EarlyMusicNews.org

“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.“

Visit webiste for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 11, 2009 | Hits: 719

"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: 718

"Born in 1980 in Seville of Syrian father and Palestinian mother, he studied viola da gamba with Ventura Rico. He travels to Europe. In Milan he entered in the Accademia Internazionale della Musica and Switzerland entered the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, perfecting his studies in viola da gamba. He received lessons from the best European musicians as Enrico Onofri, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Trevor Pinnock, Kees Boeke, Stefano Montanari, Diego Fasolis, and with Vittorio Ghielmi viol. He is a member of Accademia del Piacere, a group that specializes in music for viola da gamba. He is a member of Gruppo Seicento, Ishbilya Consort, Speculum, etc. and has worked with La Venexiana, Armoniosi Concerti, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Lyra and many others, with whom he has travelled around the world. Currently preparing a double disc for BRILLIANT CLASSICS on the family Forqueray. ... "

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 31, 2008 | Hits: 716

"Jordi Savall i Bernadet (born 1941, in Igualada, Catalonia) is a Catalan viol player, conductor, and composer. He has been one of the major figures in the field of early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for bringing the viol (viola da gamba) back to life on the stage. His repertory ranges from Medieval to Renaissance and Baroque music. " (Wikipedia) See website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Feb 23, 2008 | Hits: 714

“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. ..“

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 20, 2009 | Hits: 714

“Founded in 1886, the EAP is one of the few large plucked ensembles  in Europe. There are 50 amateur musicians divided into four panels (1st mandolins, 2nd mandolins, guitars and mandoles) plus mandocellos, the bass and flute.

The band plays mostly original compositions (Vivaldi, Calace, Wolke, Kuwahara, Mandonico ...) but the repertoire also includes transcriptions of major classical works (opera overtures, concertos ...). In June 2009, the orchestra played transcriptions of Bach and Handel in the “Passe ton Bach d’abord !” …” 

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jan 11, 2012 | Hits: 714

“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. ..”

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 706

“I was born in 1983 in Israel, raised in the city of Karmiel, where I started to study Guitar with Erez Suto. Beside my late grandfather, who played the Oud, the was not much connection between my family and music. In my early twenties I relocated to the small town Kiryat-Tivon in where I still live today.

I started to learn Lute and early music and became a student of Dr. Levi Sheptovitsky and a student in Thomas Edison State College, New Jersey where I study for my B.A. in Music. My goal is to be able to teach young children on the importance of music to our life, as I came to learn and as many before me learned.


As you may already understood, I see music and art as the basic building blocks of our civilization and these building blocks must be maintained to keep the civilization alive. ..“

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 30, 2010 | Hits: 704

“One of America’s leading baroque violinists, Robert Mealy has been praised for his “imagination, taste, subtlety, and daring” by the Boston Globe; the New Yorker recently called him “New York’s world-class early music violinist.” He has recorded over 50 CDs of early music on most major labels, ranging from Hildegard of Bingen with Sequentia, to Renaissance consorts with the Boston Camerata, to Rameau operas with Les Arts Florissants. At home in New York, he is a frequent leader and soloist with the New York Collegium, Early Music New York, the Clarion Society, and the ARTEK early music ensemble. ”

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Sep 17, 2011 | Hits: 702

“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.  …“

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Feb 07, 2011 | Hits: 700

"Mr. Salvaggio began his studies on pick guitar with Frank Mancuso in the early 60's before starting his formal classical training with Stanley Solow in 1973. He later went on to advanced studies with Dennis Koster and Jerry Willard and worked with violinist Clarence Shaw on the music of J.S. Bach. Mr. Salvaggio has performed recitals for concert associations as a soloist, accompanist and continuo player for over 25 years. He is also the recipient of numerous performance grants for projects in the field of early music. He has played with early music consorts, chamber ensembles and as a member of the Flagstaff Symphony and Glimmerglass Opera Orchestras. Recent endeavors have included recordings for the New York State Historical Association/Farmer's Museum, public and local radio broadcasts and recitals at the 1999 and 2001 Boston Early Music Festivals. In April of 2002 Mr. Salvaggio recorded an hour long program of Renaissance lute music for NPR station WSKG.He has performed for the Long Island Classical Guitar Society,the Connecticut Classical Guitar Society, the Philadelphia Guitar Society, The Classical Guitar Society of Upstate New York,The New Jersey Guitar and Mandolin Society, The Listening Room at Dreamcatcher Guitars, Roswell, Georgia, Cafe Lena in Saratoga, New York and the Stamford Performing Arts Center. " See website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Feb 23, 2008 | Hits: 691

“

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.“

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: May 18, 2009 | Hits: 691

"After several years of freelancing, Angela, in 1979, acquired a baroque cello and became co-principal cello with the English Baroque Soloists under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Since then she has become a well-known continuo players and concerto soloist with a number of baroque orchestras such as the Brandenburg Consort and the Gabrieli Consort. She has performed at La Scala, Milan, the Sydney Opera House, the Carnegie Hall, the Palace of Versailles, the Presidential Palace in Portugal and ancient ruins of Pompeii and Athens. She performed in Handel's birthplace (Halle, East Germany) on the tercentenary of his birth and in 1989 undertook a world tour visiting the USA, Australia, Japan, Taiwan ad Hong Kong. She also played Principal Cello in the first performance on original instruments at Glyndebourne with Sir Simon Rattle. Her performances have included many radio broadcasts, recordings and television appearances, notably for the Open University. She has contributed articles to Early Music Today magazine and has been awarded and ARAM for he distinguished services to the music profession.

As one of the early pioneers of historical performance practice, her enthusiasm extends beyond the conventional parameters of early music in to the nineteenth century. To this end from 1990-2006 she founded and directed the Revolutionary Drawing Room, a multi-instrumental ensemble with the Revolutionary String Quartet as its core. She has now handed this group over to the leader, Adrian Butterfield.

She is member of Red Priest, the surrealist and theatrical baroque ensemble with Piers Adams (recorder). This group performs about 70 concerts annually, all over the world. It has founded its own recording company, Red Priest Recordings." Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 12, 2008 | Hits: 688

"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. "

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Aug 04, 2008 | Hits: 687

“

Susan King followed her passion for the music of this unique and lovely instrument from her home in Australia to the other side of the world. Today she lives in Paris, where she’s realising her dream of performing the original manuscripts written for the French Baroque lute at the court of Louis XIV in Versailles.

Whether  through intimate home concerts or private lessons, Susan aspires to introduce people to the quietly uplifting sound of her beautiful lute.“

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 19, 2010 | Hits: 685

"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 19, 2008 | Hits: 681

Federation of Viola da Gamba Societies.

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 11, 2009 | Hits: 681

"Manuel Minguillón was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. He obtained his bachelor degree in guitar performance from the Conservatorio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial where he studied with Gerardo Arriaga. Captivated by the music of the Renaissance, he continued his studies in Early Plucked Instruments at the Conservatorio de Arturo Soria, in Madrid, with Jesús Sanchez. Subsequently, Minguillón studied in Seville with Juan Carlos Rivera at the Conservatory Manuel Castillo, and thereafter perfected his skills under the guidance of master lutenist Hopkinson Smith in Basel, Switzerland. In 2005 he completed a Master's Degree in Lute and Early Plucked Instruments with the world renowned lutenist Paul O'Dette at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where he is currently completing a Doctorate in Musical Arts. Since 2004 he has served as Professor O'Dette's primary teaching assistant for lute at the Eastman School. " See website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Mar 03, 2008 | Hits: 679

"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: 679

“ 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.“

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 13, 2009 | Hits: 678

"PURPOSE OF THE SOCIETY

• To cultivate, foster, sponsor, and develop appreciation of the art, history, literature and uses of historical harps.

• To promote appreciation of and to raise the level of proficiency in the performance and use of historical harps.

• To keep historical harp makers and performers, along with other friends of the historical harp, informed about literatureand activities pertaining to historical harps, and to provide occasions for them to meet.

• To promote the use of historical harps as professional instruments, and to encourage their use among amateurs.

Added on: Apr 18, 2008 | Hits: 674

"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: 674

“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. ..”

Visit website for more details. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 12, 2010 | Hits: 673

“Fred Edelen performs throughout the US and Europe on both modern and Baroque cello as orchestral cellist, chamber musician, and recitalist.   Currently a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, he was formerly cellist with the Houston Symphony and Principal Cellist of the San Antonio Symphony.  Described as a "masterful soloist"  with "astonishingly expressive style and gorgeous tone,"¹ he has appeared as soloist with the Phoenix, San Antonio, and Houston Symphony orchestras, and was a prize winner at the National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition.  An avid performer on Baroque cello, Mr. Edelen studied at the Early Music Institute at Indiana University and continued his Baroque studies as a Fulbright scholar in The Hague.  He has performed with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center, and returns to the US each summer to teach and perform at the Cactus Pear Music Festival in San Antonio.”

Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Apr 18, 2010 | Hits: 670

"... Fascinated by the Baroque period, Louis began the lute- he was not yet fifteen. He started out by poring over musical research documents describing the antique music, gleaning whatever practical information he could. On the eve of his confirmation, he received what would become a lifelong passion: his first baroque lute. Working with another young enthusiast, Kleber Besson, his technique grew. Three times a day all through high school, the lute was as regular as meals. Louis played lute, theorbo and a 1927 folk guitar he had adopted on his first visit to New York to play blues. ...

In 1984 EMI records chose him to be their lute master of their Treasury of Bach; this box set included pieces with every instrument Bach has written for. By then, Louis was playing in the Saint Chapel in Paris. He then recorded the Dufaut disc in a small chapel in Switzerland. Louis also started playing harpsichord, organ and french hunting horn on the side. In 1989, a subsidiary of Universal Music requested a worldwide first: the recording of the "Divine Rhethoric", by Gaultier. The same year, national television produced a 30 minute documentary about Louis, the "Musician Minister": Louis was indeed a minister, but also an engineer and a PhD. in philosophy. ...

For the past ten years, Louis has been working incessantly on his latest masterpiece, the "Book of Perrine", recorded in Switzerland, which will finally be released in a few months. This recording is the apotheosis of his work, and is impatiently awaited by his fans. ... " Visit website for more information. (ed.)

Added on: Jul 28, 2008 | Hits: 668