THE October tour of Concerts in the West, at Bridport and Ilminster on Friday 24th October, and Crewkerne on Saturday 25th, brings the exciting female vocal trio Voice to the West Country with a programme that ranges from Hildegard of Bingen to new music by British composers.

Victoria Couper, Clemmie Franks and Emily Burn will be at Bridport Arts Centre for the regular Concerts in the West coffee recital at 11.30am, and at Ilminster Arts Centre that evening at 7.30. The Saturday venue is The Dance House at Crewkerne, at 7.30pm.

In their 18 years together, the trio has built a dedicated fan-base across the world with a rich, varied repertoire of their own arrangements, new commissions, and rarely performed early music, creating a unique sound.

They began singing together in Oxford as members of the Oxford Girls’ Choir, before going on to form the trio in 2006 as well as forging their own successful, diverse careers. Their interest in early msic can be traced back to their performances and recordings of the medieval chant of Hildegard of Bingen, which they learned as members of Stevie Wishart’s group, Sinfonye. They still perform with Sinfonye today. As a trio, Voice continues to perform Hildegard’s music and has commissioned new works inspired by her words and chant.

They have toured throughout the UK, USA and Europe and released two albums: Musical Harmony (2013) and Patterns of Love (2015), which forms the basis of the Concerts in the West tour. It is a programme of a cappella songs that explore the beauty, heartache, and humour of love, spanning hundreds of years, from medieval to the present day with music from 12th century Germany by Hildegard of Bingen, 13th century France, Shakespearean song, and folksong arrangements from the UK and Ireland. It also includes commissions and new music by British composers Marcus Davidson, Liz Dilnot Johnson, Stevie Wishart and Ayanna Witter-Johnson.