Hearken Quartet

Gather round and join Hearken Quartet for an evening of spooky merrymaking! Bring your masks and costumes and prepare for a night of bone-chilling bourrées and ghoulish gavottes. Sink your fangs into the world of traditional European social dancing with our introductory workshop, before diving into a masked dance accompanied by the hair-raising harmonies of Hearken Quartet. Bring the whole fiendish family for an unforgettable night celebrating halloween with the spookiest traditional dances from across Europe. Costumes/Fancy Dress encouraged but not necessary! The best costume of the evening will win a petrifying prize… Doors : 7:00pm Workshop : 7:30pm Music start : 8:30pm Inspired by the lively traditional dance scene of continental Europe, Hearken Quartet are an energetic ensemble of diatonic button accordion, clarinet, uilleann pipes, low whistle, synths and guitar. Bringing fresh flavours to Euro-bal music, whether it’s the chain dances of Brittany, Scandinavian couple dances, or the bourrée of the French Auvergne, Hearken Quartet delivers delicious arrangements of tunes new and old that will whet the appetites of traditional and contemporary music fans alike. The project began as a collaboration between Bruce Lambelle-Rudd and Bob Downham in 2017, forming a duo of melodeon and uilleann pipes/low whistle to explore the traditional dance music of continental Europe. In 2022 the band expanded to include music techhead Alex Walters and clarinet powerhouse Em Lomas, who brought stomping accompaniment and wistful harmonies, resulting in a rousing atmosphere powered by a wall of sound.