Galliarda
Ibi Aziz
Richard MacKenzie
Sara Stowe
Wendy Hancock
A Merry Wassail
Christmas songs from several countries
El Noi de la Mare Catalan carol
Joseph lieber, Joseph mein German 16th century
Born is the babe anon, English 16th cent.
In Dulce Jubilo Michael Praetorius
Elizabethan Dances
Anthony Holborne The New Year's Gift - As it fell on a Holie Eve - The Night Watch - Hey Ho Holiday
Christmas carols from the Mediterranean
Josep i María Catalan folklore
Claro abril resplandeció Spanish/Catalan traditional
Noel nouvelet Provençal carol
Campanas de Belén Spanish traditional
Festive tunes from The Dancing Master John Playford (17th century)
The four members of Galliarda are all highly respected performers who have wide experience of performing internationally, recording, teaching and research in the fields of Renaissance and Baroque Music. They offer an unusual combination of instruments, providing maximum variety, with soprano voice, two viols, recorder(s) or flute, combined with lute, early guitar, theorbo and percussion.
The ensemble strives to engage with the audience by talking about and demonstrating the instruments, and include witty (and bawdy) readings in their performances. Galliarda was formed in 2010 in order to perform in country houses and other historical settings. Sara Stowe and Wendy Hancock had already met when recording Renaissance music together in Oxford for The Gift of Music label. Ian Gammie then joined on viola da gamba, and brought with him a huge interest and knowledge of Spanish and South-American music. Richard MacKenzie· joined next,· recommended by lutenist Linda Sayce for his outstanding ability on early plucked instruments.· Ian Gammie has recently retired, but is replaced by viola da gamba player Ibi Aziz. Nevertheless, the strong Spanish and South-American influence remains in place. Galliarda completed a tour of Great Britain during 2013-14 as one of the selected ensembles for the Concert Promoters’ Network Brochure, organised through Making Music (formerly the National Federation of Music Societies), and supported by the Arts Council, England. The group has released its first CD entitled Josep i Maria which features Spanish and Catalan carols and dances.
Ibi Aziz studied the viola da gamba with Alison Crum at Trinity College of Music London, where he won several awards including the Ricordi Prize in conducting in 2003 and the college’s Gold Medal in 2005.
A member of the Rose Consort of Viols and several other ensembles in Europe, he has collaborated with many distinguished artists such as singers Emma Kirkby and Clare Wilkinson, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, recorder players Emma Murphy and Pamela Thorby, gamba player Charles Medlam, jazz musicians Liam Noble and David Wickins, the contemporary music company Sound Affairs with composer Charlie Barber, and the Oxford-based baroque ensemble Charivari Agréable.
He has appeared on the BBC and Dutch radio stations as well as featuring on various recordings on the Signum, Delphian and Deux-Elles labels. Ibi has performed in many festivals worldwide for all kinds of audiences ranging from the BBC Proms, to Christmas shoppers in Oxford Street, to Highgrove House for HRH The Prince of Wales. Ibi leads the Historical Performance Practice course at Morley College, London, where he now lives.
Richard MacKenzie is rapidly gaining recognition as a soloist and collaborative artist on renaissance and baroque lutes, renaissance, baroque and classical guitars, vihuela and theorbo.
His current ensembles include Chordophony (Europe’s only professional lute quartet), The Portrait Choir (choir-in-residence at The National Portrait Gallery), Oxford Baroque (dir. Jeremy Summerly), and Mascherata, whilst his many collaborations have involved Charivari Agréable, Ex Cathedra, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, I Fagiolini, Fiori Musicali featuring James Bowman, The City Waites, The Apollo Baroque Consort, The Amadè Players, The Brook Street Band, Vespri Segreti, Sounds Baroque, Shakespeare’s Globe (Henry V, Titus Andronicus and Julius Caesar), and Oxford’s New Chamber Opera. In addition, April 2012 saw Richard assistant-directing the European Lute Orchestra’s appearance at the Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza.
He has performed at every major British early music festival, and he has appeared on BBC Radio 3 and BBC 2 on multiple occasions. Since completing a degree in music at The Queen’s College, University of Oxford, Richard has seen the release of two solo albums, and the publication of a musicological work, a critical edition of Granata’s Armoniosi Toni… (Bologna, 1684).
Sara ·Stowe follows parallel careers as singer and harpsichordist. She has made several tours for the British and Dutch Early Music Networks, and for the British Council throughout Europe and in South America and Africa.
She has performed with many eminent artists and ensembles at major festivals and concert halls, including Emma Kirkby, James Wood, Matthew Spring, Sirinu, Academy of Ancient Music, the Elizabethan Consort, Taverner Consort, New London Consort, Broadside Band, Chalemie, and Sinfonye.
Sara has recorded for BBC and Classic FM Radios, Chandos, Hyperion, Decca and Griffin. Her work in contemporary music includes festivals at Darmstadt, Aix en Provence, Delphi Xenakis Fest, Beethoven Halle Bonn, Nicosia, Cagliari, Palermo, Catania, Belfast, Bath, South Bank, Peninsula Arts Festival, York Early Music Festivals and Spitalfields. She enjoys singing in different languages which range from charango songs in Quechua (language of the Incas) to Persian songs in Farsi.
Sara studied piano and harpsichord in Harlow, New Town with Virginia Black and then at the Royal College of Music where she was awarded a Foundation Scholarship to study the piano, and then won the prestigious Raymond Russell harpsichord prize and the RCM continuo prize. She went on to win a British Council Bursary to study singing in Italy, where she collaborated with Luciano Berio. She completed her vocal studies in London with Peter Harrison, and now lives in Oxford.
Wendy Hancock was born in London, and now lives in Nottingham. After a first degree in music from Exeter University, she gained a PGCE in secondary music teaching from Cambridge University. School music teaching was not for her however, so she returned to university – this time Nottingham – to study for an MA and an M. Phil. Teaching careers at South-East Derbyshire (sixth-form) college and for the Department of Continuing Education at Nottingham University followed.
She has also taught on summer schools such as Dolmetsch, Norvis, the Antwerp International Summer School, and Le Tréport, northern France, and given special lectures on performance-practice at Bangor and Birmingham universities. Nowadays she coaches the early music ensembles at Nottingham University, and teaches privately. For ten years, between 1977 and 1987 she was editor of Chelys, the journal of the Viola da Gamba Society, and in 2013 she was guest editor of the online journal.
Wendy performs mainly on the baroque flute, recorder and viol, with the ensembles Galliarda and Musica Donum Dei, which she founded and of which she is Artistic Director. She has recorded several CDs with MD and, on Renaissance instruments, for ‘The Gift of Music’ label.
Her article, ‘Thomas Mace and a sense of Humour: the case for expression in 17th-century instrumental music’, has recently been published by both the Viola da Gamba and Lute Societies, and translated into German as a festschrift. Other interests concern the musical connections of the Curzon family, at Kedleston Hall, near Derby in the 18th century. She was interviewed by Suzie Klein on this subject at Kedleston Hall for ‘In Tune’ in April 2014.
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