The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble was formed in 1993 by the leading young specialists on early brass instruments from London's music colleges, with a shared aim to take the performance of music on cornetts and sackbuts to the highest level.
The group have since played at many of the major UK music festivals, including Bath, Spitalfields, Warwick & Leamington and York, and recently performed in the Wigmore Hall, St John's, Smith Square and the Purcell Room in London. They have also given concerts in France, Israel (twice with the assistance of the British Council) and Canada and have featured on BBC Radios 3 and 4 and BBC Radio Scotland.
Their debut CD "Accendo" on the Deux-Elles label is an exploration of Italian music from the time of Monteverdi. It has already received critical acclaim, and has been awarded a maximum "5 stars" for both performance and recording quality by the BBC Music Magazine.
Playing instruments that so naturally compliment the human voice, the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble have regularly accompanied the country's leading professional chamber choirs, including I Fagiolini, the Dunedin Consort, Trinity Baroque and the Choir of Queen's College, Cambridge. They have also performed many joint vocal and instrumental programmes with choral societies across Britain, including the magnificent 1610 Vespers of Claudio Monteverdi (a specialist piece that the members of the group have played literally hundreds of times). In fact they are already taking bookings in advance for the 400th anniversary of this work in 2010!
In addition to their work with the group, the members of the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble also perform and record regularly with many of the leading specialist 'original instrument' groups, including the Gabrieli Consort and Players, English Baroque Soloists, King's Consort and Tafelmusik, as well as providing music for the plays at the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe on London's Bankside.
"The whole ensemble seemed to float like one of those gravity-defying consorts of angels one sees in medieval religious paintings...their combined impact was like a cast of thousands"... The Scotsman
The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble:-
- Fiona Russell -Cornett
- Adrian Woodward -Cornett
- Abigail Newman -Sackbut
- Tom Lees -Sackbut
- Adrian France -Bass Sackbut
- Robert Howarth -Keyboards
Back to index | Contact Fantasia Music