Music at McClelland - Unholy Rackett

Unholy Rackett is a Renaissance wind consort specialising in the curtal or dulcian, the Renaissance ancestor of the modern bassoon, as well as the eponymous rackett, a bizarre, extinct double reed instrument.

The curtal was one of the most versatile instruments in use from 1550 to 1700 for every genre of religious and secular music. It was one of very few Renaissance woodwinds which survived the transition to the new Baroque style of music, before morphing into the more familiar bassoon in the mid 17th century.

Comprised of Jackie Newcomb, Brock Imison and Simon Rickard, with a shifting tide of guest artists, Unholy Rackett recreates soundscapes familiar to Renaissance and Baroque ears but sadly neglected by the early music movement today.