Going global

11:51am Friday 15th February 2008

THE new brochure layout reflects a change in thinking at the National Centre For Early Music (NCEM) in York.

No longer are concerts and events divided into early music, world music, Asian music, jazz, folk and community activities, an acknowledgement that all these have become synonymous with the former St Margaret's Church in Walmgate.

To take this progress further, the NCEM is introducing More4Less, a scheme that offers the chance to buy tickets for four concerts from a choice of eight - Liu Fang, The Way Of The Drum, Sanjay Subrahmanyan, Xuefei Yang, Rob Lavers Quartet, Tony Kofi Quartet, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba and Debashish Bhattacharya - and enjoying the cheapest one for free.

Director Delma Tomlin MBE says: "This has come about because we're no longer putting brochure information in genres but in date order, and we're trying to encourage people to cross over from classical to world to jazz to folk.

"Likewise, in this July's Early Music Festival, we're pushing the world-music element because world music is the continuation of the development of early music.

It's a chance to see someone else's world for a change."

The NCEM spring and summer season opens next Friday at 7.30pm, with the first of the More4Less concerts by Chinese lute and harp player Liu Fang, who performed at the York Chinese Festival two years ago.

"She played at All Saints' Church in North Street and she wore every single bit of clothing she had with her as it was so cold, " recalls Della. "It's difficult to be elegant in January in a mac and a scarf, but she managed it.

"When Liu plays the pipa and guzheng, you hear the haunting melodies and the harmonic range that is so accessible. She's just a star!"

For brochures and tickets, ring 01904 658338.