The Welsh Camerata (Welsh : Y Camerata Cymreig) is a chamber choir of 25-30 singers based in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, specialising in the performance of early music. The choir is constituted as a company limited by guarantee. [1]
It was founded in 2004 when early music expert Andrew Wilson-Dickson from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama agreed to lead the choir. He remained in this rôle until his retirement in 2024. In 2024, Frederick (known as Freddie) Brown was appointed. Rehearsals take place in Canton, Cardiff.
The choir has performed with individuals and orchestral groups such as Buddug Verona James, Devon Baroque Orchestra, Welsh Baroque Orchestra, and Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra. In 2014 it gave the first performance of Andrew Wilson-Dickson's large scale oratorio Karuṇā [2] with soloists including Emma Kirkby, and in 2016 it premièred his reconstruction of J S Bach's St Mark Passion. [3] [4] Members of the choir have frequently recorded for the BBC Morning Service. [5]
Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, is an English soprano and early music specialist. She has sung on over 100 recordings.
The Taverner Choir, Consort and Players is a British music ensemble which specialises in the performance of Early and Baroque music. The ensemble is made up of a Baroque orchestra, a vocal consort and a Choir. Performers place emphasis on a historically informed performance practice and players work with restored or replicated period instruments.
The English Concert is a baroque orchestra playing on period instruments based in London. Founded in 1972 and directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock for 30 years, it is now directed by harpsichordist Harry Bicket. Nadja Zwiener has been orchestra leader (concertmaster) since September 2007.
Joshua Rifkin is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist. He is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre Revueltas; as a scholar has published research on composers from the Renaissance to the 20th century.
Robin Blaze is a British countertenor.
Paul Goodwin is an English conductor and former oboist.
The St Mark Passion, BWV 247, is a lost Passion setting by Johann Sebastian Bach, first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday, 23 March 1731. Though Bach's music is lost, the libretto by Picander is still extant, and from this, the work can to some degree be reconstructed.
The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) is a training initiative that allows young performers of baroque music from the European Union to gain orchestral experience as part of their career development. Its purpose is to bridge the gap between music school study and a professional career. Founded in 1985 and originally based in England, the orchestra moved to Belgium and then Italy following Brexit.
James Gilchrist is a British tenor specialising in recital and oratorio singing.
Ruth Holton is an English soprano singer.
Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach for bass voice.
Caroline Stam is a Dutch classical soprano who has an international (European) performing career specializing in baroque repertoire, reinforced by a distinguished presence in modern recordings.
John Butt is an English orchestral and choral conductor, organist, harpsichordist and scholar. He holds the Gardiner Chair of Music at the University of Glasgow and is music director of the Dunedin Consort with whom he has made award-winning recordings in historically informed performance. He is a prolific scholar, conductor and performer of works by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Bath Bach Choir, formerly The City of Bath Bach Choir (CBBC), is based in Bath, Somerset, England, and is a registered charity. Founded in 1946 by Cuthbert Bates, who also became a founding father of the Bath Bach Festival in 1950, the choir's original aim was to promote the music of Johann Sebastian Bach via periodic music festivals. Bates – an amateur musician with a great love and understanding of this composer's works – was also the CBBC's principal conductor and continued in this role until his sudden death, in April 1980. This untimely exit pre-empted his planned retirement concert performance of J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor, scheduled for July of the same year, and effectively ended the first period of the choir's history.
Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE is a British baritone and composer.
L'arpa festante is a German chamber orchestra, specializing in the revival and performance of unknown works, especially from the Baroque era. It was established in Munich in 1983 by Michi Gaigg, who also led the ensemble as concertmaster until 1995. The ensemble takes its name from Giovanni Battista Maccioni's dramatic cantata L'arpa festante which was first performed in 1653, inaugurating what was to become the Bavarian State Opera.
Rogers Henry Lewis Covey-Crump is an English tenor noted for his performances in both early music and contemporary classical music. He has sometimes been identified as an haute-contre tenor. He has performed for over 50 years in choirs and ensembles such as the Hilliard Ensemble, and as a soloist. He has been especially in demand for the part of the Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew Passion and St John Passion. He also specialises in vocal tuning, and has written articles on the subject.
Andrew Wilson-Dickson is a British composer, pianist and an authority on early music practice.
Andrew Balfour is a Cree composer and conductor from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is the artistic director of the vocal ensemble Dead of Winter.