recorder and violin that explore the spaces between harmony and discord. Laura Sparks contributes projection and animation to both concerts.

Jon Boden, from prog-folk big band Bellowhead and the taller half of folk duo Spiers & Boden, leads off the folk programme – presented in association with York’s long-running Black Swan Folk Club – in solo mode on October 8.

York Press:

Jessa Liversidge: singing at wartime women concert on November 10

Scottish instrumental trio Talisk, 2015 winners of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards, line up with 2018 BBC Folk Awards Musician of the Year Mohsen Amini on concertina, Hayley Keenan on fiddle and Graeme Armstrong on guitar on October 23, supported by York musicians Bella Gaffney and Polly Bolton.

Dublin electrician-turned singer and bouzouki player Daoiri Farrell, Best Newcomer in the 2017 Horizon category of the BBC Folk Awards, plays York on November 6, with support from Damian Fynes, an Irish singer from York. Scottish singer-songwriter , winner of the 2018 BBC Folk Award for Best Traditional Track, promotes her third album, Strata, on November 19, when York trio White Sail open the show.

Scottish folk singer Emily Smith makes her fifth visit to the NCEM on December 18, this time with her festive concert Songs For Christmas, More details will follow later on the 2018 York Early Music Christmas Festival, running from December 8 to 13, but before then, former York Minster songman turned harpsichordist Richard Egarr presents J S Bach’s Partitas, a work of numerological virtuosity, on October 11.

York Press:

Maya Youssef: Syruian Dreams concert on October 12

Maya Youssef, from Damascus, parades her virtuoso skills on the qanun, an Arabic zither, at the first World Sound concert of the season on October 12, showcasing her 2017 debut album, Syrian Dreams, with percussionist Elizabeth Nott and cellist Barney Morse-Brown. Youssef’s music laments the war in her troubled homeland, while also celebrating its rich cultural heritage.

Zimbabwe’s fastest-rising young band, Mokoomba, “the future of Afro Sound”, return to the NCEM with their new album, Luyando – which means “mother’s love” – on October 26.

The NCEM is running a Sax Offer with a £5 cost saving to see both Jazz Messenger Jean Toussaint make his long-awaited NCEM debut, leading his all-star band on on tenor saxophone on November 18, and Swiss trio Vein, with guest saxophonist Andy Shepperd, playing works by Maurice Ravel on December 4.

York singer Jessa Liversidge, pianist Malcolm Maddock and the York Railway Institute Golden Rail Brass Band mark the centenary of the First World War with Turn The Dark Clouds Inside Out ‘Til The Boys Come Home on the afternoon of November 10. Wartime women, their lives, loves, songs and stories, will be celebrated in poems, letters and diary extracts, complemented by footage from the Yorkshire Film Archive’s Filmed And Not Forgotten project.

The full programme and ticket details can be found at ncem.co.uk; bookings also may be made on 01904 658338.