Hay Castle Events

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO COLOUR

What is colour? What does it mean? And how has it shaped our art and history? In this talk, Cambridge art historian and BBC broadcaster James Fox explores the extraordinary history of colour, from cave paintings all the way through to contemporary art.

Diving deep into the colours of black, red, yellow, blue, white, purple and green, he'll range across the world and through time, to reveal the meanings that have been attached to the colours we see around us and the ways these have influenced our culture and imagination.

BOOK NOW TO AVOID MISSING THIS OPPORTUNITY

Why not come along and see the Leominster Morris crew performing on the Castle Lawn at 10.15am on Saturday 25 March.

Drawing on the Zen tradition of calligraphy, Zen Brushwork works primarily with ki, or energy. Using a large brush, the intention is to let go of thinking and allow the whole body to connect with the physical act of making a mark: to become one with the brush.
The focus of the practice is to relax body/mind and allow ki to flow freely, through energy raising exercises - yokiho - and sitting meditation - zazen.
In the course of the day we will work with mujibō, the Zen line, ensō, the Zen circle, and complete the day by brushing Nichí Arada, Every Day Is A Good Day, on Japanese paper.

Cost: £35 waged, £25 unwaged.
Ink, brushes and paper will be supplied. No experience necessary.


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Mae y Gwaeth Brwsh Zen yn gweithio’n bennaf gyda ki, neu egni, ac yn tynnu ar y traddodiad Zen o galigraffi. Trwy ddefnyddio brush mawr, y bwriad yw rhoi’r goran i feddwl a chaniatáu i’r corff cyfan gysylltu â’r weithred gorfforol o wneud marc: i ddod yn un gyda’r frwsh.
Ffocws yr armer yw ymlacio’r corff / meddwl a chaniatáu I ki lifo’n rhydd, try ymarferon codi egni - yokiho - a myfyrdod eistedd - zazen.
Yn ystod y dydd byddwn yn gweithio gyda mujibō, y llinell Zen, ensō, y gylch Zen, Nichí Arada, Mae Bob Dydd yn Ddiwrnod Da, ar bapur Japaneaidd.

Cost: £35 cyflog, £25 dicyflog.
Bydd inc, brwshys a phapur yn cael eu cyflenwi. Nid oes angen profiad.

(The course will be delivered in English)

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Life drawing takes place in the Clore Learning Space every Monday from 10am until 3pm.

The sessions cost £16 for the full day from 10-4pm and £10 for a morning or afternoon session only.

The morning session starts at 10am so please arrive at about 9.45am as that is when the doors will be open.

The model for this session will be Martin - I am just checking timings and will post them here.


THERE WILL BE NO LIFE DRAWING OVER THE EASTER HOLIDAYS

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Come along on Independence Day for Reg Clark's illustrated talk on the early years of Hay Independence and King Richard Booth. Reg will be showing photographs from the Richard Booth archive that he has digitised as part of the Hay Memories project.

Get a personal insight into the early years of Independent Hay and the characters involved in Richard's Kingdom.

The Pedwardine Ensemble has a wealth of experience between them with various individual roles over the years in BBCNOW, CBSO, London Cello Orchestra and chamber music performances across Europe. Central to the Pedwardine Ensemble is cellist Sonia Hammond who has gathered colleagues around her that share a love of making chamber music together. They now play Principal roles in St Woolos Sinfonia and their collective musical maturity gives sincere warmth to the works they perform. For their debut at Hay castle they will perform String Quartets by Haydn, Dvorak and Moeran.

General admission (seated) £12

Lothar Götz talks about his work which involves creating artworks for historic galleries like the Holden in Manchester and the Hatton in Newcastle. He has also worked with architecture by The Smithsons, Frank Gehry, Rick Mather and Massimiliano Fuksas. He created an artwork for steps in Canary Wharf and More locally he has created the large mural that has been put up on the side of a block of student accommodation in Hereford.

If you visit Hereford between now and April, you will see some very colourful artworks next to the Railway Station. No.1 Station Approach, Hereford College of Arts (HCA) and NMiTE’s new student accommodation, features two vibrant geometric artworks on each side of the building. The artworks mark the start of a new cultural gateway to Hereford, welcoming visitors and enriching residents’ experience of the city.

This talk is part of our Castle in Colour Season which begins at the end of February and runs until May. Other Friday talks include "Medival Colour" with Rosemary Firman and "A Tale of Two Cities: Colour in Venice and Florence" with Paul Hills

The talk will begin at 7pm - please come up to the main entrance on the lawns and up the drive form Oxford Road. The Honesty Bookshop door on Castle Street will be closed.

Join novelists Barbara Erskine and Katherine Stansfield to explore the fascinating world of historical fiction from a writer's perspective. Over two days of practical workshops, you will discuss the relationship between myth, legend and history, mining the imaginative potential of lives lived in the margins of history, the over-looked or the unknown, or famous names with other stories to tell. Learn about research strategies, creating compelling characters of the past, and the alchemy of turning historical material into rich stories.

Barbara Erskine
Barbara is the author of 16 novels and 3 collections of short stories, assorted journalism and poetry. Her first novel, Lady of Hay, was published in more than 30 languages and is still in print and selling all over the world after 37 years. In 2016 she wrote Sleepers Castle, also featuring Hay Castle as its inspiration. Two of her novels were shortlisted for the Thumping Good Read awards, and all have been Sunday Times bestsellers.

Katherine Stansfield
Katherine Stansfield is a multi-genre novelist and poet. Her historical crime series Cornish Mysteries has won the Holyer an Gof Fiction Prize and been shortlisted for the Winston Graham Memorial Prize. The most recent instalment is The Mermaid's Call. She co-writes a fantasy crime trilogy with her partner David Towsey, publishing as D. K. Fields, and has also published two full length poetry collections and a pamphlet with Seren. Katherine is co-editor, with Caroline Oakley, of Cast a Long Shadow: new crime short stories by women writers from Wales, published by Honno. She teaches creative writing for a number of universities and has been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow.

This workshop is intended for those with some writing experience and is primarily centred around research and process.


Teas and coffees will be provided on arrival and will be available throughtout the day.
Lunch is not provided but can be booked in Hay Castle Café - please contact us for more details

Learn to master one of the oldest techniques in Icon painting.

A two day course in Byzantine Icon Painting using Egg Tempera and learning to lay Gold Leaf (Gilding)


This course is designed for both beginners and experienced artists.

All materials are included in the cost of the course.

Petro and Eva Birov have 18 years experience of this art form in Ukraine.
20% of the cost will be donated to the Martha Levchenko Foundation Charity.

An evening of music, art, science, talks & film to raise awareness of the endangered curlew and the work underway to save this iconic bird. With music from Merlyn Driver's 'Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds.'

Tickets can be purchased from EVENTBRITE

(Please note there is no parking onsite at Hay Castle. Please use the carpark directly opposite on Oxford Road. Castle street entrances will be closed)

To complement the evening, Epicure events are offering a pre-bookable Spring supper. Food will be available to collect between 18:30 and 19:15 from the café counter.
Please click here to book food

Brie, leek & caramelised red onion tart, Lane cottage dressed leaves, coleslaw £12.50



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As part of the evening Epicure events are offering a pre-bookable Spring supper.

Brie, leek & caramelised red onion tart, Lane cottage dressed leaves, coleslaw £12.50

Dairy free option £12.50

Gluten free option £12.50

Book via the link below and you’ll receive a confirmation email - no need to bring this with you - your name will be on a list behind the café counter when you arrive.

Hay Madrigals, founded in February 2019, are a group experienced amateur, professional and semi-professional singers and instrumentalists who love making music together. We perform not just madrigals but short masses, motets and other secular pieces, as well as solos and duets, from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

For more info visit Hay Madrigals

To complement the concert, Epicure events are offering a pre-bookable Spring supper.

Brie, leek & caramelised red onion tart, Lane cottage dressed leaves, coleslaw £12.50

Dairy free option £12.50

Gluten free option £12.50

Book via the link below and you’ll receive a confirmation email - no need to bring this with you - your name will be on a list behind the café counter when you arrive.

The construction of Hay Castle’s Great Hall sits parallel in time to the music of ‘Instruments of Time and Truth’. With their name inspired by Handel's last oratorio, the ensemble represents world-class performances of baroque and classical music.

Civil war, political upheaval, plague: Hay Castle’s rebirth in the mid-17th Century came at a time of great drama in British history - most memorably observed through the eyes of that great diarist, Samuel Pepys. Instruments of Time and Truth, Oxford’s premier early music ensemble, present a concert exploring the sounds and colours Pepys himself would have been familiar with: music he would have experienced at the theatre in works by Purcell, chamber music by the likes of Matthew Locke that he himself would have played, and finally the diverse range of music that he owned, brought to life from the many books and scores of his famous library.

Bojan Cicic: Violin

Ian Wilson: Recorder

Susanne Heinrich: Viola da Gamba

Linda Sayce: Theorbo

Christopher Bucknall: Harpsichord

Seated tickets only £20

Interval at 20.15pm

To find out more about the group please see: Instruments of Time & Truth


Click here to order food

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Come and find out more about the Lady who built Hay Castle!

This talk by Sharon Bennett Connolly is the chance to learn from someone who has been researching and writing about Medieval Women and History for many years. As well as writing a fascinating blog Sharon has also published four books:

Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England looks into the relationships of the various noble families of the 13th century, and how they were affected by the Barons’ Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken.

Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich.

Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066.

The talk will begin at 7pm - please come up to the main entrance on the lawns and up the drive form Oxford Road. The Honesty Bookshop door on Castle Street will be closed.

How does Bellini's colour differ from Botticelli's, or Brunelleschi's from that of contemporary Venetian architects? This lecture will explore contrasts and similarities and suggest underlying causes. We will look at the difference between colour in fresco and in mosaic, and note distinct preferences in the use of polychrome marbles in the two cities.


This talk is part of our Castle in Colour Season which begins at the end of February and runs until May. Other Friday talks include "Colour - Space - Light" with Lothar Goetz and "Medieval Colour" with Rosemary Firman

Please join us for an evening exploring the possibilities of the unaccompanied violin, as well as seeing what happens when you invite it’s sibling - the viola, on stage too. Award winning violinists (and closeted violists) Emily Turkanik and Raphael Papo, will be joining forces to present a rich program of both unaccompanied solos and duets dating from the Baroque period to the 21th Century. The works will range from some of the most profound music ever to be written, to possibly the most humorous.

Click here to see Rafael performing 'The Red Violin Caprices' by John Corigliano


Repertoire

Bohuslav Martinů - Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola, H. 313 (1947)

Eugène Ysaÿe - Sonata No. 5 for Violin, Op. 27 (1923)

John Corigliano - The Red Violin Caprices (for solo violin)

A. Mozart - KV 424 - Duo for violin & viola in B flat major

Johann Sebastian Bach - Chaconne, Partita No. 2 BWV 1004


18:30 Venue and Bar open
19:30 Concert begins

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Join us for a pre-show supper - between 6.30 and 7.15pm.

Click here to order food​

To complement the concert, Epicure events are offering a pre-bookable Spring supper.

Brie, leek & caramelised red onion tart, Lane cottage dressed leaves, coleslaw £12.50

Dairy free option £12.50

Gluten free option £12.50

Book via the link below and you’ll receive a confirmation email - no need to bring this with you - your name will be on a list behind the café counter when you arrive.