Concert Details
| Concert: | Two Harpsichords in Concert with Colin Booth and Steven Devine |
| Date: | Sunday 13 March |
| Time: | 2:30pm |
| Tickets: | £13 |
| U18 Tickets: | £7 |
| Queen Elizabeth: Her Musicke. Steven Devine and Colin Booth explore the glories of early keyboard repertoire, playing harpsichord, organ, and virginals. The concert will focus in particular upon music from the court of Elizabeth I. Pre-booked lunches available at £16 |
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Artiste Information
Colin Booth has combined the careers of harpsichordist and harpsichord-maker for more than 30 years. He teaches and performs annually at the Dartington International Summer School, and is currently resident harpsichordist for the European Union Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded 11 CDs of solo harpsichord music, all to critical acclaim.
The end of 2010 saw the culmination of a ten-year project: Colin’s book Did Bach Really Mean That? This investigation of baroque notation is, although long and detailed, a highly readable guide for all who are keen on playing early keyboard music, whatever their chosen instrument. To accompany the publication of his book, Colin has just released his recording of Bach’s Goldberg variations. It has already received enthusiastic reviews:
Musical Pointers (February 2011, Peter Grahame Woolf):
Booth takes a lighter approach than some, and he reminds us that complete performances would not originally have been envisaged; indeed he urges us to dwell on individual variations and to use the "repeat button". A wonderful disc, which we have listened to in whole and in part several times, with great enjoyment.
The Independent, February 2011: “…this brilliant record…” CD of the week.
Steven Devine - Since 2007 Steven has been the harpsichordist with London Baroque in addition to his position as Co-Principal keyboard player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He is also the principal keyboard player for The Gonzaga Band, Apollo and Pan, The Classical Opera Company, I Fagiolini and performs regularly with many other groups around Europe. He has recorded over thirty discs with other artists and ensembles and made three solo recordings. His next major recording, Bach's Goldberg Variations for Chandos Records, will be released in 2011.
Steven made his London conducting debut in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall and is now a regular performer there - including making his Proms directing debut in August 2007 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He will be returning there for the 2011 season with the same group. He has conducted the Mozart Festival Orchestra in every major concert hall in the UK and also across Switzerland. In opera, Steven has worked at the Comische Oper in Berlin and alongside Paul Mcreesh throughout France. With Opera Restor’d, he has conducted at Wigmore Hall in London, at the Warwick, Lake District, Stour Norwich and English Haydn Festivals. Steven is a Music Director for New Chamber Opera in Oxford and with them has conducted performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Mozart’s La Finta Semplice, Stradella’s Il Trespolo Tutore, Rossini's Il Comte Ory, Handel's Xerxes, Arne's Artaxerxes, Galuppi's Il Mondo Reverso. He has just directed the first performance of the newly-acquired score of Cavalli's Erismena this Summer. For the Dartington Festival Opera he has conducted Handel’s Orlando and will return next year with Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Passionate about the role of music in education, Steven is a regular member of the OAE education team, Professor of Fortepiano at Trinity College of Music and a visiting teacher, adjudicator and examiner for many other institutions. One of Steven's proudest (and longest) associations is with the Finchcocks Musical Museum in Kent where holds the post of Director of Education. Sep 2010
