Jennifer Ward Clarke
Jennifer Ward Clarke (20 June 1935 – 1 March 2015) was a British cellist. After an early career in contemporary music, she later specialised in baroque music and performances on period instruments. Early life and career Jennifer Ward Clarke was born in Yateley, Hampshire on 20 June 1935, the daughter of Dorothea (''née'' Devitt) and Harry Ward Clarke, a prep school headteacher. At Benenden School in Kent she became interested in the cello, and studied at London's Royal College of Music with Ivor James, where she won the prize for cello. She won a scholarship to study for a year at the Paris Conservatoire with Paul Tortelier. On three occasions she took part in the masterclasses in Switzerland of Pablo Casals.Jennifer Ward Clarke obituary [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cellist
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 and A3. The viola's four strings are each an octave higher. Music for the cello is generally written in the bass clef, with tenor clef, and treble clef used for higher-range passages. Played by a ''cellist'' or ''violoncellist'', it enjoys a large solo repertoire with and without accompaniment, as well as numerous concerti. As a solo instrument, the cello uses its whole range, from bass to soprano, and in chamber music such as string quartets and the orchestra's string section, it often plays the bass part, where it may be reinforced an octave lower by the double basses. Figured bass music of the Baroque-era typically assumes a cello, viola da gamba or bassoon as part of the basso continuo group alongside chordal instruments such as o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fires Of London
The Fires of London, founded as the Pierrot Players, was a British chamber music ensemble which was active from 1965 to 1987. The Pierrot Players was founded by Harrison Birtwistle, Alan Hacker, and Stephen Pruslin.''Who’s Who 1975'', page 1302, (A&C Black: London) From 1967 it was under the joint direction of Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies. The ensemble was formed to play Schoenberg's ''Pierrot Lunaire'' and new works, often with a theatrical element, for a similar scoring (usually with the addition of percussion). The instrumentation proved to be too limited for Birtwistle and he left in 1970. Maxwell Davies took over as sole director, renaming the group the Fires of London. It was disbanded after its 20th anniversary concert in 1987. Maxwell Davies subsequently endorsed a new group Psappha, based in Manchester. During its existence, the Fires of London was particularly associated with Maxwell Davies' music, and gave first performances of many of his works, including ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Salomon Quartet
The Salomon Quartet was formed in 1982 as one of the first string quartets playing music of the classical period on authentic instruments and informed by historical scholarship. The quartet originally comprised Simon Standage, (violin), Micaela Comberti †, (violin), Trevor Jones †, (viola), and Jennifer Ward Clarke †, (cello). Violin II is now taken by Catherine Martin, viola by Adam Romer and cello by Andrew Skidmore. The violins and viola are modern reproductions of models set up as they would have been at the end of the 18th century. The cello is English and dates from 1791. Recordings * Mozart: The 6 'Haydn' String Quartets, K.387, 421, 428, 458, 464, 465 (including 'Dissonance', 'Hunt' and 'Drum') *Mozart: String quartets K.565 and K.590 *Mozart: String quartets K.499 'Hoffmeister' and K.589 *Mozart: String quintets K.515, 593, 516, 614 with Simon Whistler, viola *Mozart: Piano quartets K.478, 493 with Richard Burnett, fortepiano *Mozart: Clarinet quintets K.581 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Academy Of Ancient Music
The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the Academy of Vocal Music). The musicians play on either original instruments from the period when the music was composed or modern copies of such instruments. They generally play Baroque and Classical music, though they have also played some new compositions for baroque orchestra in recent years. The AAM's current Music Director is Laurence Cummings, who took over the post from Richard Egarr at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season. Original organisation The original Academy of Vocal Music was founded in London, England in 1725/26 (the Gregorian date of the inaugural meeting was 1 February 1726). Records of the purpose of the academy no longer exist, but according to John Hawkins in 1770, it was intended to "promote the study and practice ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan Hacker
Alan Ray Hacker (30 September 1938 – 16 April 2012) was an English clarinettist, conductor, and music professor. Biography He was born in Dorking, Surrey in 1938, the son of Kenneth and Sybil Hacker.''Who’s Who 1975'', page 1302, (A&C Black: London) After attending Dulwich College (from 1950 to 1955, under Stanley Wilson until the end of 1953), he went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music where he won the Dove Prize and the Boise Travelling Scholarship which he used to study in Paris, Bayreuth and Vienna. In 1958 he joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He became a professor of the Royal Academy of Music in 1960 and went on to found the '' Pierrot Players'' in 1965 along with American pianist Stephen Pruslin and Harrison Birtwistle. In 1966, a thrombosis on his spinal column caused permanent paraplegia. For the rest of his life he used a wheelchair and drove adapted cars. In 1972, the Pierrot Players renamed themselves the '' Fires of London'', and Hacker ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Strad
''The Strad'' is a UK-based monthly classical music magazine about string instrumentsprincipally the violin, viola, cello and double bassfor amateur and professional musicians. Founded in 1889, the magazine provides information, photographs and reviews of instruments, related feature articles and news, and information about concerts. The magazine offers practical advice on technique, profiles of leading performers, and information on master classes and the craft of instrument makers such as luthiers. It also includes articles about orchestras and music schools. The magazine's name references the common abbreviation for the famous 17th18th-century Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ... family of luthiers and their coveted and valuable instruments. ''The S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera Artistic Associate at Kings Place, and has its headquarters at Acland Burghley School. The leadership is rotated between four musicians: Matthew Truscott, Kati Debretzeni, Huw Daniel and Margaret Faultless. A group of period instrumentalist players formed the OAE as a self-governing ensemble in 1986, and took its name from the historical period in the late 18th century where the core of its repertoire is based. The OAE does not have a principal conductor, but chooses conductors individually. Having no permanent music director gives the orchestra flexibility to work with some of the world’s greatest conductors and soloists across a wide range of music. The current Principal Artists are Sir Simon Rattle, Vladimir Jurowski, Iván Fischer, John Butt, Sir Mark Elder and Andrá ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Taverner Consort And Players
The Taverner Choir, Consort and Players is a British music ensemble which specialises in the performance of Early and Baroque music. The ensemble is made up of a Baroque orchestra (the Players), a vocal consort (the Consort) and a Choir. Performers place emphasis on a historically informed performance practice and players work with restored or replicated period instruments. The group is named after the 16th-century English composer John Taverner. History In 1973 the Taverner Choir, Consort and Players (TCCP) made their début at the Bath International Music Festival. The group was founded by Andrew Parrott at the suggestion of composer Sir Michael Tippett. Parrott had a keen interest in the "golden age of polyphony", the era of English Renaissance music, and formed a specialist choir along with a chamber ensemble and a Renaissance or Baroque orchestra, devoted to authentic performance of European classical music from the 15th-17th centuries. Parrott's group was formed dur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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London Classical Players
The London Classical Players (LCP) was a British orchestra that specialized in music following historically informed performance (HIP) practices and orchestral performances on period musical instruments. Sir Roger Norrington founded the LCP in 1978. From 1978 to 1992, the concertmaster of the London Classical Players was baroque violinist John Holloway. The LCP made a variety of recordings for EMI Classics. Many of the players in the LCP overlapped with four other major HIP orchestral ensembles, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the English Baroque Soloists. Among their famous concert series was "The Beethoven Experience" in 1987, and "The Berlioz Experience" in 1988. In 1996, the LCP was invited to open the Prague Spring Festival in the traditional opening festival concert of Bedrich Smetana's ''Ma Vlast'', a controversial decision at the time. In 1997 the LCP formally dissolved and its work was absorbed into t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monteverdi Orchestra
The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque to the Classical period. History The English Baroque Soloists developed from the Monteverdi Orchestra, which was formed by John Eliot Gardiner in 1968. The Monteverdi Orchestra played on modern instruments, and accompanied Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir. In the late 1970s the orchestra transitioned to period instruments and became the English Baroque Soloists. The first concert under the new name was in 1977 at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, although the orchestra was not officially formed until 1978. Relationship with other ensembles directed by Gardiner The English Baroque Soloists often appear with John Eliot Gardiner's choir, the Monteverdi Choir. In 1990 Gardiner formed the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, another period instrument ensemble. The Orchestre Révo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Basso Continuo
Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing the continuo part are called the ''continuo group''. Forces The composition of the continuo group is often left to the discretion of the performers (or, for a large performance, the conductor), and practice varied enormously within the Baroque period. At least one instrument capable of playing chords must be included, such as a harpsichord, organ, lute, theorbo, guitar, regal, or harp. In addition, any number of instruments that play in the bass register may be included, such as cello, double bass, bass viol, or bassoon. In modern performances of chamber works, the most common combination is harpsichord and cello for instrumental works and secular vocal works, such as operas, and organ and cello for sacred music. A double bass may b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Steinitz
Paul Steinitz OBE (25 August 190 – 21 April 1988) was an English post-war organist, best known as an interpreter of Johann Sebastian Bach's music. He founded the London Bach Society and Steinitz Bach Players, performing among other significant Bach projects, a complete cycle of Bach's cantatas, mainly in London venues, over a period of 29 years, the first public cycle of the extant church and secular works in the UK. Career (Charles) Paul (Joseph) Steinitz was born in Chichester in 1909, the son of an Anglican clergyman. He was educated privately and later studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and with George Oldroyd and Stanley Marchant. He was a skilled organist, obtaining his fellowship diploma (FRCO) in 1930, only six months after taking his associateship diploma (ARCO) from the Royal College of Organists. In the 1930s, he served as director of music at St. Mary's parish church, Ashford, Kent, where he developed his keen interest on Bach while studying for his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |