Gillian Keith
Soprano
Many thanks to Gillian, who performed with us yesterday at the Chipping Campden Festival. What resulted was a glorious performance, on an equally glorious Bank Holiday Monday.
Read MoreGiuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Composer
Himself: Despite his innate musical ability (he began studying music at the age of three), Verdi’s application for the Milan Conservatory was rejected due to his lack of piano technique and discipline. In 1839, he moved to Milan and he had his first success with Nabucco and also his first failure, with the comedy Un…
Read MoreEllie Cowan
Education Officer
Hi, I’m Ellie, the Education Officer for the OAE. Thanks to the range of projects we deliver in the Education Department, my day-to-day job can be very different. From booking players and rehearsal spaces, liaising with schools to organising workshops or trips to the concert hall, collating and organising music for projects, compiling and creating…
Read MoreGavin Edwards
Horn
Gavin Edwards studied Horn with Anthony Chiddel and Classical horn with Anthony Halstead, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After graduating he was appointed as principal horn of the Orchestre Sinfonica de Tenerife. On his return to England he joined the Hanover Band in their recordings of Beethoven’s, Schubert’s and Haydn’s symphonies. From…
Read MoreAntonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Composer
Vivaldi/The Man Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born in Venice. He was baptized immediately after his birth by the midwife, which led many people to believe his life was somehow in danger. The real reason is still not known for sure, some argue it was due to ill health while others state that an earthquake the…
Read MoreAndrew Watts
Bassoon
Andy Watts began his music career playing medieval and renaissance instruments and clarinet at primary school in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, then took up the modern bassoon at the age of sixteen.
Read MoreLisa Sian
Finance Director
I’m Lisa the Finance Director and Company Secretary and I started with the OAE way back in July 2003.
Read MoreKaty Bell
Press Manager
Hi, I’m the OAE’s first in house Press Manager, and I’ve been here since 2009, working Monday to Wednesday.
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Judith Bingham (born 1952)
Composer
Her times: Composers of our own time are freer than they have ever been before; free to pursue whatever stylistic paths they like and by whichever means – and largely without fear of discrimination due to race, gender or age. But that comes with its own complications, notably the increased need to write music that…
Read MoreTansy Davies (born 1973)
Composer
Her times: For the generation of composers who have come to creative maturity since the turn of the millennium, there are no longer any rules and the idea of musical ‘genres’ is eroding fast too. A composer can write on paper, on an instrument or on a computer. The act of composition might be one…
Read MoreGabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Composer
His times: Fauré lived through a changing France, born into an entrenched tradition but witnessing the arrival of new trends and the shifting of the creative vanguard from Vienna to Paris. Though these changes were largely realised by the generation after Fauré, in a sense he paved the way for them by radically overhauling the…
Read MoreMaurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Composer
His times: Like his colleague and compatriot Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel was active at a time when the epicentre of musical activity in Europe was moving from the Austro-German cities of Vienna and Berlin to the French capital. Led by a Paris on the cusp of Modernism, musical priorities were changing too. Suddenly beauty was…
Read MoreClaude Debussy (1862-1918)
Composer
His times: Debussy’s career straddled one of the most fascinating periods in music history: the dusk of Romanticism and the emergence of Modernism. Music was becoming less a harmonious, evolving journey of mutual learning and agreement and more an outright battle between opposing ideologies. German dominance, particularly from Wagner’s angst-ridden music dramas, became the reactive…
Read MoreElizabeth Kenny
Lute/theorbo
Elizabeth Kenny is one of Europe’s leading lute players. Her playing has been described as “incandescent” (Music and Vision), “radical” (Independent on Sunday) and “indecently beautiful” (Toronto Post). In twenty years of touring she has played with many of the world’s best period instrument groups and experienced many different approaches to music making. She is…
Read MoreHector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Composer
His times: Born half-a-dozen years before Mendelssohn and Schumann, Hector Berlioz arrived on the musical scene just as Romanticism in all its passion and glory was beginning to take flight. Music was becoming ever more emotional; orchestras were expanding to embrace new colours and sonorities; composers were looking increasingly to other art-forms for inspiration. This…
Read MoreCeri Jones
Projects Director
Hi, I’m Ceri and I’ve worked at the OAE since 2004 (from Intern, via office admin, and right through the Projects team!). Amongst a gazillion different tasks my role as Projects Director mainly involves managing the projects team to get the OAE show on the road, specifically managing the relationship with our visiting artists to…
Read MoreGeorge Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Composer
His times: Handel’s Europe was ruled by what must have seemed like a clique of wealthy cronies, especially as the composer’s one-time boss the Elector of Hanover later became his new boss as King of England. It was to this land that Handel committed the greatest part of his life, settling here in 1712 and…
Read MoreIsabelle Tawil
Development Manager, Individual Giving
Hello, I’m Isabelle and I’ve been in the Development Department of the OAE since the end of September 2009 and now work as the Development Manager for Individual Giving. It is my aim to give the Benefactors and Chair Patrons who support the Orchestra as much information about what is happening at the OAE as…
Read MoreLudwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Composer
His times: In Beethoven’s late twenties, France overthrew its monarchy and a wave of rebellion spread through Europe. The composer, a devout Republican, was presented with an opportunity not only to change music, but to change the social standing of ‘the artist’. He did both: from the early 1800s, music would never be the same…
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