Chantefable

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Described by audiences as the best performance in the last ten years, Chantefable is a one-of-a-kind song and story experience developed by vocalist Mariana Rodrigues and keyboardist Andrew Cowie. We perform vocal music as well as spoken poetry with improvised music accompanying the poetry. The improvised music draws on various genres including folk, jazz, film, and classical music. Every performance is different, never to be heard again, blending classical and other genres in a way you haven't heard before. Chantefable is an idea born from an all-encompassing love of art, and the wish to find a new way to perform poetry and music. Originally a 13th century French tradition of ‘song and story’, Chantefable is creating a new concert experience. Debuting in the Royal Academy of Music, Chantefable has gone on to perform around the UK and internationally at the Vilalte Festival in the south of France, closing the Bloomsbury Festival, Musicalitea at the National Musician’s Church, St. Mary’s on the Strand International Chamber Series and more. Chantefable explores a wide range of rep, including everything from Scottish and Portuguese folk songs and poetry, English, French, German, and Italian classical songs, and modern poetry featuring everything from frogs to folklore. The duo has featured as the annual debut concert at Southwark Cathedral in 2024, as well as opened the Student’s Create Festival 2024 to great success at the Royal Academy of Music. One particular recent favourite has been premiering an absurdist song cycle about animals with music by Billy Cowie and poetry by Robert Desnos in Regent Hall (Paws and Poems, Creatures in Concert), alongside various animal poetry and short stories, tailored towards kids. Future performances include the Islington Festival and more abroad.

Here´s a little bit about our members:

Portuguese soprano Mariana Rodrigues is developing a career particularly in Early and Contemporary music, Classical Opera and Art Song, as well as ensemble singing – where her main interests lie. She is currently in her second year of postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with a full scholarship, studying with Marie Vassiliou, Raymond Connell, James Baillieu, and Joe Middleton.
Since beginning her singing career with the illustrious Gulbenkian Choir, recent engagements have seen Mariana as soprano soloist with the Dunedin Consort, ‘Arcadian Nocturne’ at the Islington Festival with Sergio Bucheli (lute/baroque guitar); Monteverdi ‘Vespers’ and ‘The Nightingale’s Own Brother’ with The Queenes Chappell, Estoril International Music Festival in ‘Amores, Desamores e Dissabores’, ‘Vivaldi on the Double’ with Brandenburg Sinfonia, and recent recitals ‘Love and Nature’ and ‘The Alchemy of Melody and Word’ with Chantefable. She has performed the roles of Clorinda, Despina, Cobweb, and Nanetta for the Opera Scenes at RAM; Damon for Muziektheatre Transparant De Singel. She has been a much requested soloist for the prestigious Bach’s project - Bach in Leipzig at RAM since 2021, was Very Highly Commended at the Nancy Nuttal Early Music Competition 2023 and Flora Nielsen Prize 2023, and is winner of the Isabel Jay Memorial Prize.
Mariana is the recipient of the Regency Award and the Edna Bralesford Vocal Prize.

Andrew Cowie has been an active performer on both the UK and European scene since starting his undergraduate studies in trombone at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Ian Bousfield, Peter Moore, Matt Gee and Dudley Bright. Andrew is currently a postgraduate at the Royal College of Music (MPerf harpsichord) under Terence Charlston and Robert Woolley with a scholarship since September 2024. An eclectic musician, Andrew performs regularly on various instruments, including historical keyboards, sackbut and piano. Recent performances stretch from the reopening of the King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace on keyboard, Aurora Orchestra at Southbank Centre, Japan Matsuri Festival in Trafalgar Square, Royal Academy Jazz Orchestra with Gwylim Simcock and RAM Symphony Orchestra with Edward Garner on trombone to the London Händel Festival on harpsichord and European tours with Girton College Cambridge Choir on sackbut. Andrew’s versatility has seen him place the past two years on the UK/Worldwide Classical Charts, including 8th place following last summer’s tour with Girton, with a third album to be released in 2025. This has led to Andrew performing in various old churches across Europe amongst which include Cremona Cathedral, Salzburg Cathedral, St. Peter’s in Vienna, and Southwark Cathedral and the Holy Sepulchre. Recent recitals include the inaugural concert celebrating the reopening of Fyvie Hall at the University of Westminster as well as Westminster Central Hall. Andrew is a regular accompanist for coachings, masterclasses, and competitions at the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, playing for Lucy Crowe, Rachel Podger, Richard Stokes, Florence Daguerre de Hureaux, Sophie Daneman and others. His new project “Chantefable” with soprano Mariana Rodrigues is an exciting blend of improvised music, poetry and song and has received international acclaim from audiences in the UK and abroad. Andrew is a Parnassus Scholar, supported by the Charles Colt Scholarship, and is a recipient of the Help Musicians Ian Fleming Award.

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