EarlyMusicNews.Org

"Considered one of the best Brazilian harpsichord players, Rosana Lanzelotte has played in important halls throughout her country as well as in Europe, including recitals at the Wigmore Hall and St. Martin-in-the-fields (London), Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon) and Palazzo Barberini (Rome). Rosana has released four solo CDs, among which the first recording on the harpsichord of The Seven Last Words by Haydn. Her CD The Brazilian Harpsichord, totally devoted to Brazilian music of the XXth century, has been pointed out as one of the five best releases of the year. Her next project features unknown Portuguese works to be recorded on the XVIIIth century Calisto harpsichord owned by the National Music Museum in the US.

As a researcher, she devotes herself to the area of Music Information Retrieval, developing techniques for effective availability of musical archives through the Internet.

For ten years, she has been running one of the most remarkable musical series in Rio - “Music in the Churches” – which concerts take place all over the city, including its poorest regions and “favelas”. Some outstanding artists played in the series, such as Heinz Holliger, Christophe Rousset, Accademia Bizantina and Ensemble Zefiro.

Due to her achievements, she has been awarded with the “Golfinho de Ouro” prize by the Cultural Council of Rio de Janeiro. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 579

"Irma Rogell was the last student of the great harpsichordist Wanda Landowska. In 1960, she played her debut concert at Boston's Jordan Hall, embarking on a successful career as a performer and teacher.

Ms. Rogell toured throughout Europe, South America and the United States. She has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Leinsdorf and the Brazil Symphony Orchestra under deCarvalho; she has also played with the Camarata of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

As a teacher, she has served on the faculty of the Longy School of Music, the York College of the City University of New York and the New England Conservatory of Music. She has presented master classes at Harvard University and was a soloist and lecturer at the Aegina Arts Centre in Greece.

Ms. Rogell has premiered suites and sonatas for harpsichord composed and dedicated to her by the American composer Nicholas Van Slyck; she has also received compositions from composers such as Willi Pelemans, Josip Andric, Frank Martin, Dalibor Vackar and Ernst Levy.

Today she continues to record on the AFKA label. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 327

"Studied the organ with Prof. Jozef Serafin and harpsichord with Prof. Leszek Kedracki at the Frederic Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, where he received both his Master of Arts degrees.

As participant of the Socrates-Erasmus programme studied the organ with Prof.Dr. Ludger Lohmann and harpsichord with Jörg Halubek at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart.

Currently he is studying the organ and historical keyboard instruments with Prof.Dr. Ludger Lohmann and Jörg Halubek at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart.

He received a number of awards, including:
* the 2nd prize ex equo (1st prize not awarded) at the 1st International Franz Schmidt Organ Competition in Kitzbühel (2006),
* special prize for the best interpretation of the Toccata by Maria Hofer at the 1st International Franz Schmidt Organ Competition in Kitzbühel (2006) "
Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 414

"Aapo Häkkinen (1976) began his musical education as a chorister at Helsinki Cathedral. He took up the harpsichord at the age of 13, studying with Elina Mustonen and Olli Porthan (organ) at the Sibelius Academy in his native Helsinki. From 1995 to 1998 he studied at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatoire with Bob van Asperen, and from 1996 to 2000 with Pierre Hantaï in Paris. He was also fortunate to enjoy the generous guidance and encouragement of Gustav Leonhardt.

Immediately after obtaining his soloist's diploma in 1998, Aapo Häkkinen won second prize and the prize of the Belgian radio and television VRT-3 at the prestigious Bruges International Harpsichord Competition. He was also awarded the Norddeutscher Rundfunk special prize Musikpreis 1997 for his interpretations of Italian music. Aapo Hakkinen has appeared as a soloist in Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, England, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Estonia, Russia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Mexico (Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Festival de Ligugé, Flanders Festival, Bachfest der Neuen Bachgesellschaft, Greifswalder Bachwoche, Augustinus Muziekcentrum Antwerp, Concerto Belgais, Forum Musicum Wroclaw, Antonio il Verso Palermo, Brezice Festival, Zagreb Baroque Festival, Festival de Morelia, Kuhmo Chamber Music, Helsinki Festival, Vantaa Baroque Week, Turku Music Festival, Lahti Organ Festival...) " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 471

"Trudelies Leonhardt, the sister of the harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt, is of Dutch-Austrian parentage and comes from a family of musicians.

She studied with Johannes Röntgen, Anthon van der Horst and Nelly Wagenaar at the Amsterdam Conservatory where she was awarded the Soloist's Diploma with distinctions as well as the Elisabeth Everts prize. She also worked in Paris with Yves Nat and Marguerite Long.

Numerous orchestras have engaged Trudelies Leonhardt as soloist for their concerts, among which are the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich and the London Mozart Players.

She has long been interested in the Fortepianos of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and now entirely devotes her musical activities to their repertoire as a prolific recording artist. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 507

"Chie Hirai received her bachelor degree on modern piano in the College Division of Toho Gakuen School of Music. In order to specialize in fortepiano with Stanley Hoogland at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague (The Netherlands), she was granted scholarships from the Nuffic Organization and the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan.

She was awarded her Masters with distinction on fortepiano in 2002, as well as "Nicolai prize" that is given to the most outstanding student of the year. In addition to her fortepiano specialization Chie has also broadened her knowledge of keyboard instruments by studying the harpsichord with Menno van Delft at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

In the Mozart-year 2006, she toured with l'Orfeo Baroque Orchester in Austria and Germany to perform piano concertos by Mozart and his son Franz Xaver in Brucknerhaus in Linz, Konzerthaus in Vienna etc. ...

Chie has performed in the major early music festivals in Europe such as the Festival de Musica Antiga de Barcelona (Spain), Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht (Holland), Académies Musicales Festival in Saintes (France), The Felicja Blumental International Music Festival (Israel) and Carinthische Sommer (Austria). Many radio broadcasting and recordings were made by such as Radio France (Paris, France), ARF (Wien, Austria) etc. She was an official accompanist in International early music competition in Bruges in 2005. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 502

"For over 30 years Hendrik Bouman has counted among the most innovative and respected specialists of early music. Prolific composer of music written in the baroque and classical styles prevalent in 17th and 18th Century Italy, France, Germany, England and Spain, he has played a critical role in integrating contemporary period composition and free improvisation in historical style into the early music movement. His innovative compositions and improvisations, as well as his original basso continuo realisations and transcriptions of historic repertoire, have become a reference in the field of early music today. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 519

"Carole Cerasi first became interested in the harpsichord at the age of eleven and was invited three years later by Kenneth Gilbert as the youngest participant on his course at the Vleeshuis in Antwerp. From that time until the present day one of her strongest musical influences has been Jill Severs, with occasional lessons from Gustav Leonhardt and Ton Koopman. She is now Professor of harpsichord at the Yehudi Menuhin School and of fortepiano and harpsichord at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music.

Performances have included concert work throughout Europe, including acclaimed recitals at the Wigmore Hall, the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm, the Festival du Perigord, the Istanbul International Festival, and a concerto appearance with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on London's South Bank, recitals at the Harrogate, Warwick, Brno, Dieppe, Tallinn and Ludwigsburg festivals and the Musikinstrumenten-Museum in Berlin. She premiered a new work for harpsichord and tape by the South African composer Kevin Volans, touring throughout the UK as well as Munich and Copenhagen. In 2002/3 she performed in France (La Roque d'Anthéron, Sablé, Ambronay), Belgium, Israel, Norway, Germany, Denmark and Japan; she has recently returned from a trip to Bogota, where she gave two recitals and a masterclass, and gave the opening concert at the 2003 Lausanne Bach Festival. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 381

"Anikó Horváth was born in Győr, Hungary, and prepared for a pianist career ever since her childhood. She graduated as a pianist from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1972; her professor was István Antal. Simultaneously with studying the piano, she started to play the harpsichord with János Sebestyén. She won the second Grand Prix of the Harpsichord Competition of Paris in 1973 but continued studying with Zuzana Ru�ičková. The harpsichord master course of Kenneth Gilbert given in Vleeshuis, Antwerp in 1978 exerted a great influence on her artistic development.

She has appeared as a soloist and member of chamber ensembles in several European countries: Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey. She has conducted harpsichord courses in Germany and within the Early Music Days of Sopron for several years.

Anikó Horváth is harpsichord professor at the Liszt Ferenc University of Music, Budapest. In 2001 she took her DLA doctoral degree. Beside giving concerts regularly, she publishes articles in musical journals and gives lectures for professionals. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 362

"Mark Kroll has been acclaimed as one of the world's leading harpsichordists and fortepianists. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has performed throughout North and South America, Europe and the Middle East, winning critical praise for his expressive playing and virtuosity.

Mark Kroll's concert tours have included appearances as the official guest of the city of Barcelona, as featured soloist in Germany's Regensburg Early Music Festival, France's Festival Ambronay, Lisbon's Gulbenkian Foundation, Rome's Conservatorio St. Caecilia and Associazione Musicale Romana, Poland's Dni Bachowski, Slovenijas's Radovljica Festival and, in this country, the Aston Magna, Tanglewood, Saratoga, Northwest Bach, and Mostly Mozart Festivals. He has been the first American harpsichordist to appear in numerous countries, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai of the United Arab Emirates. His recent tours to Israel included concerts, lectures and masterclasses in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Kroll has appeared as concerto soloist with some of the world's major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, the Belgrade Chamber Orchestra and I Solisti di Zagreb.

Kroll's extensive list of recordings includes solo harpsichord works of J.S. Bach, Handel, D. Scarlatti, F. Couperin, Duphly and Balbastre; the complete sonatas for violin and harpsichord and for flute and harpsichord of J.S. Bach; violin sonatas of C.P.E. Bach and S. LeDuc; Schubert's three Sonatinas for fortepiano and violin; a world-premiere recording of Mozart's "Haffner" and "Linz" symphonies as transcribed by J. N. Hummel for fortepiano and instruments; Biber's Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord; and two CDs of contemporary American harpsichord music. He has made numerous radio and TV appearances, including Radio Nacional Espaqa, Radio Yugoslavia, Radio Catalunya, National Public Radio, Westdeutscherrundfunk Köln, Mitteldeutscherrundfunk, Bayerische Rundfunk, France Musique, the B.B.C., the C.B.C., and Radio Smithsonian.

A noted authority on performance practice and period instruments, Kroll has contributed to scholarly publications and written articles on a wide range of topics for general readership magazines and journals. These include chapters on French harpsichord music; 17th-century performance practice; the piano techniques of Beethoven and his contemporaries; and two editions of Hummel’s transcriptions of opera overtures and Mozart's symphonies. Kroll has recently published three books: Playing the Harpsichord Expressively (Scarecrow Press); The Beethoven Violin Sonatas (co-edited with Lewis Lockwood, University of Illinois Press); and Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Musician and His World (Scarecrow Press). " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 508

"JACQUES OGG is a performer on both harpsichord and fortepiano; he teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague; he conducts and he makes recordings, either solo or with friends and colleagues.

He was born in Maastricht (the Netherlands) and studied harpsichord in the city of his birth with Anneke Uittenbosch. In 1970 he went to study with Gustav Leonhardt at the Amsterdam Conservatory from which he graduated in 1974.

Jacques Ogg’s current activities include soloconcerts on harpsichord or on fortepiano, concerts with flautist Wilbert Hazelzet as a duo as well as in a trio-formation either with gambaplayer Jaap ter Linden or with ‘cellist Christiaan Norde. He is a member of the Orchestra of the 18th Century and performs regularly with Concerto Palatino. He is frequently invited for masterclasses, for instance in Juiz de Fora (Brazil) and Buenos Aires, in Mateus (Portugal), Salamanca (Spain) as well as in Cracow (Poland), Prague and Budapest. He was invited as a juror in competitions such as “Bach Wettbewerb” (Leipzig) and “Prague Spring”.

Jacques Ogg is artistic director of the Lyra Baroque Orchestra in Minneapolis/Saint Paul (Minnesota, VS). " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 391

"Viviana Sofronitski began her music studies in the family, following in the footsteps of her father, Vladimir Sofronitsky, who was a distinguished Russian pianist. After earning a DMA from the Moscow Conservatory she came to study Early Music in Oberlin, US. In 1990 she moved to Canada, where she performed with many musicians from the Toronto "Tafelmusik orchestra". In 1999 Viviana Sofronitzki received historical fortepiano and harpsichord performance degrees from the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag.

Viviana Sofronitski was awarded the First Prize at the "Bach Tage Berlin" competition, as well as main prizes at the "Musica Antiqua" competition in Brugge. Since then she has performed at many festivals, including "Printemps des Arts" in Nantes, Leipzig Bach Festival, "Flanders festival" and "Handelsbeurs" in Belgium, and with the "Oude Muziek Netwerk" (Utrecht Festival producer) in the Netherlands.

Viviana Sofronitski recorded with "Suoni e colori", "Pro Musica Camerata" and "Globe" labels. She gives masterclasses and has been widely broadcast in Europe and America. Her current projects include recording Schubert on early romantitic fortepiano. She released a complete recording of all Mozart's keyboard concertos with Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense orchestra on original 18th century instruments. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 433

"Undoubtedly one of the most prominent harpsichord and forte piano performers in the world, Andreas Staier embarked upon a solo career in 1986 and, since then, his indisputable musical mastery has made its mark on the interpretation of baroque, classical and romantic repertoire.

Born in Göttingen, Andreas studied modern piano and harpsichord in Hannover and Amsterdam. For three years, he was the harpsichordist of Musica Antiqua Köln with whom he toured and recorded extensively.

As a soloist, Andreas Staier performs throughout Europe, the United States and Japan with orchestras such as Concerto Köln, Freiburger Barockorchester, the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin and the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées Paris.

Andreas has been invited to leading international festivals including the Festival de La Roque d’Anthéron, Festival de Saintes, Festival de Montreux, Styriarte Graz, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Schlweswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Bach-Fest Leipzig, Bachtage Berlin, Bachwoche Ansbach and Kissinger Sommer. He has also performed in all the major venues in Europe, America and Japan, including Konzerthaus, Wien; Konzerthaus, Philharmonie, Berlin; Kölner Philharmonie; Gewandhaus Leipzig; Alte Oper Frankfurt; Tonhalle Düsseldorf; Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, London; De Singel Antwerp; Concertgebouw Amsterdam ; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels ; Tonhalle Zürich ; Cité de la Musique, Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Ircam, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris ; Teatro della Pergola, Florence ; Sala Filarmonica, Roma ; Toppan Hall, Suntory Hall, Tokyo ; Carnegie Hall, New York. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 24, 2008 | Hits: 478

"Krzysztof Czerwinski was born in Poznan, Poland and began his early musical training at the age of 7, as a private piano student of Prof. Irena Wyrzykowska-Mondelska, from the Academy of Music in Poznan. He received his first degree from the Wieniawski School of Music (Poznan), where he studied organ and piano. In 1997 he gained the Wieniawski School of Music Award for both best music interpretation and best organ performance. He won First Prize in the 1998 National Organ Competition in Czestochowa (Poland). In 2000 he graduated from Prof. Jozef Serafin’s organ class, receiving the High School of Music Diploma in Organ Performance.

As an organist, Krzysztof Czerwinski won several top prizes in national and international competitions and has played in many of the major venues in Poland; has broadcast and recorded for Polish radio and television, and has performed abroad, in Russia, France, Holland, Austria, Germany, England and the USA. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 27, 2008 | Hits: 327

"JungHae Kim holds a Bachelors Degree in Harpsichord Performance from the Peabody Conservatory, and a Masters Degree in Historical performance in Harpsichord from the Oberlin Conservatory. She completed her studies with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam on a Haskell Scholarship, and holds an Advanced Degree in Harpsichord Performance from AmsterdamÕs Sweelinck Conservatorium. Ms. Kim has performed in concert throughout United States, Europe and in Asia as a soloist and with numerous historical instruments ensembles including Southern California Chamber Orchestra, Pierce Baroque Dance Company, the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra, the Indiana Baroque Orchestra, the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival Period Ensemble, Brandywine Baroque, Musica Angelica, and Music's ReCreation. She performed with American Baroque at the Library of Congress and has performed with Mirable on the Bloomington Early Music Festival and San Francisco Early Music Society Series. She soloed with the San Francisco Symphony in 2005 in a series of performances of BachÕs Fifth Brandenburg Concerto and performed VivaldiÕs Four Seasons at the 2006 Britt Festival with Sarah Chang. She has been a soloist at the Assisi Music Festival in Italy. In 2007, Ms. Kim has performed with the New Century Chamber Orchestra & Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg, and in May she performed with Brandywine Baroque, Davitt Moroney, Arthur Haas, Adam Perl, and Karen Flint in a series of concerts presenting the complete Bach Harpsichord Concertos on Antique Instruments (A series of recordings is now in process from this event). During the summer, Ms. Kim performed at the Music In The Vineyards Summer Festival in Napa, CA and taught at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival where she is on faculty. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 06, 2008 | Hits: 482

"Nancy Metzger pursued musical studies at Syracuse University, the University of Oregon, and California State University, Sacramento. Her organ teachers include David N. Johnson, Arthur Poister, John Hamilton and Richard Purvis. She studied harpsichord in Berkeley, CA with Laurette Goldberg. She has also studied at the North German Summer Organ Academy and the Trio Sonnerie Chamber Music Course in England.

She holds a master's degree in music history, and was for several years a church musician, independent studio teacher and college music professor.

Mrs. Metzger has performed public recitals on both harpsichord and organ throughout the USA and abroad.

Mrs. Metzger is widely known as the author of Harpsichord Technique: A Guide to Expressivity. First published in 1989, the 2nd edition of this manual of baroque performance practice became available in 1998. This useful guide for all keyboardists is now used by individuals, libraries and teachers throughout the U. S. and in other English speaking countries. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 06, 2008 | Hits: 441

"Kathryn Cok pursues a varied career as a harpsichordist, fortepianist and academic on both sides of the Atlantic. She is well sought after both as a soloist as well as a continuo player. Born in the city of New York, USA, Kathryn now lives in The Hague, Holland where she completed a Masters degree at the Royal Conservatory as a student of Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot on the harpsichord, and Bart van Oort on the fortepiano. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 08, 2008 | Hits: 347

"Maggie Cole enjoys a richly varied musical life with performances on harpsichord, fortepiano and piano. Born in the USA, she began playing the piano from an early age. A keen interest in early keyboards led her to England where she now makes her home. Maggie's teachers were Jill Severs and Kenneth Gilbert and she is pleased to be part of this "family tree" which began with Wanda Landowska. Best known in Britain through numerous recitals on BBC Radio 3 and appearances at leading festivals, abroad she has performed in venues from Seattle to Moscow, and from Finland to India. In addition to solo recitals - with Bach's 'Goldberg Variations' a speciality, given in London, Paris, Cologne, Basel, Mallorca and Chicago - she frequently performs in duos with partners including Nancy Argenta soprano, Michael Chance counter tenor, Philippa Davies flute, Catherine Mackintosh violin and Steven Isserlis cello. She is also particularly devoted to the Classical chamber music repertoire and explores this with her recently formed "Trio Goya" with Kati Debretzeni violin and Sebastian Comberti cello. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 12, 2008 | Hits: 428

"Gary Cooper is one of the foremost ambassadors of the harpsichord and fortepiano - in particular, as an interpreter of Bach’s & Mozart’s keyboard music. Also a concert and opera conductor, he performs with Arion (Montreal), the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the new Belgian period instrument ensemble, B’Rock, and opera with English Touring Opera and at Sadler’s Wells. Gary’s recordings include, with Rachel Podger, the complete Sonatas for Keyboard & Violin by Mozart (Channel Classics), “rightly been showered with critical acclaim and awards”. His Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier was the Sunday Times Classical Record of the Year. Recitals across Europe, including Beethoven’s Diabelli, Scarlatti Sonatas, Bach & music from the London Piano School. He is setting up a new period instrument ensemble; and releasing a recording of Mozart's Variations with Beethoven’s Diabelli, Haydn, Brahms and the Goldberg Variations to follow. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 15, 2008 | Hits: 491

"Well known as an organist and harpsichordist, Douglas Hollick studied with Peter Hurford whilst organ scholar at Hull University, and subsequently with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris and Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. He has played widely both here and abroad, including the 1991 Prague Early Music Festival, and in Melbourne, Sydney, and the 1992 Fremantle Bach Festival in Australia. Visits to the Czech Republic have continued, with teaching and concerts in Prague, Brno and Ostrava, a member of the jury of the 1996 Organ Competition in Opava, and a Czech Radio recording. In 1999 he played in the Dolní Lukavice Haydn Festival in Bohemia. In visits to Germany he has played concerts on the Silbermann organs in Dresden and Pfaffroda, and in 2004 and 2005 on the restored 17th century organ of St Johannis, Hamburg-Neuengamme. Elsewhere in Europe have been organ recitals in Stuttgart, Roskilde Cathedral and Helsingør in Denmark, and Helsingborg in Sweden. 2003 saw a return to Sydney in Australia, and four concerts. Other concert venues have included Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and St John’s Smith Square in London, Winchester, Ely, Carlisle and Chester Cathedrals, Southwell Minster, Trinity, Clare, Wolfson and St Catharine’s Colleges Cambridge, and in the Edinburgh, King's Lynn, and Finchcocks Festivals, together with Hull, Southampton, Nottingham, Warwick and Edinburgh Universities. He teaches both organ and harpsichord at Cambridge University and the Birmingham Conservatoire. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 16, 2008 | Hits: 388

"Pieter Dirksen performs as soloist on both harpsichord and organ and as continuo player with diverse chamber ensembles. He completed his musicological studies with honours in 1987 and since then published widely about baroque keyboard music. In 1996 he received his doctorate ‘cum laude’ with a dissertation on the keyboard music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, which was awarded the Dutch Praemium Erasmianum. Further books have been devoted to Bach's Art of Fugue (1994), Sweelinck (essays, 2002) and Scheidemann (2007), and critical editions appeared with music by Bull, Sweelinck, Cornet, Scheidemann, Düben, Buxtehude, Reincken, Lübeck and Bach.

Pieter Dirksen is a member of Combattimento Consort Amsterdam and the Netherlands Bach Society as well as the chamber music group La Suave Melodia. He appeared in most European countries, the United States and Canada, and regularly gives masterclasses in chamber music and keyboard playing. He teached at the Organ Summer Academies in Haarlem, Göteborg and Smarano and is affiliated with the organ research at the Göteborg Organ Art Center. As a soloist he specializes in the rich seventeenth-century North-European repertoire as well as in the music of J.S. Bach. Among his numerous recordings the one devoted to the reconstruction of the earliest version of Bach's Art of Fugue and the complete recording of Sweelinck's keyboard music, in which he participated both as a player and musicologist, stand out in particular. The latter was awarded the highest Dutch prize, the Edison. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 16, 2008 | Hits: 443

Dutch Harpsichord Society. Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 16, 2008 | Hits: 438

"Siebe Henstra studied the harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt and Ton Koopman at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. He has won prizes at competitions in Edinburgh (1982) and Amsterdam (1987). Since then, he has played with many ensembles; the best known are the Leonhardt Consort, Tokyo Baroque, La Petite Bande, the Ricercar Consort, and the Royal Concertgebouwr Orchestra. He worked with several famous directors - e.g. Frans Brüggen and Gustav Leonhardt - with whom he co-operated for recordings and opera-productions (for Ricercar, Denon, Philips, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Sony and Telefunken), in most of the European countries, Japan and the United States. He is continuo player (organ and harpsichord) of the Dutch Bach Society. Siebe Henstra has given a number of masterclasses in Finland, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, the USA, Catalunya, and the Czech Republic. At this moment, he teaches harpsichord at the Utrecht conservatory. He made several solo Cd's. One entirely devoted to 17th century italian music for harpsichord solo and another one with the complete keyboard works of Matthias Weckmann, both released by Ricercar. A CD with clavichord works for the MIM in Brussels and he contributed to the complete recording of Sweelinck which got an Edison award (2003) as well as an award of the 'Deutsche Schallplatten Kritik Preis (2003). " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 16, 2008 | Hits: 361

"Johan Hofmann studied the harpsichord with Jacques Ogg and Siebe Henstra . His repertoire encloses works from the 16th, 17th, and 18th century as well as contemporary, although he specializes in music from the early and mid baroque period. His interpretations are grounded in thorough theoretical and organological knowledge and are at the same time renowned for their spontaneity and purity of style. He gave concerts in Austria , Denmark , France , Germany , Italy , Scotland , Spain , The Tsjech Republic, The United States and Sweden . In the Netherlands he regularly plays with ensembles and orchestras like The Northern Consort, Cappella Groningen, the Brabants Kamerkoor, Ensemble Occhio di Falcone (with Judith van Wanroij, Susanne Braumann and Bert Honig), the Combattimento Consort and cappella Frisae. Johan Hofmann also performed with distinguished players like Michael Chance, the Egidius Quartet, Emma Kirkby, Paul Leenhouts, Xenia Meijer, Robert Muuse and Marc Pantus. ...

Johan Hofmann teaches an international harpsichord class at the Prins Claus Conservatoire in Groningen. At the same institute he teaches thoroughbass and chambermusic. At the Conservatorium van Amsterdam Johan Hofmann teaches harpsichord and thoroughbass as minor subjects, and lectures the course “Harmony in Performance Practice”. He is also regularly invited by the conservatories in Tilburg, Zwolle, Arnhem and Enschede and gives courses in the Netherlands as well as abroad. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 16, 2008 | Hits: 1019

"Philippe Grisvard was born in Nancy in 1980. There he studied piano and oboe before entering the harpsichord class of Anne-Catherine Bücher. In 1999 he got into the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he studied harpsichord and basso continuo with Jesper Christensen, and pianoforte with Edoardo Torbianelli. From 2002 he's called to join La Cetra (Barockorchester Basel) where he has played under the direction of René Jacobs, Jordi Savall, and participated as continuist and répétiteur to Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea and Rameau's Les Paladins with Konrad Junghänel. After getting his diploma in 2003, he becomes the regular harpsichordist of the ensemble Harmonie Universelle, leaded by Florian Deuter; with this group he plays as continuist and soliste threw Europe and US and made two recordings for eloquentia - Telemann and Fasch quartets and quintets (EL 0502) and Pachelbel's works for strings (EL 0606). Now Philippe lives in Paris and plays regulary with Vincent Dumestre's Le Poème Harmonique, with whom he participated since 2006, among other projects, to Molière and Lully's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme", staged by Benjamin Lazar, and plays with Le Concert d'Astrée (Emmanuelle Haim) and The Chamber Orchestra of Europe. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 18, 2008 | Hits: 1591