Information for Promotors

 

Biography, 2026 

 

The original MUSICAL AND AMICABLE SOCIETY was founded in 1762 by James Kempson, who directed the choir at St Bartholomew’s Chapel, Birmingham. Together with fellow musicians from St Philip’s Church (now

Birmingham Cathedral), Kempson and his singers gathered on a regular basis at Cooke’s tavern in the Cherry Orchard “for practice and recreation”! In 2003, Kate Fawcett and Martin Perkins revived this historic society

as a collective of professional period-instrument specialists, performing in combinations ranging from intimate ensembles to full orchestra. Our presiding ethos is one of chamber music – however large or small the formation – where each and every musician has a significant role to play.  We collaborate with choirs and choral societies in cathedrals and concert halls across the country, in performances of major works by composers ranging from Buxtehude to Beethoven - and beyond. This summer we launch a new programme of Mozart chamber music for flute and strings and return to the Cheltenham Festival with the Cheltenham Bach Choir to perform Verdi’s Requiem.  Recent highlights include Haydn’s Creation and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos for the Three Choirs Festival and the release of our recent CD Fiddlers Three, featuring virtuosic music from the Restoration court.

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In its original incarnation, the Musical and Amicable Society issued a printed code of rules for its members, bearing the following motto - which today's Society endorses as heartily as we did a decade ago!

 

"To our Musical Club here's long Life and Prosperity

May it flourish with us and so on to posterity

May Concord and Harmony always abound

And Divisions here only in our Music be found

May the Catch and the Glass go about and about

And another succeed to the Bottle that's out"

 

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