“There is more Wit in a Fiery Dragon than in all the plays in Europe”
James Ralph, The Fashionable Lady, 1728.
Welcome to the website of the Fiery Dragon Company!
The Fiery Dragon Company is a small group of musicians playing such instruments as piano, flute, concertina, violin and oboe. They came together in January 2018 to perform the music of the group’s leader Anne Gregson. Listen to lyrical, melodic music from a group of talented and committed musicians which fits in the uncommon space between folk and classical.
Our inaugural performance was on May 18th 2018 in St John the Evangelist church, Bath. The concert was remarkable because it incorporated the sound of the church’s bells being played live into the overall sound of the ensemble. To our knowledge this is unique to the Fiery Dragon Company and you can read more about how this was achieved on the Bells tab.
A note on our line-up. Performances usually have four or five musicians present. The core group currently consists of Anne Gregson, Helen Bousfield, Noeline Beesley, Trish Gange and Kerstin Petersson. Musicians who often play with us include David Moss and Katharine Tylco. Others who join with us from time to time include Daniel Wolverson and Bianca Janossey. Kyle Thornhill was a founder member but had to leave due to pressure of other commitments.
There are a number of videos you can see on the Video tab, but we have included the video above on the front page to give you a flavour of our music. It was recorded during a concert at Iford Manor in Wiltshire, August 2019. The audio recordings below were recorded live at the concert at St John’s. The first, Perfect View, is for the ensemble alone while the second, Minimal Chimes is for church bells and the ensemble. The bells were played by Martin Pearson and both pieces were, of course, composed by Anne Gregson.
The core members play:
- Helen Bousfield flute and concertina
- Noeline Beesley flute
- Anne Gregson concertina and violin
- Trish Gange keyboard and cello
- Kerstin Petersson violin
The ensemble are working on new material and when we have it we’ll be putting it up here so call back from time to time and see what’s new!
Another note about history. There was an earlier incarnation of the Fiery Dragon in the form of the Fiery Dragon Folk Opera Company. They came together in 2012 and again in 2014 to perform Anne Gregson’s opera Make Room For Mummers and you can read all about this on the Opera menu tab.
Practising in a pandemic …
During these extraordinary times we’ve been looking for ways to continue practising together whilst sticking to the rules to ensure safety for band members. We are using Zoom in conjunction with the notation software Sibelius.
We use Zoom’s screen sharing facility so that each of us can hear all the parts being played. We all mute so we can’t hear each other but can each hear how we fit in with the other instruments as we play along with Sibelius. It’s not perfect, of course, but it keeps us familiar with the music and it maintains continuity in the band so that when the day comes when we can all play together again and perform in public we aren’t starting all over again from scratch.
And finally …
Here’s another piece from the Iford Manor concert, Groovin’ With Dragons.