QC @ UC – Restoration London comes to Christchurch

The Queen’s Closet will be joined by local musicians to present a short programme of music from the late 17th century—mostly from Restoration London, but with a few extra friends thrown in!

Oliver Cromwell’s tenure as Lord Protector of England commenced in 1653, after the end of the English Civil War. The following seven years, known as the Interregnum, were characterised by a puritan approach to the arts, and included the banning of theatre and certain aspects of music. The Interregnum ended in 1660 after Cromwell’s death, and with the crowning of Charles II the period known as the Restoration began.

With the Restoration of the monarchy, cultural life changed. The Theatre in London was rebuilt, and the changes heralded a new era of Music composition and performance. It was a time of experimentation, and celebration of culture and the Arts. Music from this time is distinctive in its opulence and emphasis on enjoyment and entertainment.

The Queen’s Closet has selected pieces from this time that particularly demonstrate the variety and versatility of historical instruments, including natural trumpet, hoboy and historically appropriate strings. The programme includes music by Godfrey Finger, John Eccles, Giovanni Bononcini, Heinrich Biber, the incomparable Jean-Baptiste Lully, and of course Henry Purcell.

The Queen’s Closet

The Queen’s Closet is a 17th century musical company for the 21st century. They present 17th-century music to their 21st-century audiences in a way that is, to the best of their understanding as active scholars, consistent with practices of that time. This includes a focus on truly historically appropriate equipment, as well as putting this music back into something analogous to its original setting: lively, emotional and engaging.

The Queen’s Closet doesn’t just exist in the 21st century; they exist for Aotearoa’s contemporary arts scene and audiences. Music in the 17th century had utility. It was to be actively experienced and shared, to be sung and danced to. It was cutting-edge and alive. The Queen’s Closet takes a similar approach to their musicking. They are exclusively a live-performance ensemble, to provide an immediacy and emotional connection between performer and audience. Just as this music was exciting and contemporary at the time it was composed, so it is their job to perform it for contemporary audiences as if it were the first time it was ever being performed.

The creative team behind The Queen’s Closet

Gordon Lehany is co-founder and Artistic & Musical Director of The Queen’s Closet. He plays natural trumpet and natural horn, violin, viola, viola d’amore, recorders, shawm, cornetto and slide trumpet. Gordon is in demand around Aotearoa as a specialist performer and musical coach, with a focus on natural brass, 17th century string technique and performance practice of Henry Purcell.

Gordon studies natural brass, baroque violin and wider historical performance practices with specialists in London and Basel such as Oliver Webber and Mike Diprose. He has an MA with Distinction in Music from the Open University and is studying toward a PhD in Musicology at the NZSM, exploring how the modern ‘aesthetic’ approach to music differs from the 17th century ‘rhetorical’ approach and the challenges this may create for modern performers and audience members.

Sharon Lehany is co-founder, General Manager & Producer for The Queen’s Closet. Sharon specialises in the early hoboy (‘baroque oboe’) and also plays recorders, cornetto and pommer (alto shawm). She is one of very few musicians in the world making and performing on historically plausible hoboy and shawm reeds. She has produced all of The Queen’s Closet’s performance seasons since 2019, including their ground-breaking 'modern semi-opera,' Cloverton: In Love & In Wine in 2022. This includes leading the development of new performance pieces from concept to completion, including research of ancient manuscripts and production of new editions.

Sharon is studying toward a PhD in Musicology at the NZSM, researching 17th century performance practices including specifics of 17th century hoboy reeds and their evolution from shawm, crumhorn and musette reeds, applying her research to The Queen’s Closet’s productions and contributing to the high standard of scholarship that underpins their performances. She also studies other aspects of early and later baroque and hoboy performance practices with Oliver Webber and Marianne Pfau.

Together, Gordon and Sharon drive the ensemble’s ethos and identity, its colourful and vibrant character and its focus on live, engaging and authentic musicking.