Jordi Savall i Bernadet (born 1941, in Igualada, Catalonia, Spain) is a Spanish-Catalan viol player and composer. He is 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. Savall's musical training started in the school choir of his native town (1947-55).
Astra, who has been beguiling Brighton audiences for the past couple of years, catalogues what she describes as "wanderings of love, longing and loss" in a mesmeric voice, by turns vulnerable and dreamy, powerful and direct. With an acoustic sound that has been compared to Beth Gibbons, Joni Mitchell and the autumnal Englishness of Nick Drake, Astra brings unflinching honesty to her songs. She catalogues stories of everyday hopes: "I don't know if it will last/ But I know we've got a...
Born in Hanau in 1895, Paul Hindemith was taught the violin as a child. He entered the Hoch'sche Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main where he studied conducting, composition and violin under Arnold Mendelssohn and Bernhard Sekles, supporting himself by playing in dance bands and musical-comedy outfits. He led the Frankfurt Opera orchestra from 1915 to 1923 and played in the Rebner string quartet in 1921 in which he played second violin, and later the viola. In 1929 he founded the Amar Quartet, playing viola, and extensively toured Europe.
Brett Dean (b.1961) is a Grawemeyer Award-winning composer and viola player. Dean studied in Brisbane until 1984, when he moved to Germany to join the Berliner Philharmoniker’s viola section, a position he held for 15 years. He began composing in 1988, becoming established in his own right through works such as the clarinet concerto Ariel’s Music, which won a UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers award, the piano quintet Voices of Angels and Twelve Angry Men, written for the 12 cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Jackie Oates is an English Folk singer from Exeter. She plays a Tim Phillips 5 string Viola and plays very traditional folk music.
She was a finalist in Radio 2’s young folk musician awards in 2003 and won both the 'Best Traditional Track' and 'Horizon' awards in 2009
Yamandu Costa (Passo Fundo, January 24, 1980) is a Brazilian guitarist and composer. His main instrument is the "viol
Beckenham, UK (1965-present) Andrew Manze (born 14th January 1965, Beckenham) is an English baroque violinist and conductor. Having first started playing the baroque violin while studying Classics at Cambridge University, he went on to study with Simon Standage, one of the founding members of The English Concert, at the Royal Academy of Music, followed by further studies with Lucy van Dael at La Haye.
The John Jorgenson Quintet features guitarist John Jorgenson, a founding member of the Desert Rose Band, the Hellecasters, and six-year member of Elton John's band. Artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to Bonnie Raitt to Earl Scruggs have sought out Jorgenson's guitar work. He is known as one of the pioneers of the American gypsy jazz movement. At a John Jorgenson Quintet performance, audiences are amazed by John's dazzling guitar work as well as his mastery as a clarinet player and vocalist.
Alarm Will Sound is a U.S. twenty-member contemporary-music chamber orchestra. Members of the ensemble began playing together while studying at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and have diverse experience in composition, improvisation, jazz, popular styles, early music, and various traditional musics from around the world. Alarm Will Sound's repertoire ranges from European to American works, from the arch-modernist to the pop-influenced.