EarlyMusicNews.Org

“Having initially studied classical guitar at Napier University, Gordon Ferries went on to study at the RSAMD where he specialised in lute and early guitar music. He has now established himself as one of the UK's leading exponents of the baroque guitar. Gordon has worked for both television and radio: arranging and performing music for Radio 4; featuring on 'Scotland's Music' with Concerto Caledonia, and for BBC 2 television. He has performed in venues and festivals across the UK both as a soloist and in ensemble and has appeared with The Scottish Ensemble, The Scottish Early Music Consort and the Edinburgh Quartet, amongst others. Gordon directs his own group, Symphonie des Plaisir.

Gordon has been awarded two grants from the Scottish Arts Council towards study at the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, reasearching the baroque guitar; the fruits of which appear on his recordings. He lectures in lute and guitar at Napier University in Edinburgh, and is involved in teaching young people in many musical styles.“

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Added on: Jul 24, 2009 | Hits: 709

“Born in Prague in 1969, Petr Wagner studied cello at the Prague Conservatoire with Josef Chuchro. This was followed by studies in musicology at Charles University in Prague and at Royal Holloway College at the University of London. There he was introduced to the viola da gamba by Richard Boothby, later continuing his development as a gamba player with Jaap ter Linden at the Akademie für alte Musik Dresden.

After having completed his studies in Dresden, Petr Wagner was invited to study with Wieland Kuijken at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague where he received the prestigious Uitvoerend Musicus solo diploma.

Petr has appeared at numerous European festivals (Festival d’Ile de France, Prague Spring Festival, Sopron Early Music Days, Mitte Europa Festival, Brežice Early Music Festival, Forum Musicum Wrocław), both as a soloist and continuo player, and collaborates with musicians such as Jacques Ogg, Shalev Ad-El, Mitzi Meyerson, Bruce Dickey, Brent Wissick, Miklós Spányi, Péter Szüts, Simon Standage, Ophira Zakai, Magdalena Kožená, Noémi Kiss, and ensembles such as Concerto Palatino, Orfeo Orchestra, Les Inégales Köln, Concerto Armonico Budapest and Oslo Baroque Soloists. ..“

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Added on: Jul 14, 2009 | Hits: 384

“Annette Otterstedt 

I should have invented the lyra viol if Frank Traficante had not discovered it for me beforehand. I was very young yet when I asked my teacher Johannes Koch to tell me about scordaturas for the viol. The only instance he knew was tuning the bottom string to C. I was disappointed, since I had already marked down the viol with its six strings as ideally suited for chordal play and various tunings. So I was not surprised when, browsing through my doctoral supervisor's (Carl Dahlhaus's) library, I came across a 'Musica Britannica' volume containing works by William Lawes, among them a suite for three lyra viols. There was the instrument to fill the gap. ..“

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Added on: Jul 14, 2009 | Hits: 308

“After studies at Cornell University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Thomas Georgi moved to Australia to take up a position with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. While a resident of Brisbane he developed an interest in early music, founding the Badinerie Players. Since his return to North America to join the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, he has specialized in the Viola D'Amore, performing solos on that instrument with Tafelmusik across North America, in Japan, in Europe and in Australia. He has recorded for Sony Vivarte, BMG and CBC as a violinist, but now with the completion of the series of Ariosti's music for viola d'amore for the remarkable Bis.se record lable, Thomas Georgi will have made the largest and most widely available recording project of the viola d'amore in the history of recorded sound. ..“

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Added on: Jul 14, 2009 | Hits: 515

“Claas Harders began learning viola da gamba at the age of seven. He continued his studies with Jaap ter Linden and Sarah Cunningham at the Akademie für Alte Musik Bremen as well as at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon with Marianne Muller.

Further studies with Freek Borstlap, Paolo Pandolfo, Wieland Kuijken, Jordi Savall, Wendy Gillespie, and Ariane Maurette.

In addition to the viola da gamba, he is a much sought-after lirone player. He plays regularly with chamber music ensembles throughout Europe and has appeared at festivals such as Ambronay (France), Abu Gosh (Israel), Styriarte (Austria), Barockfest Münster, Musikfest Bremen, and the Festival Oude Muziek (Netherlands).“

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Added on: Jul 14, 2009 | Hits: 320

“Formed by Lynda Sayce, whose research forms the basis for much of its repertory, Chordophony is a new ensemble bringing together four of Britain's finest lutenists, cutting-edge musicological research, and the only full, matched consort of lutes in the world, to create a revolution in renaissance music. We do not rely on the tiny surviving repertory for lute ensemble, but prefer to take it as a precedent for arranging other works and improvising our own material, as our renaissance colleagues did. Chordophony's players are all experienced and accomplished soloists in their own right, bringing virtuosity and risk-taking improvisatory skills to the concert platform. Personnel vary depending on the project, but the core players are Lynda Sayce (treble lute), Eligio Luis Quinteiro (alto lute), Edward Fitzgibbon (tenor lute) and Richard Sweeney (bass lute). Chordophony has already collaborated with some of the finest ensembles, recording with His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts, and the Purcell Quartet, appearing at the prestigious York Early Music Festival, and recording for BBC Radio 3.“

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Added on: Jul 11, 2009 | Hits: 397

“My name is Lucia Domenegati. I can play harpsichord (and piano), french baroque lute and solo theorbo. I believe that early music instruments must be studied and played with their proper techniques. For instance, Piano and modern guitar with their techniques have nothing to do with early music, specially with early baroque solo music. This website is intended to be a small contribution to this point of view.“

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Added on: Jul 11, 2009 | Hits: 359

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Added on: Jul 11, 2009 | Hits: 366

"Ronn graduated with honors from Shenandoah Conservatory and continued studies at Peabody Conservatory before turning his full attention and energy to the lute in 1978. The following year, Ronn performed his first solo recitals on the lute and became a member of the Baltimore Consort. Since that time, he has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe with the Baltimore Consort and as a soloist. Ronn was a faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory from 1984 to 1995, teaching lute and lute-related subjects. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from Shenandoah Conservatory for his achievements in bringing the lute and its music to the world. Ronn has numerous recordings on the Dorian label including solo recordings, lute song recordings with Julianne Baird, soprano and Frederick Urrey, tenor, over ten CDs with the Baltimore Consort and ballad recordings with Custer LaRue and members of the Baltimore Consort. Recently, Ronn has been engaged in composing new music for the lute, building on the tradition of the lutenist/composers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This new music is the focus of his new solo CD, Indigo Road. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 11, 2009 | Hits: 837

Federation of Viola da Gamba Societies.

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Added on: Jul 11, 2009 | Hits: 338

“Over the past decade Edin Karamazov has established himself as today’s most exciting and charismatic player of the lute, garnering rave reviews and critical acclaim across Europe and America for his dazzlingly virtuosic and emotionally committed performances of an adventurous repertoire that ranges from sixteenth-century classics to the music of today.

Edin Karamazov began his musical career as a classical guitarist before taking up the Baroque lute, which he studied at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basle, Switzerland.

He made his solo debut as a lutenist in 1998. Significantly, it was as a last-minute substitute for the legendary Julian Bream, the player who had single-handedly led the modern revival of interest in the lute a generation earlier. ..“

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Added on: May 20, 2009 | Hits: 413

“Lutz Kirchhof devotes himself to the rediscovery of the lute and its music. As international well-known lute soloist he released numerous CD productions as an exclusive artist of SONY MUSIC.

In 1996, Lutz Kirchhof initiated the foundation of the German Association for Lute (DEUTSCHE LAUTENGESELLSCHAFT).“

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Added on: May 20, 2009 | Hits: 405

“Lutenist/theorbist Andreas Martin is perhaps best known for his recent splash in the early music world with his recording of Bach works for lute in 2004. This Harmonia Mundi disc, rated 5/5 stars in Goldberg magazine, represents a culmination of years of his close musical study and interest. It has led to comments such as “[Martin]...shows a deep knowledge of Bach’s music...an intensive Bach, brilliantly and marvellously distinguished...“(Pablo Vayón), „Meditative…subtle dynamics and evident lyricism…dance-like” (Michael Ullman, Fanfare Magazine), or “his phrasing [is] almost vocal in nuance” (Anna Picard, The Independent on Sunday).

Native to Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Martin’s early studies include the classical guitar in the Musikhochschule with Mario Sicca (Stuttgart), in the Conservatorio de Musica Giuseppe Verdi with Ruggero Chiesa (Milan), and Anglo – Saxon and Romance Languages and Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg. In order to expand upon his interest in Renaissance literature and music, he next enrolled in the esteemed Schola Cantorum in Basel, under the tutelage of lutists Eugen Dombois, Hopkinson Smith and Peter Croton. There he was also influenced by such artists as Emma Kirkby, Evelyn Tubb, Anthony Rooley and Nigel North.

His current life as a concert artist has taken Martin round the world. Recent highlights of solo appearances include the Festival de Musica Antigua, Barcelona (2004) or the Europabachfestival of Paris (2005).

He has also performed on television (Arte, Südwest 3) and radio (SWR 2 and BBC 3--concerts in Wales 2005 “Bach by Candlelight at Ewenny”).“

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Added on: May 20, 2009 | Hits: 348

“Timothy Burris graduated from Holland's Royal Conservatory, where he studied under the renowned lutenist, Toyohiko Satoh. From 1990-96, he taught lute at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp.

A Fulbright alumnus, Mr Burris has performed throughout Europe and the US, including appearances with Derek Lee Ragin and Jennifer Lane, and performances under the baton of René Clemencic and Peter Schreier. He can be heard playing Bach's c minor Prelude in "Shock Act", the prize-winning short film by Seth Grossman. In addition to solo performances, Mr Burris appears with the tenor Timothy Johnson (as the duo Music’s Quill).“

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Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 515

“Eric Bellocq studied the guitar with Alexandre Lagoya at the Paris Conservatory, where he also graduated with a First Prize. He played the theorbo in the Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants, directed by William Christie from 1983 to 1990. He also regularly took part in opera productions and concert performances with La Chapelle Royale, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Les Talens Lyriques, La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, Le Concert Spirituel, Akâdemia, Le concert d'Astrée and La Fenice. ..”

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Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 389

“

The American lutenist Paul Beier graduated from the Royal College of Music, London, where he inherited a passion for research into early performance practices from his teacher, Diana Poulton.

He has performed throughout Europe, Australia, North and South America with a solo repertoire extending from the early Sixteenth Century to the music of Bach and Weiss. Founder and director of  Galatea, he collaborates with many baroque music groups and has taken part in productions of early opera in theaters such as La Scala, Milan and the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico

 He has recorded for labels such as Opus 111, Stradivarius, Glossa, Cantus, Synfonia, Nuova Era, Tactus, Amadeus and Concerto.  His CDs (10 solo lute recordings and 4 as director of Galatea) have been received very well; some of them earned important recognition such as Disque du Mois of Répertoire, 5 Diapason, 5 stars of Goldberg, etc.

In 1981 he was invited to create the lute program at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan,Italy, where he also teaches basso continuo and Renaissance ensemble. A founding member of the Italian Lute Society, he is a consulting editor of the Lute Society of America Journal.“

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Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 311

“Composer-lute player Jozef Van Wissem is renowned for his unusual approach of the Renaissance and Baroque lute. He cuts and pastes classical pieces, reverses melodies, adds electronics and processed field recordings made at airport lounges and train stations. The unusual wedlock of composition and improvisation creates an unheard amalgam of contemporary folk and late Renaissance music. He has accomplished the strange feat of bridging the idiom of seventeenth century lute literature and twenty-first century composition. Although Van Wissem uses subtle electronic sound manipulation, he has largely stayed faithful to the particular timbre, resonance and playing technique of the lute. Van Wissem first came to be noticed a few years ago because of his radical conceptual approach to Renaissance lute music: he deconstructed existing compositions, for instance by playing them backwards. He also composes his own pieces for lute, using palindromes and mirrored structures. His music therefore does not have a traditional linear progression, nor leads to a climax, it rather stays on the same level of intensity. ..“

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Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 356

“Michael Craddock studied music at the University of North Texas, where he was the first guitarist to complete the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree. He was also a performer in master classes of Oscar Ghiglia and José Tomás. An interest in early music eventually led him to study the lute and related historical plucked instruments with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. He has performed as a soloist and member of
several ensembles in Europe and the United States. A former faculty member of Texas Christian University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he now lives in Switzerland. His first CD, Tabulatures de Guiterne, was recently released on the Cantus label.“

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Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 393

“Robert Barto graduated from the University of California, San Diego, having specialised in historical lute performance. A Fulbright scholarship brought him to Europe, where he continued his studies with Michael Schaeffer in Cologne and Eugen Dombois in Basle.

In 1984, he was awarded first prize at the International Lute Competition in Toronto, as well as top prize in a competition of all the instrumental soloists at the Musica Antiqua Competition in Bruges, Belgium.

Robert Barto has performed throughout Europe and North America, including solo recitals in the Festival of Flanders, London's Purcell Room, the Utrecht Festival and the "Music Before 1800" event in New York City. In 2000 he gave solo performances at the Lufthansa Baroque Festival in London, Bavarian Radio's Bach Night in Munich and presented a special tribute to Silvius Leopold Weiss for the city of Dresden.

Robert Barto's five volumes of baroque lute sonatas by Silvius Leopold Weiss and 2 CDs of the complete solo works of Joachim Bernhard Hagen have met with great enthusiasm from critics and the public alike.“

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Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 307

“Mara Galassi graduated from the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano and the Pesaro Conservatory of Music with honors. Subsequently, she studied pedal harp with Luciana Chierici, David Watkins, and Emmy Huerlimann, performance practice with harpsichordist David Collyer and lutenist Patrick O'Brien and musicology with Michael Morrow in London. She served as principal harpist for the Teatro Massimo Opera House in Palermo, Italy. She currently lives in Milan where she teaches modern and historical harps at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano. She develops her activities as soloist and as a member of the most famous early music Ensembles in Europe: Concerto Vocale (dir. René Jacobs), Concerto Italiano (dir. Rinaldo Alessandrini), Mala Punica (dir. Pedro Memelsdorff), Cantus Cölln (dir. Konrad Junghänel). As musicologist she has done extensive research in the field of historical harps. She recorded for Tactus, Symphonia, Ricordi, Harmonia Mundi, Opus 111 and Glossa. ..“

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Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 324

“I have been making instruments for the past fifteen years, at first at instrument making courses in the school holidays in Germany, then working with a harpmaker in Scotland for six months prior to joining the London College of Furniture in 1992.  After a six year training in making baroque instruments, violins and guitars/mandolins I graduated with an honours degree in 1998.  I moved to Ramsgate, Kent in the south east of England in 2002 where I share a workshop with my wife, the hurdy-gurdy maker Claire Dugué.

I mostly make mandolins, irish bouzoukis, mandolas and citterns for a wide range of players in various countries.“

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Added on: May 11, 2009 | Hits: 405

“  I studied instrument making for five years at the London Guildhall University (the former London College of Furniture).  During this time I trained firstly to make early plucked instruments (lutes, baroque guitars) then moved on to hurdy-gurdy making in the last three years of my course.  This led to me obtaining a degree in Music Technology in 1999.

After college, I went on to further my knowledge by joining a woodcarving and sculpture class for two years with Mike Leman, and by working in London for leading boxmaker Andrew Crawford.

I set up my own workshop in Ramsgate during the summer of 2001, and have been a full time hurdy-gurdy maker ever since. I share my workshop with my husband the mandolin & bouzouki maker Kai Tönjes.”

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Added on: May 11, 2009 | Hits: 399

“Stephen Tyler began playing the hurdy gurdy in 1993, adding this instrument to the sound of the recently formed medieval music ensemble Misericordia, which he founded with Anne Marie Summers.  He also plays Gothic Harp, Cittern and Citole.

In 1996, they joined with melodeon player Julian Sutton to form The Wendigo, playing their own compositions inspired by the traditional dance music of central France. It was with two such pieces that Steve, with Anne Marie, won first place in the competition for duets at Saint Chartier festival in 1999, playing hurdy gurdy and bagpipes.

In 2001 he joined medieval music and dance theatre group Daughters of Elvin for their spectacular medieval circus show "Garden of Earthly Delights", commissioned by the National Trust, and continues to play with them.

With these bands he has travelled and performed throughout Europe and recorded numerous CDs, most recently "Passion, Pestilence and Polyphony" comprising music and song from the fourteenth century, with Misericordia.

In 2006 he was featured on Radio 3's Early Music Show on the hurdy gurdy, along with Nigel Eaton, and played at Anost Fete de la Vielle with Jon Swayne and Becky Price.

He is currently recording a second CD with Daughters of Elvin and working on new pieces, some of which involve obscure rhythms and multitracked hurdy gurdies with diverse other instruments. ”

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Added on: May 11, 2009 | Hits: 425

“For thousands of years, the sound of the lyre dominated European and Celtic music.  Today it is almost unknown.

Rediscover the sound of this captivating instrument, and of the bone flutes, skin drums and songs that shared its musical world.

Thor Ewing, the Lyre Man, is deeply versed in the lyre’s history, and in the music and song of the Early Middle Ages, from Anglo-Saxon and Viking times to the last days of the lyre in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.  The repertoire can include music from as far apart as Ancient Greece, and modern British and Scandinavian folk traditions.

He is also an accomplished exponent of the storytelling traditions and verse of early Britain and Scandinavia.

The Lyre Man can call on other musicians where appropriate, to create a unique Ancient Ensemble.“

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Added on: May 11, 2009 | Hits: 366

“Inspired by the intriguing sound of the viola da gamba, the musicians Barbara Pfeifer, Sabine Kreutzberger, Adina Scheyhing and Franziska Finckh founded the viol consort Les Escapades in 2000. The name refers to intrigues or liaisons and gives the flavour of the ensemble’s programmes: besides their concerts as a viol quartet they perform frequently with other instrumentalists, singers, dancers and actors in unusual concerts which create space for a new listening experience. The four players studied at noted centres for Early Music (The Hague, Basel, Trossingen). Numerous solo appearances by individual members of the ensemble, as well as involvement in various chamber music projects, shape and enrich their teamwork in the consort. The consort has become well-known through recordings for Southwest German Radio (SWR) and SWR­TV, and collaboration in several choral projects. Ich will in Friede fahren, published by Christophorus records (Note 1) in March 2009, is the result of a long, intensive and stimulating collaboration with the countertenor Franz Vitzthum.“

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Added on: May 09, 2009 | Hits: 436