Theatre comes to Ropery Hall

6 Things About The Hot Seats!

1. We like to play music, stringband music. We call it stringband music because it’s just too difficult to try and get into whether it’s old time, bluegrass, ragtime, country, or general freakout music.

2. We have done so since 2002, mostly based out of Richmond, VA.

3. We’ve been to lots of places, including all throughout the USA, the UK, Ireland, and a little piece of Europe. Some of our festival highlights have been: Tønder, The Richmond Folk Festival, Red Wing Roots, Celtic Connections, The Shetland Folk Festival, The Orkney Folk Festival, South By Southwest, Floyd Fest, Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival, The Watermelon Park Festival, The Northeast Kingdom Music Festival, Didmarton Bluegrass Festival, Maverick Festival, HebCeltFest, Speyfest, Leicester Summer Sundae and multiple occasions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (including a Herald Angel Award in 2006).

4. We have recorded 13 albums of various lengths and media. Our most recent is The Hot Seats Present: Travis Randy – Smooth As Silk.

5. We like to: play fast, be funny, spasm, herk and jerk, eat exotic and frightening things, and ride in a van.

6. We are Jake, Josh, and Ben; with help from Rudy, JM, and Charles

Paul and Karen came together through their love of traditional music cut through with
experimentation, boldness, humour and risk. Their first duo album Coracle had five
star reviews and led to them touring widely across UK and European Festivals.
Both composers and improvisers, they now celebrate over twenty years of close
collaboration and original music playing as a duo and with other bands and large
scale projects.
Expect ethereal to turn gutsy, passion to be tempered by a good laugh and a tide of
improvisation which means no two evenings are ever the same.
Paul Hutchinson is a BBC Folk Award Best Live Artist nominee with Belshazzar’s
Feast, a much-feted accordion player and teacher. He’s equally at home on the
concert stage, playing dance tunes for enthusiastic revellers or running workshops.
His previous collaborations with Hoover the Dog, Pagoda Project and The Maniacs
produced albums and performances that drew five-star reviews.
Karen Wimhurst is a widely commissioned composer ranging from chamber
works to music theatre and large-scale, collaborative productions.
Eclectic in nature, her own distinctive music manifests diverse traditional
and jazz influences alongside a strong grounding in contemporary classical
music. Latest works include Synthetica, an online opera in collaboration
with MoDiP; Heart of the Matter, a bijoux chamber opera for Bass and piano
featuring in Tete a Tete opera festival 2024; Freedoms for mixed choir and
cello; a Song for Dorset one of the featured composer in the lockdown A
Song For Us project and Jump, a solo work for clarinets, insect and
amphibian sounds, featured at the British Library event Small but Perfectly
Formed hosted by Martha Kearney.

This performance is part of our Member’s 241 Offer. Please ask for details.

Bob Flowerdew is one of Britain’s leading organic gardeners, and a television and radio presenter. He is a regular panel member of BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time.

The son of a farmer, his family have been working the land in East Anglia since Elizabethan times. Flowerdew runs a consultancy landscape service, is President of the Norfolk group of the Soil Association, and also teaches at agricultural college. He has written books on gardening including “Going Organic: The Good Gardener’s Guide to Getting It Right”.

Presented in association with Clive Conway Productions

Chris While, Julie Matthews, Helen Watson, Melanie Harrold, Miranda Sykes.
Featuring 5 of the finest singer-songwriters of their generation, the music of Daphne’s Flight is a unique and magical blend of their individual styles, but together they create a unique and unparalleled force, empowering audiences of all ages, producing music that is relatable, moving and uplifting and creating a chemistry on stage that is both joyful and contagious.

Imagine, if you can, the instrumental sparkle and songwriting creds of The Traveling Wilburys combined with the striking vocal prowess of Sweet Honey In The Rock. Then add the warmth and down-to-earth humour of The Derry Girls and you’ll be somewhere in Daphne’s territory. They create a unique sound and energy which unites singer-songwriter, folk, blues and more. Crossing a huge range of topics and genres, blending folk, blues, jazz and pop all woven together with striking harmonies and supported by a range of instrumentation and percussion. The music of Daphne’s Flight is a magical layering of sensitivity, beauty, experience and empowerment. Their songs are thought provoking, uplifting, empowering and relatable. They continue to inspire audiences with the warmth, energy and sheer joy they bring to their performances. They are, quite simply, a force to be reckoned with.

One of the most exciting duos to emerge from the UK in recent times, Kit Hawes & Aaron Catlow combine heartfelt musicality, unparalleled virtuosity and vocal harmony. Using the folk music of the British Isles as a catalyst, Kit and Aaron create dynamic and effervescent interpretations of centuries-old material as well as original songs and compositions, all the while celebrating the timeless aural quality of a guitar, fiddle and vocals duet. 

Studio albums The Fox (2016) and Pill Pilots (2019) have been met by wide critical acclaim, receiving five star reviews and local and national airplay. The duo tour extensively in the UK and internationally across Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. BBC 2’s Mark Radcliffe is a champion of their work, saying “Kit and Aaron are reminiscent of the late Dave Swarbrick and Martin Carthy… I can give them no higher accolade. They are at the top of their game”.

“Fleet fingered and ingeniously arranged. …..deserve to be thought of as up there with the best of them” – Songlines

 “Such dexterity, energy and passion…..mightily impressive” – R2  Magazine

“The pair demonstrate an eclectic approach that lifts them head and shoulders above the rest”-Acoustic Magazine

“Never a dull moment, with imagination firing throughout and an abundance of creative energy” -Living Tradition

We are delighted to welcome back harpist Ruth Lee for our May 19^th gig. She is an award-winning composer and performer who wowed us all last time she played for us. We are lucky to have such an outstanding musician, recognised nationally and internationally, to perform as part of our event. Find out more: https://www.ruthleeharpist.com/