The unique, classical chart topping choir Mediaeval Baebes was conceptualised and formed in 1996 by musical director, composer and producer Katharine Blake. The group have released 10 studio albums, won an Ivor Novella Award for their performance on the BBC serialisation “The Virgin Queen” and received two Emmy nominations and a Royal Television Society award as the featured artist alongside composer Martin Phipps for the theme tune of ITV’s hit TV show “Victoria”.
Throughout their many incarnations, the Mediaeval Baebes’ haunting classical vocals have led them to tour the world, including UK, United States, Canada, Asia and Europe, in venues ranging from castles and caves to cathedrals & Glastonbury. They have toured with Jools Holland and played at the Royal Albert Hall, Carnglaze Caverns in Cornwall, Jersey Opera House, Tewkesbury Abbey, supported Michael Flatley in Hyde Park, and performed at the legendary Lilith Fayre.
Most recently they were invited by enthusiast Iggy Pop to perform on his Radio 6 Christmas Day special.
Katharine Blake is known for her unique choral writing style, sourcing lyrics from mediaeval and romantic texts which she sets to original scores, as well as reinventing traditional and folk songs, often accompanied by the Mediaeval Baebes’ plethora of mediaeval and folk instruments. Whilst singing in an array of obscure and ancient languages, the Baebes offer a beguiling musical beauty and ethereal talent. The choice of mediaeval texts are mythological, philosophical and dark in topic, meditating upon the inevitability of death, the pointlessness of material possessions, the agony of unrequited love or the dangers of vinous hallucinations. The more familiar material, such as their classic anthology of Christmas Carols “Of Kings and Angels” offers a refreshing and exotic twist to well known classics
Katharine Blake is also known as the lead singer and song writer of 90s avant-garde rock band Miranda Sex Garden, and has worked with Nick Cave, Michael Nyman and John Cale
KATHARINE BLAKE
Katharine Blake is mainly known for her work with the Mediaeval Baebes of which she is the founder member, main composer, arranger, musical director and producer. After attending The Purcell School of Music, Katharine’s first musical venture, Miranda Sex Garden were discovered whilst busking Elizabethan madrigals and would later transmute into an avant-garde gothic rock band. Katharine has worked with Nick Cave, Michael Nyman and John Cale as well as releasing a solo album and collaborating with Mediaeval Baebes bagpiper Michael J York on their joint musical venture ‘The Witching Tale’
JOSEPHINE RAVENHEART
Has been enjoying her time with the Mediaeval Baebes since 2012. She is a foot percussionist, international Ceilidh / barn dance caller, actress & voice over artist. She resides in a tiny boat on the canals of London enjoying her mediaeval lifestyle and is a skilled archer.
FIONA FEY
Fiona Fey is a singer songwriter first appearing with the Baebes on Pocketful of Posies. Prior to joining the baebes fiona was in Tell Tale Tusk, a folk group known for their three part harmony singing.
She is currently working on Something Sleeps, a vocal harmony lead folk project of original music and a second solo album to follow her 2019 release Naive Wisdom.
MARIE FINDLEY
Marie Findley is a founding member of the Mediaeval Baebes. She studied Performing Arts at De Montfort University and went on to become an underground filmmaker, a film critic and comedy script writer. Her singing sketch for Smack the Pony, which was based on her time in the Baebes, was ranked number 22, in Channel 4’s Funniest Sketches Ever. Marie has also been Ken Russell’s leading lady in The Fall of The Louse of Usher. In addition, she has written for Ant & Dec and the Chuckle Brothers, and even got to pen the immortal words “to me, to you”.
SOPHIA HALBERSTAM
Sophia is a classically trained high soprano. She was a choral scholar at Queens’ College Cambridge for three years, releasing albums “For the Wings of a Dove” & “And Comes the Day”. She has sung under Sir David Willcocks, Ralph Allwood, Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre and Sir Roger Norrington.
Sophia is also a singer of contemporary music and has sung and recorded with Bastille, Amber Run, Imogen Heap, Andrea Bocelli, and Public Service Broadcasting amongst others. She has been singing with the Baebes since 2016.
MAYA MCCOURT
Maya McCourt is a cellist, singer, guitarist and general mixer-upper of traditions old and new. She’s a founder of the not-for-profit Flotsam Sessions, bringing together musicians from across the globe to reimagine folk and traditional music. Found most often playing a beguiling mix of blues, folk, jazz and classical with her band Salt Moon, Maya has a deep love for traditional songs from across the globe. Her cello playing can be found on a variety of projects, including her alt-folk duo Various Guises, who take and twist folk songs in their own distinctive style.