NEWS

Emily Portman & Rob Harbron tour 

Emily and I are about to start this short tour visiting some great venues.  We'll be playing songs from Time Was Away as well as some others from our duo repertoire including a new song or two and a couple that explore themes suitable for Halloween!

The National Centre for Early Music is a great venue and a suitably atmospheric setting for a Halloween gig; we then make a first visit to the highly regarded Temperance in Leamington Spa and then head on to Exeter Pheonix, always a great venue to visit.  Then we've got a special gig in the Tudor gem that is The Folk of Gloucester (formerly Gloucester Folk Museum) - an amazing historic building that's well worth a visit - and we round things off in lovely Ludlow at the Assembly Rooms.

We're really looking forward to these duo gigs so please do come along if you can.  All ticket links are at https://emilyandrob.uk/gigs.  We'll be announcing a longer tour in March 2024 shortly.

Halsway Weekend with Emily Portman 

 

Emily and I will be leading a weekend at Halsway Manor in July, looking at folk songs and accompaniments.  We're aiming the weekend at singers who like to work with accompaniment, accompanists who'd like to work with singers and self-accompanists.  It's a new workshop for us and we're really looking forward to exploring this interesting area and sharing some of what we do as a duo.  Places available - bookings and more info from Halsway Manor.

There's also a gig on the Saturday night, July 8th which is open to the public as well as workshop participants.

Summer School open for applications 

Happy to announce that this year's Summer School is now open for applications.  Taking place in the inspiring surroundings of Ruskin Mill, it's open to instrumentalists who are happy working by ear and keen to develop their own personal styles of playing. Over the years a lot of musicians have taking part in the summer and a lot of tunes have been written in that valley!  If you're interested in bring part of this year's group, full info and application forms are on the Summer School page.

Time Was Away tour part two 

Emily and I are really looking forward to the second part of our album launch tour - visiting some lovely venues.  Ticket info on the gigs page or from EmilyandRob.uk. Advance ticket-buying very much appreciated!

Leveret tour - March 2023 

Leveret are hitting the road in March for the first of two tours marking ten years of playing together.  We've got a new album on the way and some great new tunes that we're really looking forward to playing - alongside some old favourites.  Do come and see us - ticket info on the gigs page or at Leveretband.com.  Please buy your tickets early if you can and tell all your friends!

Online workshops and teaching 

The nights are drawing in so what better way to while away the hours than with concertina practice! I've got two online workshops coming up. The first will look at how I go about playing for Morris - exploring specific ways of using harmony, articulation, variation and the bellows that work well in a Morris setting plus some practical advice on supporting the instrument.  The second will cover how I go about accompanying song, with ideas about harmony, rhythm and supporting the singer that are relevant to anyone accompanying themselves or someone else.

The workshops will take place live on zoom and I'll record them, edit them slightly and send a link out so you can view them in your own time as often as you like.  I've gone for 4pm UK time as last time I did online workshops a lot of people in the US had to get up extremely early!  Tickets available on my teaching page.

I'm also booking in one-to-one lessons over the next couple of months, either over zoom or in person here in Stroud, so do get in touch if that's of interest.

Gigs and online albums launch 

Emily and I are really looking forward to some gigs soon to promote Time Was Away - Wiltshire Music Centre on Nov 5, Cornish Bank in Falmouth on Nov 6, Kings Place London on Nov 10 and Southampton's Art House on Nov 12.

We're also doing a special online album launch gig on Nov 11 where we'll be performing all the songs on the album live on zoom and talking about the songs and making of the record, with time for Q&A and probably a few more songs as well. Tickets are available on our duo website EmilyandRob.uk and cost just £10, or £20 for a bundle including a copy of the album too.  Hope to see you there!

Meanders

This is my solo CD Meanders, recorded over two days last year.  11 tracks of self-composed and traditional tunes, with photography by Camilla Greenwell and an all-cardboard Digifile designed by Robin Beatty.  I'm really happy with it and delighted to have finally done it! Listen to a preview track and order now!

The Servants' Ball

Inspired by a set list from Scan Tester's Country Dance Band, this new CD of music, song and step dancing is a contemporary take on the music that was played by dance bands in the 1920s & 30s. Ewan Wardrop (vocals, ukulele, step dance), Rob Harbron (concertina), Ben Paley (fiddle), Ben Nicholls (double bass), Julian Hinton (piano), Evan Jenkins (drums)  Order now or listen to a preview track

This year's English Acoustic Collective Summer School is postponed due to COVID-19. We will release details about next year's course as soon as possible.

Gigs

Previous events

Date Event Location
Rob Harbron Online English Concertina Masterclass Online English Concertina Masterclass
Emily Portman & Rob Harbron Ludlow Assembly Rooms Ludlow Assembly Rooms
Emily Portman & Rob Harbron The Folk of Gloucester The Folk of Gloucester
Emily Portman & Rob Harbron Exeter Phoenix Exeter Phoenix
Emily Portman & Rob Harbron Temperance, Leamington Spa Temperance, Leamington Spa
Emily Portman & Rob Harbron National Centre for Early Music, York National Centre for Early Music, York
Leveret North Wall, Oxford North Wall, Oxford
Leveret Wingfield Barns, Suffolk Wingfield Barns, Suffolk
Leveret Cecil Sharp House, London Cecil Sharp House, London
Leveret Stapleford Granary Stapleford Granary
Leveret Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington
Leveret John Wesley's New Room, Bristol John Wesley's New Room, Bristol
Leveret Ashburton Arts Centre Ashburton Arts Centre
Leveret Calstock Arts Centre Calstock Arts Centre
Leveret The David Hall, South Petherton The David Hall, South Petherton
Leveret Acapela, Pentyrch, Cardiff Acapela, Pentyrch, Cardiff
Leveret Philharmonic Music Room, Liverpool Philharmonic Music Room, Liverpool
Rob Harbron Dartington Festival Dartington Festival
Emily Portman & Rob Harbron Fishguard Folk Festival Fishguard Folk Festival
Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron, Miranda Rutter The Folk, Gloucester The Folk, Gloucester

Meanders

Rob Harbron

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Meanders

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New solo album from Rob Harbron. Original compositions and settings of traditional tunes played on solo English concertina.

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