Album Notes

Founded in 1995 in Berkeley, California by director Mary Devlin, the Sherwood Consort is a mixed vocal ensemble based in the San Francisco Bay Area dedicated to study and performance of the early music of the British Isles, as well as songs from other cultures which influenced the music of the British Isles.

Their first album, BETWEEN MARCH AND APRIL, a collection of English songs and dances of the Middle Ages, was released in October of 1997.

Their second album, released in June of 1998, is ROBIN LOVES ME: THE LEGEND OF ROBIN AND MARION, a collection of French trouvère songs and motets surrounding the popular figures of the shepherd Robin and his sweetheart Marion, as well as English songs and ballads of Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

In June of 1998, at the Berkeley Early Music Festival Fringe, they performed a revival of Adam de la Halle's Le Gieus de Robin et Marion. In the fall of 1998 they performed Ancient Music of the British Isles, a panorama of English music from 1100 to 1600, and in June of 1999 they performed The Hollow Crown: English Monarchs from Henry II to Elizabeth I. At the June 2000 Berkeley Early Music Festival Fringe, they performed Songs of False Love and True, a program of love songs dating from 1200 to 1600.

In December of 2006, they performed their first LA gig, at The Sisters of Bubik Theatre, Boutique and Café, in Pasadena. The

At this point, their newest CD is ONE DAY AS I WENT RIDING, an album of French troubadour and trouvère songs as well as French secular polyphony, both vocal and instrumental. Now based in Los Angeles, they are now rehearsing for a new CD, CITIES AND THEIR PEOPLE, to be released in 2007.

The Consort's work has been honored on more than one occasion. In the fall of 1998, the Sherwood Consort was awarded a three-year grant by the California Arts Council to fund their performances. The Arts Council also invited them to perform at their 1999 Conference.

In January of 2000, Just Plain Folks, an online organization of independent musicians, nominated ROBIN LOVES ME for a Best Music Award in the Classical/Opera/Renaissance category. And in June of 2006, Mary Devlin was nominated by the International Biographical Centre of Cambridge, England, for International Musician of the year.