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Artists who have recorded on the London Independent Label:

  • The Galeazzi Ensemble: Lesley Holliday, flute / Richard Wade, violin / Virginie Guiffray, viola / Gareth Deats, cello
    View biography
  • Lorna Anderson and the Apollo Chamber Players
    Helen Duffy, flute / Elizabeth Pigram, violin / Susan Harrison, violin / Fay Sweet, viola / David Chernaik, cello / Elizabeth Bradley, double bass
    View biography

  • The New Music Players
    Rowland Sutherland, flutes / Fiona Cross, clarinets / Mieko Kanno, violin / Michael Atkinson, cello / Richard Casey, piano / Tim Palmer, percussion /
    Louise Mott, mezzo-soprano (The Sibyl of Cumae) / Paul Sherman, double bass (The Sibyl of Cumae) / Patrick Bailey, conductor / Roger Montgomery, conductor (Wood)
    View biography

  • Colm Carey (organ)   View biography

  • David Pollock (harpsichord & virginals)    View biography

  • Nancy Long (mezzo soprano)   View biography

  • Chameleon Brass
    Giles Fowler, trumpet / Matthew Wells, trumpet, flugel / Ian Stott, horn / Stephen Thompson, trombone / Rich Fox, EEflat tuba   View biography

  • Mardi Brass
    Richard Hammond, Bb trumpet, C trumpet, Eb/D trumpet, Cornet, Flugel / Edward Maxwell, Bb trumpet, Eb trumpet, Piccolo trumpet, Flugel /
    Jonathan Hassan, french horn / Adam Woolf, trombone / Jeff Miller, bass trombone, F tuba, CC tuba     View biography

  • The Bridge Duo
    Matthew Jones, viola / Michael Hampton, piano         View biography

  • Elizabeth de la Porte (harpsichord)
    View biography

  • Ian Jones (piano)
    View biography

  • Paul Simmonds
    View biography

  • Penelope Thwaites
    View biography

  • Pegasus
    View biography

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The Galeazzi Ensemble  

The Galeazzi Ensemble was formed in 1995 in order to explore Classical and Early Romantic chamber music using instruments of the period. The members of the ensemble knew each other from having studied early music performance at music colleges in London. As well as performing works from the standard repertoire, the group aims to introduce many neglected works to today's audiences.

The ensemble takes its name from the composer and theorist Francesco Galeazzi (1758-1818). Better known today for his theoretical writings, Galeazzi's most influential treatise was a two-volumed work entitled
Elementi teorico pratici di musica (1791-6).

Since they were finalists in the 1999 York International Early Music Network Competition, The Galeazzi Ensemble have performed on Meridian television and BBC Radio 3, and have continued to give concerts for festivals and music societies to great critical acclaim. They have also occasionally expanded to form a quintet with either oboe, fortepiano or an additional viola. All members of the ensemble also perform with other leading period instrument orchestras and chamber groups.

The Galeazzi Ensemble's first CD for London Independent was LIR001: The Age of Elegance and this will be followed by a further release in September 2003, details to be confirmed.

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Lorna Anderson and the Apollo Chamber Players

Lorna Anderson has appeared in opera, concert and recital throughout Europe, and has recorded several CDs of music by Schubert, Handel, Purcell and others. She performs regularly in Britain and abroad, and is particularly known for her interpretations of Handel, Bach and Mozart.

David Chernaik enjoys a successful career as conductor, cellist and arranger. He has been conductor of the Apollo Chamber Orchestra since 1989.

The Apollo Chamber Players are all principal players with the Apollo Chamber Orchestra, and have a busy programme of concerts and schools workshops featuring chamber music for strings, wind, piano and voice.

The Apollo Chamber Players and Lorna Anderson recorded a CD of Portuguese Love songs for London Independent, LIR002: Sempre Amor

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The New Music Players

The New Music Players is one of the UK’s most accomplished new music ensembles, and its musicians are some of the finest working in England today.  Founded by composer Edward Dudley Hughes as Cambridge New Music Players in 1990, early commissions included works from Michael Finnissy and Howard Skempton which were recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3. In 1992 the ensemble mounted the first UK performance of John Cage’s Europera 5. The ensemble has appeared to critical acclaim on many occasions in major London venues such as ICA, South Bank, and Warehouse. It has played at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Bath and Brighton Festivals and at Dartington International Summer School. As well as playing at major UK Festivals and venues, the group has toured to many universities including Kings College London, Royal Holloway, Southampton, Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Belfast, Anglia Polytechnic and Cardiff. New Music Players has made many studio and concert recordings for BBC Radio 3. From 1997-1999 the group worked extensively in the East of England in touring and education projects with schools funded by the Eastern Arts Board.  In October 1997, the New Music Players toured Italy with the support of the British Council.  The tour included a concert in Rome which was recorded live for Italian Radio. The group has appeared in the Rainbow Over Bath season, Oxford Contemporary Music Festival, and other prestigious concert series.

In October 2000 the New Music Players was appointed Ensemble in Residence at the University of York, a major residency which ran for three years. Other recent projects include Southampton University/RMA Music and Film Conference, and a live concert broadcast from York for the BBC Radio 3 ‘Hear and Now’ programme’s contribution to BBC Music Live 2001. Recently the group has commissioned significant new works from  British composers James Wood, Rowland Sutherland, Rolf Hind, Gordon McPherson, Michael Finnissy and Edward Dudley Hughes.

Further information about the group, its plans, recordings and education work, may be found at:www.newmusicplayers.org.uk
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Colm Carey

Colm Carey studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Nicholas Danby and David Titterington, where he read for a University of London BMus. He also gained the Dip.RAM, the Academy’s highest performance award, and later became Meaker Fellow. As winner of the prestigious Julius Isserlis Scholarship, he went on to study at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève with Lionel Rogg, where he won the ‘Premier Prix de Virtuosité avec Distinction’ on completion of his course. He subsequently came third and won the Audience Prize at the St. Albans International Competition.

Since then Colm has performed in France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Canada, the USA, Australia and throughout Britain and Ireland. His repertoire embraces all the major traditions, from the French Classical School and the German Baroque to the great symphonic tradition of the nineteenth century, and as a keen exponent of contemporary music he has given first performances of new works by Lionel Rogg, Roderick Williams, Ruth Byrchmore and Andrew Johnstone.

Visit Colm’s Carey’s website at www.colmcarey.com

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David Pollock

David Pollock studied piano, organ and composition at the Royal College of Music, and later specialized in the harpsichord under the guidance of John Toll at the Royal Academy of Music, where he won the Croft Early Music First Prize. 

Since then his career as both solo recitalist and continuo player has developed in Britain and abroad, and he has appeared at such venues as London’s Purcell Room, and Cardiff’s St. David’s Hall. He has taken part in the international music festivals at Brighton and Edinburgh, performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and given critically acclaimed recitals at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon. 

David has promoted new repertoire for the harpsichord, including a large-scale solo work written for him by the composer Gavin Stevens, premiered as part of the Chichester Festivities, and is currently engaged in a project to encourage contemporary composers to contribute to a latter-day ‘virginals Booke’. He works with many prominent musicians in the period instrument field, and is harpsichordist with The Parnassian Ensemble, with whom he has recorded music from the reign of Queen Anne. 

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Nancy Long

Nancy Long's full and varied solo career has taken the mezzo-soprano to the major concert platforms and festivals in Europe and America. She began her career in the 1970s singing with groups such as the New York Pro Musica, the New York Ensemble for Early Music, Musica Reservata (London), and the Huelgas Ensemble (Belgium). She has sung as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta (Simon Rattle conducting), and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. She sang the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with Dame Janet Baker as Dido, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, directed by Phillip Ledger. She has also performed with the Raglan Baroque Players, and the Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt (Paul Daniel conducting). Nancy made the first recording of a work by Alejandro Viñao with three other soloists from Singcircle. It was performed in Norway, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and in a Promenade Concert in London. This group also made a recording of Stockhausen’s Stimmung. 

Besides being a founding member of Singcircle, Miss Long sang and recorded with the select six soloists of the London Sinfonietta Voices for many years, performing and recording many world premieres, including composers such as Berio and Birtwistle. In 1984 she gave a well received recital ‘debut’ at the Wigmore Hall, London. Nancy has performed in the Three Choirs Festival, and the festivals of Cheltenham, Bath, Windsor and Edinburgh. She has also recorded with the New York Pro Musica, and the Huelgas Ensemble. Her concerts with the group Tragicomedia included the Innsbruck Festival and performances of operas by Monteverdi and Francesca Caccini in Bremen, with Nigel Rogers and Harry van der Kamp. In spring 1994 they gave a concert in Geneva for a concert of Italian monody and English song of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. This CD was the first recording made by the then new ensemble in 1988. Nancy’s teaching career began as a graduate Fellow at the University of Maryland and continued at the American University in Washington, D.C., before she settled in London. There she built up a considerable private teaching practice while also giving singing lessons at the London Early Music Centre between 1978 and 1982. In 1983 she began eleven years of teaching at the Centre de Musique Ancienne and the Conservatoire Populaire in Geneva, Switzerland, moving there with her family in 1987. Since her return to Britain in 1994, she has spent several years teaching choral scholars at Trinity College, Cambridge University. There have been master classes, lectures, and workshops in the U.S.A. Along with Stephen Stubbs and Emma Kirkby, Nancy was invited to perform and give masterclasses by the Hilliard Ensemble at their festival in Sussex, England. She has also given classes at the Flanders Festival (Belgium), the Utrecht Early Music Festival (Holland), the Erice Festival (Sicily), and in Switzerland.

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Chameleon Brass

Chameleon Brass are a vibrant, entertaining ensemble who have been together for several years. They have performed at such venues as the Millennium Dome, Croydon’s Fairfield Halls, and London’s St John’s, Smith Square. All the members of the group have worked on Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now! scheme and are committed to music in education.

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Mardi Brass

Mardi Brass was founded in 1992. It has performed throughout Britain, thrilling audiences with its unique blend of music and humour. Mardi Brass has appeared on national television and radio and has performed at the Purcell Room on London’s South Bank and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, to critical acclaim. In addition to innovative recital programmes, Mardi Brass commissions new works for brass and publishes arrangements by group members. The group is also active in the field of education, notably with its children’s show, Jurassic to Jazz. 

Individually, the members of the quintet freelance in a wide variety of settings, including West End shows such as Chicago and West Side Story, The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts and the English Baroque Soloists.

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The Bridge Duo

The Bridge Duo has performed worldwide to high acclaim. Recent recital venues in the UK include the Purcell Room, St. John's Smith Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Blackheath Halls and the Wales Millennium Centre.

They are devoted to raising the awareness of the depth and quality of the repertoire for viola and piano, presenting attractive and accessible programmes. They aim to explore this overlooked music (much of it British) and to perform it in a dynamic way, changing people's perception of the viola as a solo instrument.

Matthew Jones won the prize for the most promising British entrant in the 2003 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, and is in great demand as a soloist and chamber musician. In addition to Bridge Duo recitals he has recently performed with the London Debussy Trio, the PM Music Ensemble and Ensemble Modern. Also a teacher of the Alexander Technique and Kundalini Yoga, Matthew has taught at the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music and Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Michael Hampton has established himself as one of the leading young artists in his field. A first class graduate. major prize-winner and Junior Fellow of the Royal College of Music, he has had regular coachings with both John Blakely and Roger Vignoles. He broadcasts regularly on the BBC and appears at many festivals, clubs and societies throughout the UK. He has also performed at major venues throughout Europe with the Rising Stars programme, and has toured Asia and Australasia.

For further details please visit www.TheBridgeDuo.com

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Elizabeth de la Porte

 

 

Elizabeth de la Porte has long been recognised as a harpsichordist of unusual talent and personality. At the time of her original London appearances The Daily Telegraph described her as ‘a mind that contemplates and acts imaginatively on intimate stylistic knowledge’ - and her playing achieves a happy synthesis of authenticity and imagination. Then, as now, meticulous scholarship is not for her the goal, but rather the starting point from which to encompass the expressive scope of the music - its drama, brilliance or poetry. 

Elizabeth’s deepest affinities were and are for J S Bach and Francois Çouperin, affinities that go back to her childhood in Johannesburg. When she won the University of South Africa’s Overseas Scholarship it was on the strength of her playing of Bach’s C minor Partita. This led her to the Vienna Academy and the Royal College of Music, London, and to private teaching from Jane Clark and Rafael Puyana. 

During the 1970s Elizabeth appeared in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as the United Kingdom and her native South Africa. She made appearances on BBC television. She played all Bach’s French Suites at a special series at St John’s, Smith Square, London and she set something of a record for the 1970s by selling out the Purcell Room for an all Çouperin recital. For her concluding appearances of that period, in Vienna, Geneva and London, she concentrated on Bach’s six Partitas. 

Elizabeth is married to a doctor and has three children, and amongst her current teaching commitments she finds the RCM Juniors particularly rewarding. She lives in Faversham in East Kent.

 

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Ian Jones

 

Ian Jones' career as a Steinway Artist has taken him to all five continents. Appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Hall include critically acclaimed performances of Rachmaninov’s Second and Third Piano Concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini as well as concertos by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Schumann. He has appeared in Paris and throughout France as concerto soloist with Ensemble International de Paris and has performed many of Mozart’s Piano Concertos in Europe and the USA. 

He was a prizewinner at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1993 and other awards include the Royal College of Music’s most prestigious piano prize, the Chappell Medal, and a French Government Scholarship inviting him to spend a year in Paris. His teachers and mentors have included Maria Curcio, Gyorgy Sebok, Phyllis Sellick, Niel Immelman, Jerome Lowenthal, Martin Canin and Alain Planès.

He has broadcast for radio and television networks in many different countries and his first two CDs of chamber music by British composer Rebecca Clarke, for Dutton Epoch, have attracted much favourable attention on radio and in the music press.

 

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Paul Simmonds

 

Paul Simmonds has worked with the clavichord since his student days in Freiburg, Germany, but it was only in the 1980s that he began to discover its potential as an independent musical instrument. In 1995 his first clavichord recording was released on the Ars Musici label. His subsequent recording of keyboard sonatas by the still relatively unknown composer, Ernst Wilhelm Wolf, was awarded the German Critics’ Prize. Living in Southern England, he performs and teaches internationally.

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Penelope Thwaites

Penelope Thwaites has established an international reputation as solo pianist and specialist in the music of Australian composer Percy Grainger. As concerto soloist she has appeared with the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, City of London Sinfonia and BBC Concert Orchestra in the UK, and with leading orchestras in Australia, Europe and America. 

Artistic Director of the 1998 London Grainger Event, Penelope has recorded over 250 tracks of Percy Grainger’s solo piano, chamber and orchestral works. She was awarded the International Grainger Society’s Medallion in 1991 and the Order of Australia in 2001 for services to Australian Music. 

Well-known for her many Duo piano concerts and recordings with John Lavender,  Penelope has recently built a new Trio with two prize-winning young musicians, cellist Marie Macleod and violinist Dima Tkachenko. The trio’s debut recital at the Wigmore Hall was enthusiastically praised by Musical Opinion for its “dramatic account of Mendelssohn’s First Piano Trio”, as well as for its performance of  English composer William Reed’s exciting piano trio.

Penelope’s current repertoire includes solo piano, duo and trio programmes, combining classic, romantic and more contemporary piano pieces from composers like Bach, Brahms, Chopin and Shostakovich with a fine selection of Percy Grainger’s original works and folk-settings. The Times praised Penelope for “an absorbing recital… Interesting harmony and unexpected textures were sensitively handled… thickly clustered notes were masterfully deployed.” Her most recent solo disc for Chandos drew from The Delian the comment: “I cannot imagine a more beautiful piano sound…one CD all Delians and Graingerities should have…”

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Pegasus

 

Pegasus is one of London’s leading chamber choirs, devoting most of its time to  concerts for music societies and charities. The choir were semi-finalists in the BBC Choir of the Year competition in 2005, and in November 2007 won bronze in the vocal groups category at the Tolosa International Choral Competition in Spain. Television and radio work includes Radio 3, Radio 4, Classic FM, and the Channel 4 premiere of Jonathan Dove’s opera “When She Died” – about Princess Diana.

 

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For further details on the artists featured please contact us at:

London Independent Records, Tel: (0)20 3239 6855   email: jan@london-independent.co.uk