EarlyMusicNews.Org

"I am mainly interested in the so called "art music". I still keep my ears open to other genres, too. I play different types of European lutes; late renaissance and early baroque are closest to my heart. The most interesting period for me is around year 1600 - the time when late renaissance turned into early baroque. The extreme time limits for the types of lutes I play are 1500-1750. Well, sometimes I break these limits, though... ;-)

I especially enjoy playing continuo (improvising harmonic texture on a written bass line, an example ) for a singer or a melody instrument player. That's why I wrote 1994 a small manual for those, who want to start this tremendous art: Basics of the basics of lute continuo. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 19, 2008 | Hits: 272

“He studied with Graciela Pomponio, Dolores Costoyas and Víctor Villadangos in the Conservatorio Provincial Juan José Castro, in Buenos Aires, where he obtained his Diploma in classical guitar.

After studying in Universidad de Buenos Aires, he obtained his degree as sociologist in 1993. During the first years of his musical career, he focused mainly on 20th century music.Soon after, in 1994, he gained interest in early music, specializing on lute, theorbo, baroque guitar and thorough bass, becoming the first theorbo player in Argentina.

His continuous relationship with Eduardo Egüez, Dolores Costoyas, and Hopkinson Smith allowed him to support his own research in this field. ..”

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Added on: Apr 12, 2010 | Hits: 274

Baroque string ensemble.

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Added on: Jul 27, 2009 | Hits: 276

“Born in 1963 at Lignières in Central France, Gilles Chabenat began playing the hurdy-gurdy at 13 with Les Thiaulins, an association devoted to folk arts and traditions. Following private lessons with Georges Simon, he won several music awards and subsequently devoted himself to his region’s traditional repertoire with a desire to branch out into other musical styles.

In the wake of Valentin Clastrier, he thus felt the need to reinvent the instrument and the playing techniques associated with it. Around that time and after several years of research, luthier Denis Siorat developed a contemporary-style electro-acoustic instrument which facilitated the integration of the hurdy-gurdy into the modern musical experience.

In 1992, Gilles Chabenat thus began a twelve-year partnership with the Corsican group I Muvrini. During that period, he met and worked with a number of artists : Véronique Sanson, Florent Pagny, Stephan Eicher, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Sting, as well as Frédéric Paris, Edouard Papazian, Alain Bonnin, and Gabriel Yacoub.
More recently, he has been collaborating with jazz musicians such as Vincent Mascart, Jacques Mahieux, Alain Bruel, Alain Gibert, and Jean-Marc Padovani in a number of creative works, including a theatrical reading of Enzo Corman.  In addition, his hurdy-gurdy can be heard in a Jannick Top composition written for Pierre Jolivet’s film « Le Frère du Guerrier ».  He also works regularly with Eric Montbel, Didier François, a Nyckelharpa player, Gabriel Yacoub and Patrick Bouffard. ..“

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Added on: Sep 20, 2009 | Hits: 278

“I am a viol player and teacher based on the South Cumbria/North Lancashire border. I travel all over the North West of England performing and teaching - both private pupils and also viol consort coaching. Performing can either be as a soloist or as a bass continuo player.

I am also a renaissance and baroque dancer and am much in demand as a dance teacher and choreographer. My particular interest is the relationship between the dance and music.

In addition to the teaching already mentioned I lecture for adult education classes, run early music workshops, teach recorders and present Tudor workshops for schools. ..“ Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 19, 2009 | Hits: 290

"I would like again to mention the wonderful support that both the American and English Gamba Societies have given to the Czech Society. Without their practical support in supplying music and strings especially, the growth that has taken place over the last thirteen years would probably not have happened. Poppy Holden also brought several instruments here in her Prague Van Project in the early 90s. Gerda Toerring also generously lent us two instruments. A further bass and treble were made at the making Course given by Michael Plant. ... (see further editorial notes on the website ed.)"

Added on: Aug 05, 2007 | Hits: 291

"Musician, gamba-player, has played music as long as she can think. For her, music is the foremost means of communication between human beings, more precise and intense and unmistakable than language, of greater emotional significance than any other experience besides love. To her, music is a means of connecting not only the past and the future but also a way of socially integrating the most conflicting aspects of existence.

She travels the world, playing concerts and recording CDs with different groups or soloizing, mostly in the field of 17th and 18th century music but also letting the music take her to places she never even dreamed of.

When she is not travelling she lives in a farmhouse in northern Germany with her family and a few chickens, horses, cats and rabbits.

She passionately teaches her twelve students at the Hochschule der Künste in Bremen, Germany, everything she knows about music, playing the gamba, and how not to be jealous if someone plays better than you. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 04, 2008 | Hits: 291

“Tanya Tomkins, a virtuoso on both the Baroque and modern cello, is equally at home playing a Bach cello suite in an intimate house concert or anchoring the cello section of the internationally renowned Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra on concert stages around the world. NRC Handelsblad (The Netherlands) describes her as “a cellist with a very special and unusual intensity,” and the Cleveland Plain Dealer calls her "a performer who combines an intense dramatic fire with Apollonian poise.”

Added on: Jan 22, 2011 | Hits: 291

“I have been making Hurdy Gurdies for over 20 years. They are all hand built in my workshop.  ..“

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Added on: Jul 29, 2009 | Hits: 292

Cyril Gilbert, Lutenist. Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 295

“John Mark Rozendaal specializes in teaching and performing stringed instrument music from the Baroque and Renaissance eras. As founding Artistic Director of Chicago Baroque Ensemble, JMR performed and led seven seasons of subscription concerts, educational programs, radio broadcasts, and recordings for the Cedille and Centaur labels. Rozendaal served as principal 'cellist of The City Musick, and Basically Bach, and has performed both solo and continuo roles with many period instrument ensembles, including the Newberry Consort, Orpheus Band, and the King's Noyse. Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the Catacoustic Consort, Philomel, Parthenia, The New York Consort of Viols, and Empire Viols.  JMR performs as a member of Trio Settecento with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist David Schrader. Rozendaal's viola da gamba playing has been praised as "splendid" (Chicago Tribune), and "breathtaking" (Sun-Times).  Recordings are available on the Cedille and Centaur labels. ..“ Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 19, 2009 | Hits: 301

"Graduated in Viola da Gamba under the guide of Maestro Paolo Pandolfo, it has been perfected in Viola da Gamba following the courses of Jordi Savall in Italy and Spain and baroque Violoncello following the course of Gaetano Nasillo in the School of Music of Fiesole. With Viola da Gamba, from 1992, he has carried out an intense concert activity (124 concerts) in Italy and to the foreign country. It has collaborated with prestigious groups exhibiting himself in very many Italian localities and to the word like as an example to Vienna (Musikverein - Brahms Saal) in Austria, Copenaghen and Odense in Denmark, Sydney in Australia, Saint Cruz and Seattle in U.S.A., Belgrade (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) in Serbia, Hamburg (Musikhalle - Study E), Kiel and Wolfsburg in Germany, Hong Kong in China, etc. In Italy it has played with several ensemble and as soloist in most important reviews and seasons of concert like as an example to Udine where, for the season of the "Amici della Musica", it has executed a program for Viola da Gamba in billboard, between the others, with Trevor Pinnoc. With the vocal group and instrumental "Rinascenza" of Rome, in 1993, it has gained the First Absolute Prize of the T.I.M. (International Torneo of Music). In 1995 he has been soloist in the" Johannes Passion " by J.S.Bach with the Regional Orchestra of the Lazio and the Markuschor of Munchen directed by H.Boenstedt . He has recorded for the Radio Vatican and has recorded for RAI and Channel 5. Often it is exhibited from soloist or in pair with the harpsichord with programs in which it inserts all the main composers who wrote for this instrument from Ortiz to Forqueray. He has recorded 6 Compact Disc. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jun 29, 2008 | Hits: 305

“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

“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

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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

"David Parsons studied at the Royal College of Music as a pupil of Diana Poulton. Since his Wigmore Hall debut he has performed at many of the principal European Early Music events as well as touring in the USA. His recent recordings include a critically acclaimed CD of Elizabethan Lute Music from Robert Dowland’s Varietie of Lute Lessons (Metronome) which was followed by the Haydn Lute Trio’s recording of 18th century German Galant chamber music (ASV). Most recently he has recorded a programme of Guitar Music and Songs by the Catalan guitarist and composer, Fernando Sor together with soprano Evelyn Tubb. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 17, 2008 | Hits: 312

"Peter Wendland performs as a soloist, specializing in the repertoire for unaccompanied solo viola da gamba, and is a member of various ensembles in the UK and Germany, including the acclaimed Rose Consort of Viols. Peter has made numerous recordings for radio and television and CD, including Bach’s Art of the Fugue with the Kölner Violen Consort, the first recording of the twelve sonatas for violin, viola da gamba and basso continuo by Johann Philipp Krieger (1649-1725) with the Baroque violinist Mihoko Kimura, and a recording of contemporary music by the American cult composer, "Moondog". Recent recordings with The Rose Consort of Viols on Naxos include "Elizabethan Songs and Consort Music" with Catherine King, Mezzo-soprano. Peter is also an experienced teacher and lecturer. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 23, 2008 | Hits: 313

“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

"The Swedish Guitar and Lute Society, SGLS was founded 1968 by Jörgen Rörby. It is a non-profit organization open to all those interested in guitar and lute. A magazine is published four times a year, Gitarr och Luta. The SGLS arranges a course (Liten Gitarrakademi) every year with well known guitar and lute personalities as guest teachers. The Society works towards qualified guitar and lute playing and supports ensembles in varioes ways in Sweden. The SGLS has many members in differents countries and strives for broad international contact. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 322

"Lynda Sayce is one of the UK's leading lutenists, and is noted both as a performer and as a musical scholar with a strong interest in history, literature and the visual arts. She studied at St. Hugh's College, Oxford, where she matriculated in History and graduated in Music. She then studied lute with Jakob Lindberg at the Royal College of Music, and also took continuo classes with Nigel North. She holds a Ph.D for her research on the history of the theorbo, which is to be published as two books in 2005-6. Lynda has contributed articles to Early Music, the Revised New Grove Dictionary of Music, and the art journal Apollo, and has edited many music publications. She performs regularly with leading period instrument ensembles, including The King's Consort, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Musicians of the Globe. For many years she was lutenist with the award-winning ensemble Charivari Agréable. Lynda appears on more than 100 CD recordings, and has broadcast on radio and TV stations throughout Europe, and in the USA, Japan and South America. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 20, 2008 | Hits: 324

“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

"Sergio Zigiotti and Fabiano Merlante Duo has been created in 1996 with the purpose of studing and performing the vast original repertoire for mandolin and guitar, that includes a large number of baroque sonatas – which manuscript are scattered everywhere in the european libraries – the 18th century’s works of the Italian and German instrumental schools, up to modern and contemporary music which research of the timbre pursuits go well with the crystalline sonority of these instruments. This stimulating historical sphere is on the same wavelenght as the musicological interests of the musicians that in this case have got the opportunity to have not only a techincal-executive musical approach with these works. All of this had led the Duo to an in-depth knowledge of the plucked instruments and to interest themselves to the execution – in particular occasions – of the 18th century repertoire with copies of instruments of those ages (Lombard, Brescian, Milanese, Genoese mandolin – Louis Panormo's guitar, London 1838). In 1997 the Duo had won the first award at the XI National Competition “Nei Giardini dell’Aulòs” in Rimini; in 1999 had been among the winners of the VII° Internationa Competition “Città di Cortemilia” (Cuneo), and had been shortlisted for the IX International Exhibition for young musicians in Macerata Feltria (Pesaro), had won the second prize (first prize had not been awarded) at the II International Competition Giacomo Sartori in Ala (Trento) on mandolin and guitar specific category. In 2000 had won had won the first award at the National Competition “Città di Castelfidardo” for guitar in chamber groups category and another first prize at the National Competition “G. Ansaldi” in Villanova Mondovì (Cuneo).

Sergio Zigiotti and Fabiano Merlante edit for Armelin Musica Edition the collection of music for plucked instruments "Conserto Vago". ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jun 29, 2008 | Hits: 327

“An internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, Tim Rayborn has been active in the fields of world and early music for nearly 20 years. He plays dozens of musical instruments from medieval Europe, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Central Asia, including: lutes, plucked strings, flutes,
and percussion, as well as being a singer.

Tim lived in the UK for seven years, studying for his M.A. and Ph.D. in medieval studies at the University of Leeds. He concurrently worked as a musician, performing and recording.

He has toured the U.S. and Europe extensively (from Ireland to Turkey), performing with the London-based medieval group Tintagel, and his own group, Ensemble Florata (including concerts at the York and Beverley Early Music Festivals, Alden Biesen Castle in Belgium, Bunyola in Majorca, and the Spitalfields Festival in London). He has given a number of performances for BBC (in the UK and Jersey), appeared on Belgian classical radio in a live concert broadcast, toured in Canada and Australia, and worked with folk musicians in Marrakech and Istanbul. He has also taught at the San Francisco Early Music Society Medieval/Renaissance summer workshop.  …“

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Added on: Feb 07, 2011 | Hits: 329

"Gerard REBOURS is the only French holder of the Diplôme Supérieur in baroque guitar from the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, and was the first musician to obtain the Diplôme d'Etat in renaissance and baroque guitar.

In addition to a solo and duet recording he has made a CD with the group "Les Sonneurs", another with the "Compagnie Maitre Guillaume", has recorded music on historical instruments for the Paris "Cité de la Musique" and has performed on the sound track of several films such as Pirates (Polanski), Cyrano de Bergerac (Rappeneau), Mansart (Delaborde). ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 19, 2008 | Hits: 331

"My name is Olve Utne, and I play the Baroque Violin and the Baroque Viola. I have a Cand.Philol. degree (roughly equivalent to an advanced thesis MA) in Musicology from the University of Oslo (1996), with Arvid Vollsnes as my advisor and Richard Gwilt as my Baroque Viola teacher. I have also studied one year as a guest student at the Early Music programme of the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel (Royal Conservatory of Brussels) in Belgium on a Flemish State Scholarship (1997/98).

My main teacher in Brussels was François Fernandez — a violinist with a truly stunning technique, great musical insight and an open mind. I consider it a true honour to have had the chance to learn from him.

Orchestral practice includes playing the viola in the Oslo Baroque Orchestra, leading the 2nd violins and violas in Lofoten og Vesterålen Orkesterforening, and participating in various orchestral projects during my year in Belgium. Of those projects, the three that I feel I learned the most from were the Beethoven concert (4th Symphony, 5th Piano Concerto, Egmont Ouverture) conducted by Phillippe Herreweghe; the C.Ph.E. Bach concert (two symphonies and two cello concertos) lead by the impressively virtuoso Baroque cellist Hidemi Suzuki; and Haydn’s oratorio Die Schöpfung, conducted by Sigiswald Kuijken — a baroque violin pioneer and conductor whose orchestral leading skills and insight in Haydn’s music is truly exceptional. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 30, 2008 | Hits: 332