Gareth Balch

“During the Medieval Pageant 2024, Gareth Balch gave the audiences an excellent experience throughout the day. He explained the history of the instruments and the repertoire, gave demonstrations on each instrument and chatted to people individually afterwards to answer their questions and give additional information. The audiences were very appreciative and included people of all ages, from pensioners to babies. Gareth also let musicians amongst the audience try out the instruments themselves. We had 150 audience members through the door during the four day time drop-in sessions. For the evening concert Gareth was joined by Jeff Alexander, playing a selection of pieces from different periods.” Christina

“We very much enjoyed Gareth's workshop and concert to tie in with Canterbury's medieval event. The acoustics of the now redundant St Gregory's church (now a theatre) meant that the vihuela, renaissance lute, and guitar pieces could be truly appreciated. Both Gareth and his co-player, Jeff, were so friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the progression of these instruments throughout history, and inspired us with their very focused playing. I particularly enjoyed hearing La Rossignol (the Nightingale) played on two Lutes as originally intended. The delicacy of the sound and the ornamentation was a delight to hear. “