Violinist, Faith Brackenbury and jazz drummer, Tony Bianco, who form Visio Improvvisus, begin the tour, mostly churches, on July 30.
It will feature music by St Hildegard von Bingen, a German Benedictine abbess and writer and composer.
The Shropshire/Powys/Herefordshire border regions tour will end on September 17, which also happens to be St. Hildegard von Bingen’s feast day.
She was canonized 10 years ago and was also made a Doctor of the Church.
Faith from Church Stretton said: “Our new double album ‘Wayward Mystic ~ Improvisations on the music of St. Hildegard von Bingen’ accompanies the tour.
“We are so grateful to have the funding from Arts Council England, especially in these difficult and uncertain times. It means we can put fuel in the car and worry less about making ends meet.”
She said she met Tony, who is from Bronx, New York, two years ago.
“His life had kind of miraculously landed him 15 miles from me in rural Shropshire – it’s a beautiful place, but not exactly a hub of jazz.
“We released ‘Rising Up’, on Discus, in 2021. Our new double album is very different, and although it contains three of our long free improvisations, it contains five tracks based on the sacred music of St. Hildegard von Bingen.”
Faith said she met St Hildegard von Bingen in 2015/16 and was inspired by everything about her work and her life.
She said they chose churches as locations because of their beauty, sense of peace and belonging.
“After the last two years of social isolation, restrictions and loneliness, we have decided to try to encourage the communities around us, to re-engage with live music, to simply go out and be again together socially, which is vital to the overall health of all humans.”
