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Simon Standage
Simon Andrew Thomas Standage (born 8 November 1941 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) is an English violinist and conductor best known for playing and conducting music of the baroque and classical eras on original instruments. Biography and career He studied music at King's College, Cambridge, following which he spent four years in the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under Szymon Goldberg. He won a Harkness Fellowship to study with Ivan Galamian in New York City from 1967 to 1969. After a 1972 Wigmore Hall debut, he became a founding member of Trevor Pinnock's period-instrument ensemble The English Concert. He was first violinist of The English Concert from 1972 to 1991. In this time, he performed and recorded violin concertos by Bach (the single and double concertos, and the Brandenburg Concertos), Vivaldi (The complete op.3 ''l'estro armonico'', op.4 ''la stravaganza'' and op.8 ''il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione'', and '' Le quattro stagioni'' a celebrated secon ...
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High Wycombe
High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Aylesbury, southeast of Oxford, northeast of Reading and north of Maidenhead. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, High Wycombe's built up area has a population of 127,856, making it the second largest town in the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire after Milton Keynes. The High Wycombe Urban Area, the conurbation of which the town is the largest component, has a population of 140,684. High Wycombe is mostly an unparished area. Part of the urban area constitutes the civil parish of Chepping Wycombe, which had a population of 14,455 according to the 2001 census – this parish represents that part of the ancient parish of Chepping Wycombe which was outside the former municipal borough of Wycombe. There has been a market he ...
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Violin Concerto
A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day. Many major composers have contributed to the violin concerto repertoire, with the best known works including those by Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Dvořák, Khachaturian, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Paganini, Prokofiev, Sarasate, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi. Traditionally a three-movement work, the violin concerto has been structured in four movements by a number of modern composers, including Dmitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky, and Alban Berg. In some violin concertos, especially from the Baroque and modern eras, the violin (or group of violins) is accompanied by a chamber ensemble rather than an orchestra—for instance, in Vivaldi's ''L'estro armonico'', originally scored for four vi ...
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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


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Viola
The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the violin family, between the violin (which is tuned a perfect fifth above) and the cello (which is tuned an octave below). The strings from low to high are typically tuned to scientific pitch notation, C3, G3, D4, and A4. In the past, the viola varied in size and style, as did its names. The word viola originates from the Italian language. The Italians often used the term viola da braccio meaning literally: 'of the arm'. "Brazzo" was another Italian word for the viola, which the Germans adopted as ''Bratsche''. The French had their own names: ''cinquiesme'' was a small viola, ''haute contre'' was a large viola, and ''taile'' was a tenor. Today, the French use the term ''alto'', a reference to its range. The viola was popular in the heyd ...
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Micaela Comberti
Micaela "Mica" Comberti (28 September 1952 – 4 March 2003) was an English violinist. Her concert career lasted from 1977 until her death. Born to a German mother and an Italian father, she was taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the Royal Academy of Music and the Mozarteum University Salzburg. Comberti was involved in early music and played for The English Concert, St. James' Baroque, Ex Cathedra and the Collegium Musicum 90. She also taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. An award and position at the Royal Academy of Music are named after the violinist. Biography Comberti was born to a German mother and an Italian father in London on 28 September 1952. She was known by the name Mica from an early age. Comberti demonstrated a talent for music from an early age; aged 19 she travelled to Vienna to study with the violinist Eduard Melkus at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vie ...
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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 ...
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City Of London Sinfonia
City of London Sinfonia (CLS) is an English chamber orchestra based in London. CLS performs regularly across the city of London in venues from East London clubs to traditional Central London concert halls. CLS is orchestra-in-residence at Opera Holland Park since 2004 and holds a residency at St Paul's Cathedral. The orchestra has developed close links with joint venture partners in Mexico and Japan, having toured to Mexico in May 2015 and to Japan in March 2017. It is a registered charity under English law. CLS performs chamber orchestra and ensemble repertoire from the Baroque period to the present day, and has a programming focus on the human voice. Now under the direction of creative director and leader Alexandra Wood, City of London Sinfonia collaborates with artists including Tony Adigun, Jessica Cottis, Soumik Datta, Brett Dean, Sian Edwards, Sam Lee and Roderick Williams. History Richard Hickox founded City of London Sinfonia in 1971 and remained its music director an ...
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English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationally, and holds the distinction of not only having the most extensive discography of any chamber orchestra, but also of being the most well-traveled orchestra in the world; no other orchestra has played concerts (as of 2013, according to its own publicity) in as many countries as the English Chamber Orchestra. The English Chamber Orchestra has its roots in the Goldsbrough Orchestra, founded in 1948 by Lawrence Leonard and Arnold Goldsbrough. The group took its current name in 1960, when it expanded its repertoire beyond the Baroque period for the first time. Its repertoire remained limited by the group's size, which has stayed fairly consistently at around the size of an orchestra of Mozart's time. Shortly afterwards, it became closely assoc ...
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Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age. Handel started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. In 1737, he had a physical break ...
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Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli (, also , , ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the preeminence of the violin, and as the first coalescing of modern tonality and functional harmony. He was trained in Bologna and Rome, and in this city he developed most of his career, due also to the protection of great patrons. Even if his entire production is limited to just six collections of published works — five of which composed by Trio Sonatas or solo and one by Concerti grossi — he achieved great fame and success throughout Europe, also crystallizing models of wide influence. His writing was admired for its balance, refinement, sumptuous and original harmonies, for the richness of the textures, for the majestic effect of the theatricality and for its clear, expressive and melodious polyphony, a perfect quality of classical ideals, although ...
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Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led him to be called "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet". Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their Eszterháza Castle. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. He was a friend and mentor of Mozart, a tutor of Beethoven, and the elder brother of composer Michael Haydn. Biography Early life Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, a village that at that time stood on the border with Hungary. His father was Mathias Haydn, a wheelwright who also se ...
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The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)
''The Four Seasons'' ( it, Le quattro stagioni) is a group of four violin concertos by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, each of which gives musical expression to a season of the year. These were composed around 1718−1720, when Vivaldi was the court chapel master in Mantua. They were published in 1725 in Amsterdam, together with eight additional concerti, as (''The Contest Between Harmony and Invention''). ''The Four Seasons'' is the best known of Vivaldi's works. Though three of the concerti are wholly original, the first, "Spring", borrows patterns from a sinfonia in the first act of Vivaldi's contemporaneous opera ''Il Giustino''. The inspiration for the concertos is not the countryside around Mantua, as initially supposed, where Vivaldi was living at the time, since according to Karl Heller they could have been written as early as 1716–1717, while Vivaldi was engaged with the court of Mantua only in 1718. They were a revolution in musical conception: in them Vivaldi repr ...
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