In 2021 Fretwork celebrates 35 years of performing music old and new, and they look forward to a challenging and exciting future as the world’s leading consort of viols. Fretwork have expanded their repertory to include music from over 500 years, from the first printed consort music in Venice in 1501 to music written this year. And, in between, everything that can be played on a consort of viols – Byrd and Schubert, Purcell and Shostakovitch, Gibbons and Britten, Dowland and Grieg.

This great musical adventure has taken them all over the globe, from Russia to Japan to North America to Australia. Audiences have responded enthusiastically to the extraordinary sound world that Fretwork create and to the consistently high standards that they achieve. The future sees many exciting projects based on the thrilling juxtaposition of old and new; making the experience of old music new and bringing the sensibilities of past ages to bear on contemporary music.