The Galliard Ensemble
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Katherine Spencer - Clarinet Helen Simons - Bassoon Owen Dennis - Oboe Richard Bayliss - Horn Following their membership of the BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme, the Galliard Ensemble has been firmly placed as one of Britain's leading chamber ensembles. Its energetic, highly entertaining and communicative performance style has wowed audiences both in Britain and abroad leading to critical acclaim. Commenting on the Galliard's most recent CD for the Deux Elles label, Michael Oliver wrote in Gramophone Magazine 'pure pleasure... This, in short is wind quintet playing of great distinction... From this admirably recorded disc you also get a very good idea of how enjoyable the Galliard's public concerts must be. Strongly recommended'. |
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The Galliard Ensemble was founded in 1993 when its
members were students at the Royal Academy of Music, and has since won
many major awards including the Maisie Lewis Young Artist Award, the BBC Radio
3 Young Artists Forum, and was selected for the Park Lane Group Series and
Fresh Series at the Purcell Room. They play regularly in many of Britain's prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and Bridgewater Hall. |
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The Galliard Ensemble appears at festivals throughout Europe, having performed
twice at the BBC Proms, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Bath, Brighton
and Harrogate festivals, as well as the Mafra Festival for the British Council,
the Castello Branco and Porto Festivals in Portugal. The Galliard Ensemble has a strong interest in contemporary composition. |
| In addition to working with Paul Patterson,
Gyorgy Ligeti, Richard Rodney Bennett, they have also worked with Sir Harrison
Birtwistle on his quintet Five Distances for their performance at the 1999
BBC Proms. The Galliard Ensemble is committed to bringing music to a wider audience and has undertaken educational concerts with Live Music Now! and has enjoyed performing many school concerts, family concerts, workshops and demonstrations. The group's repertoire spans a wide range from Mozart and Beethoven to Berio and Schoenberg. |
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The ensemble continues to receive extensive coverage of their CD recordings
nationally and internationally. In 2003 they followed up the commercial and
critical success of Opus Number Zoo and Refrains and Choruses, which was
selected by the Sunday Times, BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone, and BBC Radio 3
in their critics’ choices of outstanding releases in 2001, with Light-Distance.
This new recording features 20th century Portuguese chamber music for winds.
As with each of their previous recordings, the new disc includes many first
recordings and wherever possible the ensemble works with the composers on the
performances. The CD was launched at the Purcell Room as part of the South Bank
Centre's Atlantic Waves festival. |
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| The July 2004 edition of BBC Music Magazine included a cover
CD of music by the Galliard Ensemble and a magazine interview. 2006 saw concerts in the Bridgewater Hall, Sage Gateshead and South Bank Centre plus a tour of Slovenia. 2007 included visits to the Newbury Spring and Lake District Summer Music festivals with a programme of masterclasses and lectures to the top British music academies plus a Purcell Room concert in conjunction with painter Ashley Davies. 2009 included a return to the Lake District and further workshops and performances in collaboration with Ashley Davies. 2010 will see the ensemble returning to the Presteigne Festival, among other engagements and undertaking a tour of Scotland. |
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