Reginald Mobley: Solitude

Reginald Mobley brings his concert Solitude to the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall on Friday 23 October, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. He's a Grammy-nominated American countertenor, and he's not coming alone — he'll be joined by Julien Léonard on viola da gamba and Brandon Acker on theorbo and guitar. The three of them will be working through a programme that spans several centuries, from the English Baroque of Henry Purcell and John Dowland to songs arranged by Justin Holland.

Mobley built Solitude from his 2023 Alpha Classics project Because, and he frames the music as a tool to keep us connected in an increasingly isolating, hyper-connected world. The set moves from the 17th-century songs of Purcell and Dowland to the work of the nineteenth-century Black American guitarist, composer and abolitionist Justin Holland, whom Mobley presents as Dowland's spiritual successor. It also reaches the fugitive slave narrative of the African American haiku poet Crystal Simone Smith.

It's a wide arc to cover in one evening — Purcell and Dowland are staples of the early music repertoire, but Holland and Smith bring in voices and histories that aren't usually paired with them. Hearing them side by side is a good way to see how those threads connect across time and place.

Tickets are £7 to £20 and booking is required. The hall is wheelchair accessible. The concert runs from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, Campus West, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DB.