Capricornus Consort Basel, Concerts During Covid

Karin Mohler talked to David Blunden of the ensemble Capricornus Consort Basel, which was founded around 15 years ago by a group of music students of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the department for early music at the Music Academy in Basel. Since then they have grown together over the years as professional musicians and as friends, to play classical music on historically reconstructed instruments to make their chamber music sound authentic to the 17th and 18th centuries. They have released ten albums, and their eleventh is about to be launched on Thursday, 10th September, at the Martinskirche Basel at 19:30. You can expect about half an hour of pieces from the new album along with the 'baptism' of the CD. You are of course invited to purchase the album if you are looking to stock up early on Christmas presents. Listen to the interview here.

Tonight we also spoke about "Concerts during Covid", and how different countries are adapting to today's circumstances. The United Kingdom has so far successfully trialled two outdoor concerts at Gosforth Park in Newcastle, with a reduced capacity of 2'500 people (normally the field would hold around 30'000 people!). Individual fenced-off platforms holding a maximum of 5 people were spaced out throughout the field. Closer to home, Germany trialled an experimental concert called "Restart 19", which was conducted by Halle University in Leipzig. 2000 volunteers took part in three different concert scenarios. And in Switzerland, promoters are trying out similar scenarios, for example with contact tracing and everyone wearing masks. Listen to the segment here.

Our songs today were a cornucopia of genres and styles. We played:

Banks & Steelz - Giant

Capricornus Consort Basel - Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (Johann Sebastian Bach)

Polyphia - G.O.A.T.

Zeal & Ardor - Vigil

Sleep Token - Jaws

Body Count - No Lives Matter