EarlyMusicNews.Org

"Born in Holland in 1961 and after his cello studies Coen Engelhard is living in France, where he learns to play the viola da gamba and how to make them.

In Foix (Pyrenees) he discovered an unknown manuscript of viola da gamba music which he has revived. The CD ‘Le Manuscrit de Foix’ is part of this adventure.

Since 1996 Coen has been teaching viola da gamba at the Conservatory of Toulouse. He is an appreciated gamba soloist in Bach's Passions and is leader of Consortoulouse. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 04, 2008 | Hits: 398

"1st prize in cello playing under André Navarra at the Paris Conservatory. Completes his studies in early music in Vienna with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and viola da gamba with Jordi Savall at the Schola Cantorum in Basel.

Together with Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof and Anita Mitterer, he founded the Quatuor Mosaïques in 1984. The quartet is specialised in music from Vienna classic repertoire.

Besides activities as a chamber musician, Christophe Coin is regularly invited as a soloist and conductor in France and abroad.

Since 1991, he has directed the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges in a repertoire of 17th and 18th century music.

Musician and research worker, he has organised international Symposa to examine playing techniques and fabrication of early instruments since 1992 in Limoges.

His recordings have been well-received by the critics; two Gramophone Awards successively for Haydn's Opus 20 and Opus 33 quartets played by the Quatuor Mosaïques, and a Classical Music Victoire Award for his recording of the “cello piccolo” cantatas by Bach with the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges.

Christophe Coin teaches at the Paris Conservatory and at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. "

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Added on: Aug 04, 2008 | Hits: 372

"The members of the Quatuor Mosaïques, Erich Höbarth, Andrea Bischof, Anita Mitterer and Christophe Coin, met in Vienna when they were playing with Concentus Musicus Wien, and it was the great names of the classical Viennese repertoire that brought them together as a quartet.

Right from the beginning of the Quartet’s career in 1985, the Mosaïques performances were marked by both a new clarity stemming from their use of period instruments, and a poetic attention to detail that was typical of the central European tradition of chamber music.

The Mosaïques have forged ahead ever since, concentrating on the core of the classical repertoire with Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 04, 2008 | Hits: 370

"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: 312

"I was born in Milan in 1968 and I graduated in guitar with Mauro Storti afterwhich I dedicated myself to the study of practices of Renaissance and Baroque music; ...

In 1996 I graduated with honors in Musicology at the School of Music Palaeography and Philology of Cremona (University of Pavia) with a thesis on theorbo as an instrument used for the realization of basso continuo.

I have attended courses of early music and accompanied singers organized by the School of Music Palaeography and Philology of Cremona ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 04, 2008 | Hits: 422

"Empire Viols formed in 1994 and has been in residence at Second Presbyterian Church since 1998. The core group of two viols and harpsichord frequently expands to include more viols or other instruments, while maintaining a focus on the rich duo viol repertoire of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The 2008-2009 season features a tour of the southwestern United States. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 06, 2008 | Hits: 438

"Jerry Willard was born in Cleveland, Ohio and began studying the guitar with his father Jeff Willard who was a guitarist. The guitar pedagogue Sophocles Papas recognized his talent and invited Mr. Willard to study with him in Washington, D.C. Subsequently he expanded his knowledge of musical interpretation when he worked with violinist Misha Mishakoff and cellist Warren Downs. Mr. Willard also studied with guitarists Richard Lurie and Alirio Diaz, both of whom influenced his musical and technical approach to the guitar.

Mr. Willard's performances have taken him to Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall in New York City, and he has concertized extensively throughout Europe and The United States. At Mr. Willard's New York debut, Raymond Ericson of the New York Times said, "The recital was exemplary. Mr. Willard took lute in hand for some pieces by Adrian LeRoy and John Dowland and turned that normally pale-sounding predecessor of the guitar into a brilliant and vivid instrument. Back with the guitar, the performer played his own transcriptions of Bach's Lute Suite in E minor and five dances from Britten's Gloriana' plus Henze's attractive `Drei Tentos'. It was again the clarity of Mr. Willard's playing that gave special pleasure."

Well known as an ensemble player, Mr.Willard has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, The New York Opera Company, The New York Consort of Viols, Queens Chamber Band , and the Long Island Baroque Ensemble. Mr. Willard resides in New York City and is on the faculty of the State University of New York at Stony Brook . He has published many transcriptions for guitar including "The Complete Lute Music of J.S. Bach" available through Music Sales Corp. and "Ten Sonatas of D. Scarlatti" available through AIG Publications. " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 06, 2008 | Hits: 431

"Laura Vaughan is gaining a reputation as Australia’s most exciting viola da gamba and lirone player of the rising generation and has had a distinguished list of teachers including Wieland Kuijken, Philippe Pierlot, Miriam Morris and Anneke Pols. Following her return to Australia from studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in 2004, she has established a busy schedule of teaching and performing from her base in Melbourne and performs a wide range of solo and chamber repertoire across Australia, Europe and the United States. Passionate about the sound world of the viol, Laura is committed to bringing this exquisite repertoire to audiences around the world." Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Nov 08, 2008 | Hits: 657

Part of the Music Institute of Chicago, ‘Viols in Our Schools’ is organized by Dr. Phillip W. Serna of the Spirit of Gambo – a Chicago Consort of Violsand is supported by the Viola da Gamba Society Third Coast as well as a pilot program of the Viola da Gamba Society of America.

Added on: Dec 10, 2008 | Hits: 405

"Hideki just moved to Portland, Oregon to pursue more performance opportunities. He would like to thank all his fans in Central Oregon for their support and friendship. He will still visit Bend on a regular basis to teach lessons and for engagements, and is still taking students and bookings there.

Hideki Yamaya is a guitarist and lutenist who has been active as a performer and teacher in the West Coast for over 12 years. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon, and is actively teaching and performing in the Portland area and in Central Oregon. He has a B.A. in Music and an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.F.A. from University of California, Irvine, in Guitar and Lute Performance. His primary instructors have included Paul Beier, Mesut Ozgen, John Schneiderman, Anita Sheer, Robert Strizich, and James Tyler; he has had master classes with Robert Barto, Ronn McFarlane, Richard Savino, Stephen Stubbs, and Benjamin Verdery. He is an internationally acclaimed musician and has performed in Canada, Japan, Great Britain, and Italy.

Added on: Mar 04, 2009 | Hits: 592

“ Solo-CD, Music by Carl Friedrich Abel ( www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67628 ), winner of Editor's Choice Gramophone Award 2008 .. .

Susanne Heinrich studied at the Meistersinger Conservatory of Nuremberg, and at the Frankfurt State Academy of Music, where she passed her recital diploma with the highest distinction. She was then granted the prestigious DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship to study with Wieland Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She has performed and recorded with many leading period-instrument ensembles of Europe, and has made over 15 recordings with the award-winning ensemble  “Charivari Agréable“. Susanne has been a member of the“Palladian Ensemble” (the “Palladians” from 2007) since 1994 and she has written for various journals, including “The Consort“, and  “Chelys“. Sought after as a teacher, her last position was Professor for Viols and Violone at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London; Susanne is now devoting some of her time to the chief editorship of  “Charivari Agréable Publications”. The revised New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians refers to her as one of the 'leading players' of this generation.“

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Added on: Apr 13, 2009 | Hits: 386

“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: 305

“ .. . She now performs widely as a viola da gamba soloist, having appeared with the Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra, the Essex Baroque Orchestra, the Lecosaldi Ensemble, the Choir of St. John’s College Cambridge and the Sweelinck Ensemble among others. In 1995 she performed a viola da gamba concerto by Leonard Salzedo at Benslow Hills Music Trust in the presence of the composer.
Since 2000 Mary Pells has worked for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music as an examiner and as a mentor on their Certificate of Teaching course. ..“ Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 19, 2009 | Hits: 396

“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: 320

“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: 462

“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: 392

“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: 461

“  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: 427

“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: 434

“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: 343

“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: 332

“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: 412

“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: 373

“

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: 338

“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: 410