Wight Proms Wednesdays: Phantasia

Join lute-based classical and folk music fusion duo Phantasia (Chris Hirst and Emma-Marie Kabanova), for an intimate recital in the stunning setting of Northwood House's Ballroom. You can join us for lunch directly after the concert, served in the Drawing Room. Select from our three options when buying tickets.

Buy all 8 concerts in this series for the price of 7, by clicking here.

If you would like to join us for lunch afterwards, please pre-order by the end of the Monday, two days before the concert.

Welcome to Wight Proms Wednesdays! We would like to bring you a bit of the Wight Proms throughout the year and not just in August, and so we launched this lunchtime concert series. Taking place at 12:30 on Wednesdays and each lasting 40 minutes, they are the ideal addition to your lunch break.

BIOGRAPHY

Phantasia was formed in early 2023 by lutenist Chris Hirst and violinist Emma-Marie Kabanova, when both were struggling to find players of period instruments in their area. Individually, Chris and Emma-Marie have performed all over the world with some of the leading period instrument groups and orchestras, and have made many recordings and videos. Phantasia specialise in dynamic performances of music from the 18th and early 19th centuries, using instruments of that era. Baroque and classical violin is combined with theorbo (a type of large bass lute) and mandora (a later type of lute), which can be played alone or in combination for variety.

Chris and Emma-Marie are particularly interested in resurrecting lesser-known music, discovering “forgotten gems” and bringing them to new audiences. They also play a good amount of “period folk” – traditional tunes which were written down or composed in the 18th century, yet sound very much like the airs and reels you would hear in a Dublin or Edinburgh pub today. Phantasia therefore has something to interest aficionados of both classical and folk music. They were recently featured as Phantasia on ClassicFM playing Scottish baroque music, Chris has also been a ClassicFM regular over the last few years with videos going viral multiple times.