From medieval dance to courtly compositions....

With a programme ranging from Medieval and Renaissance dance tunes to elegant baroque music written for the courts of Europe, the new season of six concerts from the Totnes Early Music Society (TEMS) features its usual mix of musical styles, sounds and instruments, strange and familiar. This year's programme has some outstanding young performers, who organisers say are destined for the top.

Former Totnes KEVICC student Katie Cowling will be performing a baroque programme in October with her quartet Convivio. This is the inaugural concert in an exciting new collaboration between TEMS and the Royal College of Music to bring the best of their students and former students to Totnes.

Prize-winning young harpsichordist Masumi Yamamato is joined by flautist Boris Bizjak for Class of 1685 which features music by Bach, Handel and Scarlatti, all born in that special year. Masumi has already appeared at the Purcell Room, the Royal Albert Hall, and St. John's Smith Square as soloist and continuo player, while recent concerts have taken her to France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

Ensemble Moliere are an outstanding quartet who formed at the Dartington Summer School in 2013, have already appeared at the Brighton Early Music Festival and the London Baroque Festival, and are quickly gaining wider recognition. Their programme recalls the visit to Paris by Telemann in 1737, when he met up with prominent French musicians of the time.

Elsewhere, the TEMS programme sees a sparkling programme of Medieval and Renaissance dance music from wind band Blondel in September, while Rosafresca perform early Spanish music from the time of Ferdinand and Isabella (c1520) in December. These two concerts will feature early music instruments including vihuela, viols, curtals, bagpipes, shawm and lute. In March, Passamezzo return with music from the English Restoration, featuring everything from tavern rounds and theatre songs to ballads describing the Great Fire of London and other contemporary events. The Society is once again grateful for its on-going association with the Arts at Dartington.

TEMS Membership offers considerable savings on ticket prices - see www.totnesearlymusic.org.uk for details. Prospective members need to join TEMS either before or at the first TEMS concert by Blondel on 23rd September. All TEMS concerts are open to everyone, with discounted prices for under 18s. Tickets for non members are available in advance from the Dartington website. www.dartington.org, and Box Office (01803 847070) or on the door.

For more information visit http://www.totnesearlymusic.org.uk/