TWO of the classical music world’s most inventive women performers are appearing at Lighthouse in Poole this week.

Tonight, Classic FM’s Artist of the Year, Emma Kirkby, headlines an evening of early music, followed on Saturday by contemporary diva Joanna MacGregor performing with rhythm maestros Ensemble Bash.

Emma Kirkby is world famous in the early music scene and is one of the biggest-selling British performers in classical music.

For her visit to Dorset this year she is performing with The Maresienne Consort of Viols. The viol is an early form of the violin family and is played with a long bow on very slack strings which creates a beautiful, relaxing sound, perfectly suited to Emma’s sweet soprano voice.

Also in the concert are early music radicals Red Priest performing a programme called Pirates of the Baroque, inspired by the notion that composers steal from each other!

Joanna MacGregor is a popular visitor to Poole. Probably the most famous contemporary performer currently on the concert scene, she is a brilliant pianist and an inventive programmer.

Ensemble Bash are four percussionists who got bored of just playing percussion parts in the orchestra and clubbed together to form their own band. They have got various well-known composers to write original material and boast two garages full of different drums and percussion instruments.

Lighthouse programme Graham Stansfield said: “What Emma sings will be as beautiful a sound as you will hear in our concert hall all autumn. What Red Priest perform will be crazy! They have a theatrical brilliance. They play as well as anyone in the world and make it enormous fun.”

He added: “Try as I might Ensemble Bash will never start a show at Poole on stage. They always do something different like come from upstairs, from the back and everything like that. You just know that the beginning of an Ensemble Bash concert is never the norm! That’s sheer good fun. They are inventive all the time and love working with Joanna MacGregor because she loves spiky rhythmic music.”

Emma Kirkby and Red Priest are at the Lighthouse today at 8pm and tickets are £16 plus concessions. Ensemble Bash and Joanna MacGregor are on Saturday, November 29 at 7.30pm and tickets are £14 plus concessions. Call 0844 406 8666 for full details and to book tickets.