Featured Artists

He has secured his reputation as one of Europe's most respected Baroque violinists over the last 25 years with a busy international career as soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster and director. In the mid 80's he was involved in pioneering work in the use of Renaissance violins with The Parley of Instruments and was a key member of the groundbreaking medieval ensemble The New London Consort playing Vielles, Rebec and Lira da Braccio. He is a frequent Soloist/Director with the Academy of Ancient Music and recent recital work has included performances of Biber's complete cycle of Rosary sonatas and concerts combining solo violin music of Bach with that of Berio and Bartok.

As musical director of the Avison Ensemble he has completed an exhaustive recorded survey of the music of Charles Avison and in 2010 released a recording of Handel's Op.6 Concerti Grossi which has been received very enthusiastically in the music press. Other recordings include all the solo parts of Bach's Brandenburg concerti, Biber's "Rosary" Sonatas, Vivaldi's Op 12 Violin Concerti with The Academy of Ancient Music and Christopher Hogwood, 2 recordings on viola of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante (with Monica Huggett and Rachel Podger) and works by Walther and Westhoff. This year sees the release of his recording of J S Bach's solo Sonatas and Partitas and Vivaldi's Op. 8 Violin Concerti (including "The Four Seasons") with the Avison Ensemble, both on LINN records. He also has solo appearances in Europe, Australia, China, Korea and Singapore.

On being awarded the Fellowship Diploma he continued his studies privately with the eminent British cellists Christopher Bunting and William Pleeth.

Gordon has performed throughout Britain in numerous solo recitals and has appeared at the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room in London with the Roth Quartet.

In 1991 he was invited to America by the conductor Benjamin Zander and was appointed Director of Walnut Hill School of Music in Boston, a prominent American school for gifted children under the patronage of Yo-Yo Ma, and taught at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Whilst in Boston, Gordon performed on occasion as principal cello with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and made several recordings with the orchestra, as well as performing on tour with international solo cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the jazz singer Bobby McFerrin. Gordon has also appeared as soloist in concertos with the conductor Benjamin Zander.

Gordon returned to Newcastle to focus exclusively on his work in establishing the Avison Ensemble, which promotes the music of Charles Avison and North East culture on the world stage. The Avison Ensemble is now recognised internationally as one of the finest period instrument ensembles in England.

Gordon performs exclusively on cellos made by Roger Hansell. Click here for further information about Roger Hansell's concert and soloist instruments.

His valuable contribution to the 02/03 season at the Bayerische Staatsoper was rewarded with the Munich Opera Festival Prize.

His opera engagements have included Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria for Welsh National Opera; Alcina for the Hamburg State Opera, Monteverdi Ballo del Ingrate and Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda followed by Ulysses comes home for the Birmingham Opera Company and L'Orfeo and Tolomeo for English Touring Opera. He has been assistant conductor for productions at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Salzburg Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Opéra de Paris and includes amongst his repertoire L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Ariodante, Orlando, Rodelinda, Tamerlano and Iphigenie en Tauride.  Concert engagements include appearances conducting Bach Lutheran Masses with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Apollo and Daphne with The St James Baroque Players; Bach Cantatas with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra and Angelika Kirschlager, Athalia for the Ambronay Festival and a baroque programme for the Northern Sinfonia. Recently he undertook a UK tour with the Mozart Festival Orchestra, gave performances of Messiah in Manchester and the Royal Festival Hall and The Battle of Quiberon Bay, a Handel extravaganza, at the Bath Festival.  Amongst Howarth's 09/10 season plans are Handel's Alcina with English Touring Opera and a European tour of the Monteverdi Vespers with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Further ahead he will conduct Almeida's La Spinalba for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

As violinist and violist with the chamber ensembles Lontano and Gemini, amongst others, she has given recitals throughout the world at such venues as La Fenice in Venice, the Wigmore Hall, London, and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and gave the Taiwanese premiere of "Quartet for the End of Time". Often to be heard on BBC Radio 3 and numerous other European radio stations, she also participated in the series "Women in Music" for Channel 4 television, and in a series about Beethoven for the BBC (dressed as a man).

She now enjoys a wide spectrum of musical activities and has had the privilege of giving very many premiere performances and working alongside the foremost composers of our day, Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, Judith Weir, Brian Ferneyhough, Nicola Lefanu and Michael Finissy to name but a few. Wielding a baroque violin, she has appeared as guest leader with Florilegium, The English Concert and the Hanover Band, in addition to being first violin of "The Band of Instruments" based in her home town of Oxford.

Arriving in London in 1982 as an American Fulbright Scholar she quickly established herself as a versatile member of the London scene, during which time she was involved in pioneering work with the groups Circa 1500 and Sinfonye, where her improvisational skills came to the fore. It was also then that long-lasting musical relationships were established with the New London Consort and the Gabrieli Consort, whose principal lutenist she remains to this day.

Paula's in-depth knowledge and skill in the art of basso continuo has made her one of the most sought-after accompanists in the early music field, resulting in fruitful collaborations with many leading singers including Catherine Bott, James Bowman, Michael Chance and Mark Tucker. Her wealth of experience in early opera has led to involvement as both repetiteur and continuo player with the Bayerische Staatsoper, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, New Israeli Opera, Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Vlaamse Opera, and the Liceu Barcelona.

Paula has recorded extensively for Decca, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, and Hyperion. She is regularly invited to give master classes and coach on courses for the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Royal Academy of Music, and De Nieuwe Opera Academie at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. She runs classes in early improvisation and continuo playing at the University of Birmingham, where she is also the lute tutor for the University’s Centre for Early Music Performance and Research and an AHRC Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts. 2009 saw the establishment of her 17th-century-style improvisation ensemble, The Division Lobby.

As a harpsichordist he has performed and recorded with many ensembles including The English Concert, English Baroque Soloists, London Classical Players, Les Arts Florissants, The Avison Ensemble, Gabrieli Consort, Walking to Lübeck and Concordia. He has given chamber concerts and broadcasts throughout Britain and Europe, and in North and South America.

Since being named as an Arts Council of Great Britain Young Conductor of the Year in 1992, he has worked with a wide variety of symphony orchestras, opera companies, chamber orchestras, and groups. In the concert hall he has conducted the Südwestrundfunkorchester Stuttgart, The English Concert, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, European Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the National Arts Centre Ottawa, Israel Camerata, and Fränkishces Kammerorchester. In the theatre he has conducted productions for Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels, New Kent Opera, Opera Northern Ireland, Cambridge University Opera and Midsummer Opera London. He has also been assistant conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, London Classical Players and Salzburg Camerata Academica.

He is currently Music Director of The Band of Instruments in Oxford. For two years he was Lecturer in Performance Practice and Keyboard Studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and he has also taught at the Britten-Pears School, Trinity College of Music London, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and been a lecturer at New College Oxford. He has made editions of many 17th, 18th  and 19th century works, including Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria which has been the basis for productions in Athens and Florence.

Richard is well-known as soloist and chamber musician in a repertoire spanning five centuries of music, playing cello, baroque cello and viols.

His recording of the Bach cello suites was released in 2012 on Linn. The culmination of many years of study and countless performances, it has been very warmly received by critics. The Sunday Times praised its “clear-sighted, intelligently informed yet emotionally engaged performances” and The Independent on Sunday chose the disc as one of the “best classical releases of 2012”.

He has also recorded lesser-known works by English composers. These include John Garth whose 6 cello concerti of 1760 (Avison Ensemble, Divine Art) were the first  to have been published in England and – from more recent times - Buxton Orr (String Quartets, String Trio/Toccata Classics) and John Joubert (“Kontakion” for cello and piano, with the late John Mc Cabe/Toccata).

He is a member of the recently-formed Trio York. Since 2004 he has been a member of the renowned viol consort Fretwork  whose captivating performances and many recordings have earned them admirers all over the world. He is also principal cello of the Avison Ensemble, and is regularly invited as a guest principal cello or viola-da-gamba soloist with major orchestras and conductors

Richard teaches at the Royal College of Music, London and at CEMPR Birmingham, and he has given master-classes, seminars and lecture-recitals across the globe.

Photo credit: Alessandro Tear.

He particularly enjoys working with groups that specialise in period performance, such as the Academy of Ancient Music, the Gabrieli Players, the Retrospect Ensemble, Florilegium, the Classical Opera Company and Arcangelo. He was for ten years principal bass of The King's Consort.

Katarina is one of the founding members of the European ensemble Harmony of Nations, which is soon to release its second CD, and she has performed, toured and recorded with ensembles such as The Avison Ensemble, The Sixteen, Purcell Quartet and Florilegium.

Rachel has been principal viola of the Avison Ensemble for over 8 years and the Gabrieli Consort and Players since 1992, with whom she has toured Europe and the Americas, performing in most major festivals and cities.

Under the Deutsche Grammophon Archiv label, she has recorded much baroque repertoire using small forces, often one to a part, such as Bach - St Matthew Passion, Epiphany Mass, Easter Oratorio and Magnificat, Biber - Requiem, Purcell - Odes and Anthems and Schutz - Christmas Vespers. With larger forces, she has recorded Handel - Messiah and the oratorios Solomon, Saul and Theodora, Haydn - The Creation with a 200-strong choir and orchestra, Mozart - Great Mass in C minor and the magnificent Mass and Motet in 53 parts - Biber's Missa Salisburgensis.

As a guest of the Purcell Quartet for many years, Rachel has performed and recorded much chamber music of Biber, Schmelzer, Purcell and Bach and that of his forbears such as J C Bach, Christian Geist and Dietrich Buxtehude alongside the stellar voices of Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Charles Daniels and Peter Harvey. As a soloist playing the viola d'amore, Rachel has broadcast for radio with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from St David's Hall, Cardiff. She also regularly appears as a principal player with The Academy of Ancient Music.

Working with renowned soloists and directors such as Pierre Laurent Aimard, Imogen Cooper, Mark Padmore and Masaaki Suzuki as a member of the Britten Sinfonia, Rachel enjoys much 20th century and contemporary repertoire, in particular works by Britten, Tippett and Macmillan. Together with the principal players of the Britten Sinfonia, she recently performed Richard Strauss' Prelude to Capriccio for string sextet at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which was recorded for broadcast by the BBC.

Collaborating with young contemporary dancers at the Pegasus Theatre in Oxford, Rachel recently performed a series of works and improvisations for solo viola.

She took part in courses specializing in early music interpretation in Dartington, Wilanów, Cracow, Amsterdam and in Ambronay (France) performing ‘Vespro della Beata Vergine’ by C. Monteverdi with L'Académie Baroque Européenne d'Ambronay, directed by Gabriel Garrido.

At present she is performing and touring in Europe and Mexico with ensembles such as Musicae Antique Collegium Varsoviense, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Academy of Ancient Music, The Avison Ensemble, The Hague International Baroque Orchestra, Modo Antiquo, Arcus Ensemble, Arte dei Suonatori, Concerto Polacco, Wroclawska Orkiestra Barokowa, Harmonologia and Concerto Spirituel. She has been involved in recordings for Naxos, BBC4, Linn and Polskie Radio.
 

She received fellowships from festivals such as Round Top and Tanglewood Music Center, and in 2002 was awarded a grant from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund of Boston to pursue baroque violin studies with Enrico Gatti at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag.

Sara performs with The Avison ensemble and a variety of period orchestras and chamber ensembles, including Anima Eterna, Van Swieten Society, Musica ad Rhenum, Festspiel Orchester Göttingen, Les Musiciens du Louvre, New Dutch Academy, B'Rock, and Collegium Musicum Den Haag

He is now an established composer, has sung with most of the country's leading choirs and vocal ensembles, and teaches harmony and counterpoint for the University of Oxford. In September 2000 he took up his present post as Organist, Choirmaster and Composer at Her Majesty's Chapels Royal. His most recent compositional projects include a setting of a poem by Charles Lamb for primary school children, solo singer, and strings, commissioned by the Avison Ensemble, and an opera for soprano Patricia Rozario.

A full-time member of the Northern Sinfonia for a number of years, Joanne went freelance in order to pursue the many and varied offers of work with other ensembles and particularly to pursue her interest in period performance. On modern violin, she has been a member of The Scottish Ensemble since 2003. Joanne plays a very active part in education, writing and delivering projects for The Scottish Ensemble and The Avison Ensemble, and was for a number of years a teacher at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She is now working on a web-based, performance project for long distance learning with Aldeburgh Music.

He also maintains a busy freelance career having played with the RLPO and Birmingham Royal Ballet. A graduate of Trinity College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, Thomas's past teachers have included Roger Chase, with whom he studied at Oberlin Conservatory in the USA.

Since leaving the Academy Simon has pursued a busy career on both the modern and baroque violin, playing and recording with a number of groups including The Avison Ensemble, La Serenissima, The Academy of Ancient Music, The Sixteen, The Kings Consort, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Johns, English Symphony Orchestra, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, and he is currently leader of The London Charity Orchestra. As a soloist and chamber musician Simon made his debut at the Purcell Room in 2004, recorded Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht with the RAM Soloists whilst at the Academy and has recently recorded concerti by Vivaldi and Valentini with La Serenissima.

As a soloist, Mhairi has performed many times with the Avison Ensemble, most recently including concerts and recording and Jacobite folksongs for the Avison Ensemble's 'Rebellion' on Linn Records. She has sung in theatres and concert halls worldwide with such companies as English National Opera, Les Arts Florissants, The Monteverdi Choir, The Early Opera Company and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She enjoys working in repertoire ranging from traditional folksong to Gilbert and Sullivan Opera and contemporary commissions, and has made many commercial recordings, most recently Haydn's 'Creation' with the Choir of New College, Oxford, conducted by Edward Higginbottom.

With the virtuoso baroque band La Serenissima, Mhairi has recorded many of Vivaldi's sacred and operatic works and with them has performed large-scale pieces including 'La Senna Festeggiante' and 'La fida ninfa' in Venice.

Mhairi has enjoyed working with the Gabrielli Consort and Players for many years and projects with them include Bach's St John and St Matthew Passions, the B Minor Mass and the Wedding Cantata, Handel's' 'Jephtha', 'Acis and Galatea' and 'La resurrezione', and Purcell's 'Dido and Aeneas', 'King Arthur' and 'Fairy Queen'.

On the operatic stage Mhairi recently sang the roles of Cupid, Honour and Venus in Purcell's 'King Arthur' with the Mark Morris Dance Group's new production at New York City Opera, conducted by Jane Glover, in which she appeared also at English National Opera and with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Berkeley, California. In the Buxton Festival, she sang the role of Dorinda in Handel's 'Orlando' conducted by Christian Curnyn, for Opera Theatre Company.

Forthcoming CD releases include contributions to two discs of Schubert Lieder, including the vocal tour de force 'der Hirt auf dem Felsen', with clarinettist Jane Booth and pianist Eugene Asti.

The Sixteen, The Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Dunedin Consort, The Gabrieli Consort, Retrospect Ensemble, The King's Consort, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Zimmermann (Denmark), Les Siècles (France), the European Brandenburg Ensemble, Florilegium, Early Opera Company, and Classical Opera Company.

As an undergraduate she had chamber coaching from Eli Goren, William Pleeth and the Amadeus, Bartòk and Smetana Quartets while as a postgraduate in the US she pursued a new interest in historical performance practice with Paul O'Dette and Malcolm Bilson, winning the J.C Graue Fellowship for her Master's. On returning to the UK she gave the prizewinner's recital at Abbotsholme since when she has enjoyed a busy freelance career, playing with leading ensembles on both period and modern instruments.

She has been a member of Sir John Eliot Gardiner's English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique since 1996 and has played as guest continuo with Avison Ensemble, City of London Sinfonia, Classical Opera Company, Dunedin Consort, English Concert, Florilegium, Gabrieli Consort, Hanover Band, Orchestra of Age of Enlightenment and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She has performed concerti by Haydn and Beethoven on period instruments and the 'Rococo' Variations in its original version. In demand as a chamber musician, she was acting 'cellist of the Skampa Quartet on major European and American tours for six months and has joined the specialist Eroica Quartet on several occasions. She is a member of the newly formed 'Florin', an ensemble based on a string trio.

Catherine teaches Baroque and Classical 'cello at the Royal College of Music and is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

As a modern violinist she plays regularly with The Philharmonia, The London Chamber Orchestra, RTE Symphony Orchestra Dublin and The Aurora Chamber Orchestra. Since 2007 she has held a position with the French chamber orchestra Les Siécles. She studied with Mark Knight, Oliver Webber and Pavlo Beznosiuk.

She plays as a guest soloist with the Avison Ensemble and other orchestras including The Sixteen, The English Baroque Soloists, The English Concert, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, The Hanover Band, Freiburg Baroque, The Early Opera Company, Concerto Caledonia and The Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

She has lecturerd in baroque cello at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, as well as teaching cello at Durham, York and Newcastle Universities and coaching on National Children´s Orchestra and Pro Corda courses. She has recently joined the teaching staff of the Foundation Studio of the Sage Gateshead.

In December 2009, she finished a year's vocal studio course at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice with Dennis O'Neill. Since leaving CIAV, Lisa has sung many times with the Avison Ensemble and made a recording of Handel and Avison's Rebellion Songs for Linn Records with The Avison Ensemble as well as a DVD of the Rebellion Songs for the new Avison Ensemble website.

Also she has covered Fiordiligi for Opera North, sung Leila The Pearl Fishers for Swansea City Opera, Vitellia La clemenza di Tito for Quintessential Opera and covered Mozart's Countess for Garsington Opera. In 2010 she covered Marguerite Faust for ENO and sang Portugal's Countess for Bampton Classical Opera.

Other roles include workshops for Aldeburgh Jerwood Opera Writing Scheme with John Fulljames and The Opera Group, Marzellina Fidelio cover for Garsington Opera, Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte for Lyric Opera Studio, Weimar, Governess The Turn of the Screw Act II for Co-op Opera, Soprano A Man of Feeling for Grimeborn festival, and the title role of Suor Angelica, Puccini for the New Beethoven Ensemble.

Recent solo work also includes Mozart C Minor Mass Soprano II, Pangbourne, and Handel Messiah, Worcester Cathedral.