My creative, discerning continuo playing is much in demand. From 2000 to 2010 I was principal keyboard continuo and assistant conductor to Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
I am a member of the In Echo and The Bach Players and play regularly with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Taverner Consort, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble (the video below shows a recent concert), and La Nuova Musica.
Find out about future performances in my Diary.
Read a complete list of my recordings in the Discography.
Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra
I began working for Sir John Eliot Gardiner in 1999, and played a major role in the celebrated Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000. I acted as assistant conductor and performing as soloist and continuo player.
More details
I was also responsible for finding solutions to the recurring problem of performing Weimar and Leipzig cantatas side by side (Bach intended these works to be performed at different pitch standards) and devised the rehearsal timetables for the most complex weeks of the project – because the dates of the concerts were determined by the liturgical calendar, three different programmes needed to be rehearsed simultaneously in preparation for performance on consecutive days. Between 2000 and 2010 I was principal continuo player on keyboard instruments; in 2016 I returned as continuo player and assistant conductor.
Selected recording
Bach, Cantatas for the First Sunday after Trinity: recorded live in St Giles, Cripplegate
This was one of my personal highlights in the Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000. Extraordinary performances from the instrumental and vocal soloists and the freedom to explore the widest possible palette of continuo colours; Sir John Eliot Gardiner at his very best. Winner of the Gramophone Record of the Year Award in 2005.
Other recordings with the Monteverdi Choir
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Live recordings from the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage (2000):
- Vol. 1, CD 1 & 2 (St Giles, Cripplegate, London) [SDG 101]
- Vol. 2, CD 1 (Paris) [SDG 165]
- Vol. 3, CD 1 (Tewkesbury) [SDG 141]
- Vol. 5, CD 1 (Rendsburg) [SDG 147]
- Vol. 6, CD 1 (Köthen) [SDG 134]
- Vol. 7, CD 1 (Ambronay) [SDG 124]
- Vol. 8, CD 2 (Santiago) [includes harpsichord obbligato] [SDG 104]
- Vol. 9, CD 2 (Leipzig) [SDG 159]
- Vol. 10, CD 1 (Potsdam), CD 2 (Wittenberg) [SDG 110]
- Vol. 11, CD 2 (Greenwich) [includes organ obbligato] [SDG 168]
- Vol. 12, CD 2 (Winchester) [SDG 171]
- Vol. 13, CD 2 (Lüneburg) [SDG 162]
- Vol. 14 (New York) [SDG 113]
- Vol. 15 (New York) [SDG 127]
- Vol. 16 (New York) [SDG 137]
- Vol. 17 CD 1 & 2 (Berlin) [SDG 150]
- Vol. 18, CD 1 (Weimar), CD 2 (Hamburg) [SDG 174]
- Vol. 19, CD 1 (Greenwich), CD 2 (Romsey Abbey) [SDG 115]
- Vol. 20, CD 2 (Southwell) [SDG 153]
- Vol. 21, CD 1 (Cambridge), CD 2 (Walpole St Peter) [SDG 118]
- Vol. 23, CD 1 (Arnstadt) [SDG 131]
- Vol. 24, CD 1 (Altenburg) [includes organ obbligato], CD 2 (Warwick) [SDG 107]
- Vol. 26, CD 1 & 2 (Long Melford) [SDG 121]
- Vol. 27, CD 1 (Blythburgh) [SDG 138]
- SDG 114 Alles mit Gott [world premiere recording of newly discovered aria by Bach]
- SDG 712 Bach: St John Passion [Live recording of performance in 2003]
In Echo
I am a founder member of this exciting and innovative new group – the brain child of cornetto player Gawain Glenton – that performs 16th and 17th-century repertoire for the remarkable combination of cornetto, violin, trombone, bass viol and continuo alongside modern commissions. Our first disc (release early 2018) is entitled Music in a Cold Climate.
www.inecho.co.uk
The Bach Players
The imaginative programming and collective ethos of this group have been a constant source of inspiration to me since I joined in 2007.
Details and recordings
My contributions to the group’s projects have been diverse, performing on harpsichord and organ (both continuo and solo works), devising programmes, and advising on issues of performance practice. The group has also recorded my arrangements of the Bach canons.
Selected recording
Bach’s Library (2013)
A wonderful recording, featuring Marion Moonen, of Bach’s so-called ‘Orchestral Suite in B minor’ for flute and strings (performed here one to a part without double bass) set within the context of pieces that Bach had in his library. These include transcriptions for solo harpsichord of music from Marais’ opera Alcide, transcriptions which appear in a manuscript belonging to Bach’s ?cousin NAME…
Other recordings with the Bach Players
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- Bach: Musical Offering (2016) – includes solo ricercares and my arrangement of the canons
- Bach and Buxtehude (recorded 2015, for future release)
- From Venice to Hamburg (2015) – includes solo pieces by Froberger and Weckmann
- An Italian in Paris (2014)
- Pachelbel and Bach: Christ lag in Todesbanden (2012) [includes my arrangement of Bach’s ‘Goldberg’ canons]
- Italy versus France (2011) [Lully, Corelli, Rebel, Muffat, F. Couperin] [includes solo harpsichord pieces by d’Anglebert and Pasquini]
- Nun komm! (2010) [Bach cantatas 61 and 97, Erlebach, Isaac]
- Every one a chaconne (2009) [Bach cantatas 78 and 150, Erlebach, Purcell]
Performance experience
2017: Musical Director, Residentiary Choir of the Royal School of Church Music
2011 to 2015: Director, Queens’ College Choir, Cambridge
2000 to 2010: Assistant Conductor, The Monteverdi Choir
1996 to 2003: Artistic Director, The Private Music
1996 to present: Freelance continuo player and keyboard soloist
Performance training
1997 to 1998: Advanced Instrumental Studies (harpsichord), Conservatoire royale, Bruxelles, with Frédérick Haas
1995 to 1996: Advanced Instrumental Studies (harpsichord and early piano), Guildhall School of Music and Drama, with Jill Severs and Carole Cerasi
1994 to 1995: Continuo player, European Community Baroque Orchestra
1990 to 1993: Organ Scholar, Trinity College, Cambridge
1988 to 1990: Organ Scholar, St George’s, Beckenham
1986 to 1988: Organist, St Margaret’s, Lee
1984 to 1986: Organist, St Nicholas, Kidbrooke
1983 to 1989: Organ lessons with John Scott