Why HISS?
Historically Informed Summer School 2026
HISS is a truly unique course that brings together musicians from the worlds of folk, medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music. (We will be especially welcoming folk singers and instrumentalists in 2026 as we will not be clashing with the Whitby Folk Week!)
HISS welcomes both singers and instrumentalists – our pitch is A=440 to allow us all to play together.
What instruments? Previous courses have included players of shawms, crumhorns, curtals, bagpipes, harps, recorders, viols, lutes, theorbos, mandolins, flutes medieval, Renaissance and baroque, fiddles medieval, baroque and folk, cornetts, sackbuts and cellos – take a look at our Tutors page to get an idea of the range of instruments and genres we can accomodate at HISS.
Mikolai Zielinski’s Magnificat a 12 at HISS 2025
Spread the word!
Please spread the word about HISS! Could you email a few friends with a copy of our flyer? HISS 2026 flyer
Singers needed…
Last year the vocal ensemble enjoyed the music of Barbara Strozzi and Maddalena Casulana amongst others, with plenty of opportunities for solos and one to a part singing in rich and varied textures. In 2026 with the large scale repertoire of Cavalli and de Lalande we will have, and need, voices across the whole spectrum from soprano to low bass for both solo and choral music of the Renaissance and Baroque.
Read reviews and comments from past participants
Have a look at our Gallery pages to see what we got up to in previous years!