Galant David Rizzio

In the early eighteenth century, a number of the most popular traditional Scottish songs were bizarrely attributed to David Rizzio, who more than 150 years earlier had been brutally murdered while serving as secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots. For their second recording on Olde Focus, Celtic HiP ensemble Makaris explores arrangements of the "Rizzio melodies" by galant-era composers including Francesco Geminiani, Johann Christian Bach, and James Oswald. MAKARIS formed in 2018 and the following year released it's first album, Wisps in the Dell, to critical international acclaim. ("Absolutely wonderful... one of the very best releases of 2019" (MusicWeb International); "Marvelous... Highly recommended" (Fanfare); "Delightful... a winning combination" (Early Music Review.) The ensemble's second recording was the EP Tam Lin, a modern fairytale folk opera composed by Fiona Gillespie and Elliot Cole.