May 2006
Programme
- Trio sonata in B flat major, op. 2 no. 3 (HWV 388)
- Cantata for soprano and continuo: 'Quando sperasti, o core' (HWV 153)
- Sonata in A major for violin and continuo (HWV 361)
- Cantata for soprano and continuo: 'Stelle, perfide stelle' (HWV 168)
- Trio sonata in F major, op. 2 no. 4 (HWV 389)
- Cantata for soprano and strings: 'Tu fedel? tu costante?' (HWV 171)
Performers
Ann Mackay studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. She won prizes which included the Society of West End Theatres Award, the Amcom Award in the Concert Artists Guild of America, and the Olivier Award for Opera, and she was selected as a National Federation of Music Societies Young Artist. Since then she has travelled the world, her versatility enabling her to enjoy a rich and varied career. She has appeared with leading orchestras and choral societies in the UK and has sung in many of the principal Arts festivals. She has broadcast regularly and recorded for RPO, Decca, ASV, and Meridian, and is well known for a repertoire spanning the range from Bach to Broadway. She appeared with the Cambridge Handel Opera Group in Berenice (1993), Partenope (1995), and Alcina (1997). She now lives in Oxford with her young family.
David Irving was born in Adelaide in 1981 and began his musical studies with his mother. He took up the baroque violin when he was sixteen, and studied violin and musicology at the Queensland Conservatorium and University of Queensland. He has been taught by Lucinda Moon, Lucy van Dael, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Simon Standage, Alison Bury, Catherine Mackintosh, Margaret Faultless, Andrew Manze, and Pavlo Beznosiuk. From 2001 he was a member of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and has since played and recorded with many other period-instrument ensembles, including Chacona and Sirius (both in Australia), La Fonegara (Mexico), Le Concert Lorrain and xviii-21 Musique des Lumières (both France), La Compañía Musical (Spain), La Serenissima, The Early Opera Company, The Hanover Band, St James' Baroque Players, and the Gabrieli Consort and Players (all UK). Future plans include a recording of the complete Handel violin sonatas with James McVinnie. David is a second-year PhD student at Clare College; his dissertation on 'Music, Society, and Culture in Eighteenth-Century Manila' is supervised by Dr Tess Knighton. He has written many book chapters and his articles have appeared in scholarly journals including Early Music, Eighteenth-Century Music, and Anuario Musical.
Hannah Tibell was born in Sweden in 1980. In 1998 she moved to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and later at the Royal Academy of Music. Her teachers included Rachel Podger and Micaela Comberti. Hannah has been specialising in the baroque violin for five years and her decision to do so was probably one of the best she's ever made! Since being in the UK Hannah has been working with orchestras and ensembles such as the Gabrieli Consort and Players, The Sixteen and the Symphony of Harmony and Invention, Early Opera Company, English Concert, and Florilegium. In 2001 she was a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra.
Following post-graduate studies (cello and viola da gamba) in London and the Hague, Richard Campbell has worked, over the past twenty-five years, with most of the UK ensembles that use historically appropriate instruments, styles, and techniques in pre-twentieth-century music. As a gamba soloist he has also appeared with some of the finest chamber and symphony orchestras of Europe, including the London Symphony Orchestra, The City of London Sinfonia, Northern Sinfonia, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a founder member of the ensemble Fretwork, which since 1986 has set fresh standards for the performance of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century masterpieces written for a consort of viols by composers such as John Taverner, William Cornysh, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, John Dowland, William Lawes, John Jenkins, Matthew Locke, and Henry Purcell. Fretwork's performances and recordings have in turn inspired living composers to write new music for viol consort in a range of contemporary styles; the ensemble has given first performances of pieces by, among others, George Benjamin, Simon Bainbridge, Gavin Bryars, Barry Guy, Sally Beamish, Elvis Costello, Alexander Goehr, Thea Musgrave, Tan Dun, John Woolrich, Poul Ruders, Orlando Gough, and John Tavener.
Peter Buckoke is a founder member of the Schubert Ensemble of London, winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society's award for 'Best Chamber Group'. He is the Man in 'A Man, a Woman, and a Double Bass', a cabaret duo with cellist-soprano Lowri Blake. He has played by invitation with various string quartets, including the Chilingirian, Arditti, Endellion, Alberni, Allegri, and Coull. Peter plays principal bass with many of London's period-instrument groups. He writes regularly for The Double Bassist and occasionally for The Strad magazines. He teaches double bass and Alexander technique at the Royal College of Music in London. Away from his instrument, Peter might be found looking after his bees. He lives in London with his wife, Judith Kleinman, and their two boys, Harry and Abe.
James McVinnie is the Senior Organ Scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. After leaving school in 2001, he took up the post of Organ Scholar at St Alban's Cathedral, where he acted as accompanist to the Cathedral Choirs and the St Alban's Bach Choir for two years. He has performed as the organist with Clare College Choir in many venues and music festivals in Great Britain, Europe, the USA, and the Far East. He also acts from time to time as chorus master to Clare College Choir with such ensembles as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Freiburger Barockorchester. He features as organist on recordings by the St Alban's Abbey Girls' Choir and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. He also performs on Clare Choir's recordings of Tarik O'Regan's choral music and John Rutter's Mass of the Children. James is active as an organ recitalist, and is in demand as an accompanist and continuo player. In July he will move to St Paul's Cathedral, London, as the Michael James Organ Scholar. He studies the organ with Thomas Trotter and the harpsichord with Douglas Hollick.