baroque

Café Mozart was founded by Derek McCulloch in 1985 to explore the repertoire of the late 18th century for performances with period instruments. The group performs up and down the UK in venues of all shapes and sizes, and also in Germany. The main focus of Café Mozart’s work is that of ‘Haydn in England’ and
his association with other English composers in the 1790s. CDs include Goethe & the Guitar, with an award from the British Academy, Hail Windsor Crown’d with lofty towers, music written in or for the royal town of Windsor in the 18th century...

William Lawes (1602–1645) was an English composer and musician. Lawes was born at Salisbury in Wiltshire and was baptised on 1st May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral, and brother to Henry Lawes, a very successful composer in his own right. His patron, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, apprenticed him to the composer John Coprario, which probably brought Lawes into contact with Charles, Prince of Wales at an early age. Both William and his elder brother Henry received court appointments after Charles succeeded to the British throne as Charles I.

Read more about William Lawes on Last.fm.

Il Giardino Armonico is a pioneering Italian early music ensemble founded in Milan in 1985 by Luca Pianca and Giovanni Antonini, primarily to play 17th and 18th century music on period instruments. Il Giardino Armonico performs with prominent soloists such as the soprano Cecilia Bartoli, duo pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque and cellist Christophe Coin and its recordings, issued by Teldec, have met with honors including the Gramophone and Grammy awards.

James Thomas Bowman (b. November 6, 1941) is a famous countertenor born in Oxford, England. His career spans opera, oratorio, contemporary music and solo recitals. He began singing as a boy chorister at Ely Cathedral. He later went to New College, Oxford. He was a member of the New College and Christ Church choirs. In 1967 he auditioned for Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group and was cast as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a work with which he has subsequently had a long and distinguished association.