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. 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. |
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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. 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 work 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. 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 plus a programme of masterclasses and lectures to the top British music academies and a Purcell Room concert in December. |
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