Lucie Skeaping (née Finch) is a British singer, instrumentalist, broadcaster and writer. She was a founder of the early music group the City Waites and the pioneering klezmer band the Burning Bush. She presents BBC Radio 3's '' Early Music Show'', a weekly programme dedicated to the early music repertoire.

Early life

Born in London, the daughter of GP Dr Bernard Finch and the sculptor Patricia Finch, Skeaping studied at the

Henrietta Barnett School The Henrietta Barnett School is a grammar school with academy status primarily for girls in Hampstead Garden Suburb in London. The '' Good Schools Guide'' called the school 'One of the best academic state schools in the country, providing a gen ...

, the

Arts Educational School Arts Educational Schools, or ArtsEd, is an independent performing arts school based in Chiswick in the London Borough of Hounslow. Overview ArtsEd provides specialist vocational training at secondary, further and higher education level in mus ...

and King Alfred School before she began her training at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

as a violinist (with Sylvia Rosenberg) and singer (with Helga Mott), later studying the lute (with

Diana Poulton Diana Poulton, also known as Edith Eleanor Diana Chloe Poulton née Kibblewhite (18 April 1903, Storington – 15 December 1995, Heyshott) was an English lutenist and musicologist. From 1919 through 1923 she studied at the Slade School of Fine Ar ...

) and the viol. After graduation she joined the City Waites, a four-piece group specialising in the broadside ballads and popular songs and dance music of 17th-century England.

Career

During the 1980s, Skeaping worked as a children's television presenter for BBC programmes including '' Play School'', '' The Music Arcade'' for

BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based o ...

(alongside

Tim Whitnall Timothy Charles Whitnall (born 27 June 1961) is an English actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is known for playing Angelo in the long-running CITV series '' Mike and Angelo'' and narrating the BBC children's TV programme ''Teletubbies'' fr ...

), ''Take Two'', ''Get Set For Summer'', and, for Channel 4, the long-running 'Make Music Fun'. As a member of the

Michael Nyman Band The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 play, ''Il Campiello'' directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic. The band did not wish to break up aft ...

, she appeared in

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are th ...

's 1980 mock documentary ''

The Falls The Falls may refer to: * ''The Falls'' (Oates novel), 2004 novel by Joyce Carol Oates * ''The Falls'' (Rankin novel), 2001 crime novel by Ian Rankin * The Falls (mall), an open-air shopping mall in Kendall, Florida * The Falls, Nova Scotia, a ...

'', as subject #74, Pollie Fallory, and in

Gavin Bryars Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early life and career Born on 16 January 1943 in ...

' Irma. After several years performing with the proto-feminist band the Sadista Sisters, she returned to early music working with the City Waites, the

Consort of Musicke The Consort of Musicke is a British early-music group, founded in 1969 by lutenist Anthony Rooley, the ensemble's Artistic Director. Members of the group have included such well-known artists as sopranos Emma Kirkby and Evelyn Tubb, alto Mary Ni ...

, the Martin Best Ensemble and the English Consort of Viols before forming her own band the Burning Bush in order to explore her own Jewish roots. Skeaping is a specialist exponent of the English

broadside ballad A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between th ...

repertoire and the popular dance tunes to which they were sung, also playing

baroque violin A Baroque violin is a violin set up in the manner of the baroque period of music. The term includes original instruments which have survived unmodified since the Baroque period, as well as later instruments adjusted to the baroque setup, and mode ...

, fiddle and

rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...

. Her involvement with this often profane repertoire led to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' describing her as "the bawdy babe of Radio 3" in 2004.Peter Culsha
"Bawdy babe of Radio 3"
''

'', 23 February 2004 As a solo artist and with her groups she has toured extensively and made recordings for Saydisc, Hyperion, ARC Music International, Regis,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

and

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

(details at www.lucieskeaping.co.uk/cds.htm). Her collaborations with other performers, broadcasters, theatre companies, historians and film-makers include the Royal National Theatre, Jools Holland, the

Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

, the Regents Park Open Air Theatre,

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He fi ...

Waldemar Januszczak Waldemar Januszczak (born 12 January 1954) is an English art critic and television documentary producer and presenter. Formerly the art critic of ''The Guardian'', he took the same role at ''The Sunday Times'' in 1992, and has twice won the Cr ...

, Michael Nyman,

Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...

, the RSC,

John Harle John Harle (born 20 September 1956) is an English saxophonist, composer, educator and record producer. He is an Ivor Novello Award winner and has been the recipient of two Royal Television Society awards. Biography Harle was born in Newcastl ...

Dominic Muldowney Dominic Muldowney (born 19 July 1952 in Southampton) is a British composer. Biography Dominic Muldowney studied at the University of Southampton with Jonathan Harvey, at the University of York (with Bernard Rands and David Blake), and privat ...

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English comedian, singer and occasional actor. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer", and was primarily known for his live stand-up performances. A lifel ...

and

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

Skeaping has written and presented numerous music-documentaries for BBC radio on subjects including Samuel Pepys,

ballad opera The ballad opera is a genre of English stage entertainment that originated in the early 18th century, and continued to develop over the following century and later. Like the earlier '' comédie en vaudeville'' and the later ''Singspiel'', its dist ...

, Henry VIII and the ''

Mary Rose The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...

'', the Dolmetsch family, the history of the

Sephardi Jews Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

, Nell Gwyn and the Restoration, and

broadside ballads A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between th ...

. She is co-author (with Dr Roger Clegg) of ''Singing Simpkin and other Bawdy Jigs: Musical Comedy on the Shakespearean Stage'' (UEP 2014), an edition of nine 'dramatic jigs' from the Tudor and Stuart period, many reunited with their original music for the first time in 400 years. Her other books are ''Broadside Ballads'' (Faber Music 2006), Winner of the Music Industry Association Award for Best Classical Music Book 2006; ''Let's Make Tudor Music'' (Stainer and Bell 1999), runner-up TES Best Primary schools music Book; and the recorder anthology ''Who gave thee thy Jolly Red Nose'' (Peacock Press 2008). She has contributed articles for the '' BBC Music Magazine'', ''Early Music Today'', ''

BBC History Magazine ''BBC History Magazine'' is a British publication devoted to both British and world history and aimed at all levels of knowledge and interest. The publication releases thirteen editions a year, one per month and a Christmas special edition, an ...

'', ''

History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...

'', ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'' and others. Skeaping is Ambassador and a member of the judging panel for '

Live Music Now Live Music Now is a charity working and campaigning to create inclusive, measurable social impact through music. Live Music Now works with special educational needs providers and care homes to provide live music participation to those living in ...

' (promoting young performers), Patron of the Finchley Children’s Music Group, and a member of the

Samuel Pepys Club The Samuel Pepys Club is a London club founded in 1903 to do honour to the memory of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), the English naval administrator and Member of Parliament now best known as a diarist. Origin On 26 May 1903, at the Garrick Club in ...

Personal life

She married Roderick (Roddy) Skeaping and thereafter adopted his surname for professional purposes. The couple have a son called William who works in the music industry.Peter Culsha
Bawdy babe of Radio 3
''

''; accessed 3 August 2016

References

External links

Official website

The Burning Bush

City Waites

BBC biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skeaping, Lucie British performers of early music Women performers of early music Founders of early music ensembles English women singers English classical musicians Jewish classical musicians Klezmer musicians BBC Radio 3 presenters Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British radio presenters British women radio presenters