The English Concert Residency, 13th May - lunchtime
May 2024
As Spring turns into summer, we are thrilled to present a programme of music that celebrates the Baroque stars of the European stage, the sumptuous fine art and visual delights of the time, and a celebration of the greatest exponents of baroque musical performance in the present day. Including an exclusive residency with The English Concert, this season has plenty to indulge in.
Handel at home: The German Flute c.1730
Flute: Marta Gawlas
Harpsichord: Tom Foster
Cello: Madeleine Bouissou
Madeleine Bouissou
Praised for her “total involvement with the inner life of the lowest voice” (New York Concert Review Inc.), cellist Madeleine Bouissou has a vision to influence the attitude of performing on classical instruments among her peers and pupils. When she first heard a historical piano, Madeleine was struck by the variety of colors in sound and the unpredictability of the instrument itself. It inspired her to explore baroque cello where the gut strings, various temperaments, and ornamental improvisations awakened an attitude of openness to explore, react in the moment, and savor her ideas.
In 2020, Madeleine began training to become an Alexander Technique teacher because she wanted to learn to embody that attitude through the use of her whole self. After three years of intensive daily training, Madeleine will be qualifying this July and has already begun to use and share the process of the Alexander Technique in both her cello teaching and her collaboration with various ensembles as a cello player. She aspires to use the Alexander Technique to inspire her colleagues to explore new ways to play and hear music and experience their everyday lives.
Tom Foster
Praised for his “dazzling virtuosity” (The Spectator), Tom Foster has a busy career as a continuo player on organ and harpsichord and as a harpsichord soloist.
Respected for his sensitive and inventive continuo playing, Tom is the principal keyboard player of the English Concert and is a regular guest with The Academy of Ancient Music, Arcangelo, The Dunedin Consort, Early Opera Company, The Mahler Chamber Orchestra, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Scottish Ensemble and The Sixteen. These collaborations have taken him to concert halls throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, Russia and South Korea. He has performed concertos at the Edinburgh International Festival and makes his US solo-debut in recital at the Carnegie Hall in February 2020.
Tom began his musical education as a choirboy at Manchester Cathedral, then as a pianist and harpsichordist at Chetham’s School of Music. He holds a first-class degree in Music (BA) from St. Catherine’s College, Oxford and gained a Distinction in Performance (MA) from the Royal Academy of Music under the tutelage of Trevor Pinnock.
Marta Gawlas
Marta Gawlas was born in Cieszyn. She has been playing historical transverse flutes since the school days. She have been studying flute in many places around the world, among others in Katowice (Poland), Verona (Italy), Brussels (Belgium) and Geneve (Switzerland). She plays many concerts in various solo and ensemble configurations in Poland and abroad. Marta is a member of Arte dei Suonatori, Capella Cracoviensis and Cohaere Ensemble and L’Orchestre de l’Opera Royal; she also collaborated with really famous musicians like Martin Gester, Gaetan Jarry, Marie Perbost, Marc Mullion, Sophie Junker, Marcin Świątkiewicz. She received numerous awards in the baroque solo instruments and chamber music competitions in Poland, France and Italy. She participated a lot of early music masterclasses in Poland and abroad and she also took lessons with the best flute virtuosos.