The Brook Street Band is a music ensemble playing on baroque instruments which takes its name from the London street where composer George Frideric Handel lived from 1723-1759. The Band was formed in 1996 by baroque cellist Tatty Theo to perform and record the chamber music of Handel and his contemporaries. [1]
The BSB was set up in 1996, with funds donated by William Pleeth and Margaret Good, [2] cellist Theo’s maternal grandparents. Chamber music making had always been the driving passion in their musical careers and Pleeth and Good recognised the passion Theo had for it, and advised and enabled her to set up The Brook Street Band. The group took its name from Theo’s love for Handel’s music.
The Brook Street Band has become celebrated for its performances, not just of Handel’s music, but that of Johann Sebastian Bach's too. [3] It has performed at many of the UK’s major chamber music venues, as well as at Early Music Festivals in the UK and Europe. [4]
The Brook Street Band is a familiar group in the UK’s chamber music scene; from 1997 it has regularly performed for BBC Radio 3, [5] from 1999 at the Dartington International Summer School, [4] and from 2003 at Wigmore Hall.
The current core group members of The Brook Street Band are violinists Rachel Harris (1997-2000 and 2006- date) and Kathryn Parry (2018-date), flautist and recorder player Lisete da Silva Bull (2014-date), cellist Tatty Theo and harpsichordist Carolyn Gibley (1999-date). [6]
Past group members have included violinists Marianna Szücs, Katalin Kertèsz and Farran Scott, [4] and harpsichordists Steven Devine and Catherine Pierron.
The Brook Street Band regularly works as a chamber ensemble but often expands for orchestral work. Guest singers have regularly included soprano Nicki Kennedy and bass Matthew Brook. [7]
The Brook Street Band started their own biennial "love:Handel" festival in 2017. The festival is based in Norwich in the Chapel and Princes Street URC. [8]
Isaac Stern was an American violinist.
Jacqueline Mary du Pré was a British cellist. At a young age, she achieved enduring mainstream popularity. Despite her short career, she is regarded as one of the greatest cellists of all time.
Trevor David Pinnock is a British harpsichordist and conductor.
Steven Isserlis is a British cellist. An acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, educator, writer and broadcaster, he is widely regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. He is also noted for his diverse repertoire and distinctive sound which is deployed with his use of gut strings.
James Ehnes, is Canadian concert violinist and violist.
Hille Perl is a German virtuoso performer of the viola da gamba and lirone.
David Schrader is an American harpsichordist, organist, and fortepianist. He is a professor at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University where he teaches music history and conducts chamber music ensembles. Schrader was the organist at Church of the Ascension, Chicago for 35 years.
James Zuill Bailey, better known as Zuill Bailey is an American Grammy Award-winning cello soloist, chamber musician, and artistic director. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School, he has appeared in recital and with major orchestras internationally. He is a professor of cello and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at El Paso. Bailey’s extensive recording catalogue are released on TELARC, Avie, Steinway and Sons, Octave, Delos, Albany, Sono Luminus, Naxos, Azica, Concord, EuroArts, ASV, Oxingale and Zenph Studios.
Anthony Pleeth, born in 1948 in London, is an English cellist, specialising in the historically informed performance of music of the 18th and 19th centuries on period instruments.
Hans Gál OBE was an Austrian composer, pedagogue, musicologist, and author, who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938.
Laszlo Varga was a Hungarian-born American cellist who had a worldwide status as a soloist, recording artist, and authoritative cello teacher.
Monica Huggett is a British conductor and leading baroque violinist.
David Finckel is an American cellist and influential figure in the classical music world. The cellist for the Emerson String Quartet from 1979 to 2013, Finckel is currently the co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, co-founder of the independent record label ArtistLed, co-artistic director and co-founder of Music@Menlo in Silicon Valley, producer of Cello Talks, professor of cello at The Juilliard School, and visiting professor of music at Stony Brook University.
This is a Nonesuch Records discography, organized by catalog number.
Marjorie Olive Hayward was an English violinist and violin teacher, prominent during the first few decades of the 20th century.
Jonathan Cohen is an English cellist and conductor.
Julian Perkins is a British conductor and keyboard player. Shortlisted for the Gramophone Award in 2021, he is Artistic Director of the Portland Baroque Orchestra in the USA. He lives in London, England and is also Founder Director of the early music ensemble Sounds Baroque and Artistic Director of Cambridge Handel Opera Company.
London Baroque is a chamber orchestra formed in 1978 by Charles Medlam and Ingrid Seifert. Its members are Ingrid Seifert and Richard Gwilt (violins), Charles Medlam and Steven Devine. Its repertoire ranges from the late 16th up to late 18th century.
Markus Becker is a German pianist and academic teacher. He is focused on chamber music, and on piano concertos from the time around 1900. His recording of the complete piano works by Max Reger earned him awards. He is also a jazz pianist, and has been professor of piano and chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover since 1993.