Musicians

Annabel Knight (recorders, flutes) studied at the Royal College of Music in London, winning the postgraduate prize for early music research. She has since become one of the UK’s most respected recorder players and chamber music artists and has performed for early music festivals and radio networks across Europe and America, both with Passacaglia and with the recorder quintet Fontanella. Annabel is the founder and director of the Woodhouse Recorder Week summer school for young recorder players, and tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Centre for Young Musicians. She is also education manager for the Brighton Early Music Festival and has been a syllabus consultant to both the ABRSM and Trinity Guildhall graded examinations.

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Louise Bradbury (recorders) studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded the Princess Alice Prize and Guinness Prize for Music in the Community. She has since performed as a soloist and chamber musician across the UK and Europe. Louise’s desire to encourage young recorder players has led to her teaching at the Birmingham Conservatoire, several universities and the junior department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Louise has a passion for taking live music into the community and runs an acclaimed programme of music classes and concerts for 0-3 year olds.

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Oliver Webber (violin) has established a reputation as one of the country’s leading interpreters of period music, from Renaissance improvisation to Romantic string quartets. He is the director of the Monteverdi String Band and is the leader of Ludus Baroque and Charivari Agréable Simfonie, with whom he has made several critically acclaimed recordings. He has appeared as a soloist at major London venues and as guest leader with the Gabrieli Consort and Players, the Hanover Band and the London Handel Orchestra. Oliver makes his own gut strings, and has acted as “string consultant” for many individuals and orchestras, in particular the Gabrieli Consort & Players. Oliver is a professor at the Guildhall school of Music & Drama.

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Born in Tokyo, Reiko Ichise (viola da gamba) came to England to study at the Royal College of Music in 1991. Whilst there, she won the concerto prize and completed her post graduate study with distinction. She is now one of the country’s leading gamba players, working and recording regularly across the world with many prestigious ensembles including Fretwork, The Purcell Quartet, Florilegium, the Gabrieli Consort, English Chamber Orchestra, Concordia and The Royal Ballet.

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Robin Bigwood (harpsichord, organ) won the Broadwood Harpsichord Competition in 1995 and has since developed a successful freelance career combining solo recitals, chamber music and accompaniment, and is resident keyboard accompanist at London’s Centre for Young Musicians. In addition to his interest in early music, Robin is an experienced sound engineer and producer: his recording of Haydn Symphonies with Sinfonia Classica was recently Editor's choice in Gramophone Magazine. Robin also writes a monthly column in Europe’s premier recording magazine, Sound on Sound.

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Guest Musicians

In recent years the recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin has performed in most parts of the world. Tours to the USA, Japan and Australia as well as appearances in the major European musical centres have confirmed his reputation as one of the most interesting - and sometimes controversial - performers on his instrument. His efforts to rediscover the sonic possibilities of the recorder have resulted in a technical facility and a style of playing that have won him numerous awards including a Grammy and the Society of Swedish Composers' prize for the best interpretation of contemporary Swedish music. Dan Laurin is professor of the recorder and teaches at Stockholm's Royal University College of Music.

Christopher Suckling (cello) read Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, but he spent more time playing music than he did in the lab, resulting in postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music where he won multiple prizes on both modern and baroque cellos. He is now a principal player with the Gabrieli Consort and Players and as a continuo cellist has recently performed and recorded with artists such as Plácido Domingo and Rolando Villazón. Christopher teaches at the Royal College of Music Junior Department.

Julia Gooding (soprano) is particularly renowned for her interpretation of Baroque music. She enjoys a career worldwide combining both concert and staged performances with recordings. She has collaborated with many specialist orchestras and conductors including Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque, Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre, Ivor Bolton and St James Baroque, Marcus Creed and Freiburg Baroque, Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale and Gustav Leonhardt and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Eligio Quinteiro (lutes, theorbo)is in great demand both as a soloist and as an accompanist for song recitals on the lute, theorbo and Romantic guitar. In addition, he plays regularly with most of the UK's leading period instrument orchestras, including The King's Consort and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, as well as collaborating with modern instrument orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and London Mozart Players.