James is from Lochinver in the
Parish of Assynt in the far north-west corner of Sutherland.
He started competing at Mods from as early as 9 years old
under the guidance of his Primary School head-teacher, Kenny
Mackenzie. He was greatly inspired also by his great Aunt
Seordag Murray, a native Gaelic speaker from the nearby
village of Achilitibuie, with whom he spent hour upon hour
learning songs and listening to her fascinating stories and
life experiences. James graduated from the Royal Scottish
Academy of Music and Drama in 2003 with an Honours degree in
Scottish Music. There he studied bagpipes and Gaelic song
under the respected Gaelic singer and scholar Kenna
Campbell.
In 2004 he won the BBC Scotland Young Traditional
Musician of the Year Award - the first male and first Gaelic
singer to do so. He has since appeared in several successful
and award winning television and radio music series such as
Transatlantic Sessions 4 and won the coveted Mod Gold Medal at
the Royal National Mod in Lochaber in 2007. He is one of
Scotland’s best known and respected Gaelic singers and has
travelled all over the world performing as a musician. James
has released two acclaimed solo albums and has appeared as a
guest singer on many other albums. He is currently a member of
Cruinn, a Gaelic singing quartet who were nominated in the
category of best folk song in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards,
2015.
The Swiss violinist Sabine
Stoffer performs as a baroque violinist throughout Europe. She
plays with ensembles in the UK and abroad (les passions de
l’âme, Brecon Baroque, Le Concert d’Astrée, Freitagsakademie,
La Cetra, Ensemble Cordia u.a.) and is a member of the
Ensemble Meridiana. With Meridiana, she has recorded their
highly acclaimed debut album „Tastes of Europe“ for the label
Linn records. Furthermore, she plays as a leader with La Nuova
Musica.
Her career has taken her to many festivals,
such as the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music London, the
Händel Festspiele Göttingen, the York Early Music Festival,
the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht or the Davos Festival,
young artists in concert. She has played with conductors
such as René Jacobs, Masaaki Suzuki, Richard Egarr,
Emmanuelle Haïm, Andrea Marcon and Jos van Immerseel.
She studied with Monika Urbaniak at the
Hochschule der Künste in Berne and earned the teaching degree
and concert diploma, both with distinction. She continued her
studies with Rachel Podger at the RWCMD in Cardiff and
completed a postgraduate diploma in baroque violin with
distinction in 2010.
Sabine is the winner of the grants of the
Kiefer Hablitzel Stiftung 2008, the Marianne und Curt
Dienemann Stiftung 2008, the Steinitz Bach Prize 2009 and the
Göttinger Reihe Historischer Musik 2010/11 of the
Händel-Gesellschaft Göttingen (with Meridiana). In 2011 she
received the Coup de Coeur award for the promotion of young
musicians from her native canton of Berne.
PIERRE-AUGUSTIN LAY, Cello
Pierre-Augustin Lay studied
cello in France with Jacques Ripoche in Caen. His taste for
early music lead him to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.(CH).
Studies with Christophe Coin, Sergio Azzolini, Jesper
Christensen, graduated in 2002. He has been performing
regularly in ensembles such as: Le Cercle de L’harmonie, Les
Musiciens du Louvre, Harmonie Universelle, Ensemble Matheus,
La Cetra, Chapelle Vocale de Lausanne, Vocales basiliensis,
Capella Obliqua, Schola Cantorum Orchestra, Gassenhauer Trio,
Bohuslav Martinu Academy (Pragua). He has been performing with
artists such as: Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman, Jesper
Chritensen, Chiara Banchini, Andrea Marcon, Giuliano
Carmignola, Maurice Bourgues, Emma Kirkby. His passion for
researching repertoire made him move to Belgium and
Netherlands, where he complimented his studies at the Royal
Conservatories in Den Haag and Bruxelles. He was one of the
finalists in Bruges International competition for early music
in XXXX. As well as actively performing as soloist, orchestra,
and chamber musician, he is the founder of the orchestra La
Loge Olympique. Pierre-Augustin performs in many important
musical venues all over Europe. He has made several recording
with Harmonia Mundi, SWR, and Eloquentia. He plays a copy of a
Joseph Guarneri cello made by Patrick Robin.
EDIN
KARAMAZOV, Romantic Guitar
Edin Karamazov was born in 1965
in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. A protégé of Sergiu
Celibidache, he began his musical career as a classical
guitarist before taking up the Baroque lute, which he studied
with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in
Basle, Switzerland.
Karamazov made his solo debut as a lutenist
in 1998, stepping in at the last minute for the legendary
Julian Bream. Since then he has established himself as today’s
most exciting and charismatic player of the lute. His
thrilling virtuoso performances on the lute and guitar, with a
repertoire that ranges from 16th-century classics to the music
of today, have garnered rave reviews and unprecedented
critical acclaim in Europe and America. As a soloist he has
performed and recorded with leading international early music
ensembles and artists including the Hilliard Ensemble,
Hespèrion XX, Andreas Scholl as well as Sting. A consummate
interpreter and master technician on numerous early and
contemporary stringed instruments, outstanding recital artist
Edin Karamazov has appeared at numerous major venues,
including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall,
Berlin’s Philharmonie, and Vienna’s Konzerthaus, among many
others. Looking back to his early days, he continues to enjoy
giving impromptu performances on the street.
His discography for Decca includes the CDs A
Musicall Banquet – a
collection of lute songs with Andreas Scholl and Wayfaring
Stranger – folksongs
with Andreas Scholl. The highly successful album Songs
from the Labyrinth with
Sting, released on Deutsche Grammophon, has not only made
him a household name far beyond the confines of the
early-music world but also launched a new “lute renaissance”
for the 21st century. His latest recording for Decca has
been released to great acclaim: The Lute is a
Song comprises solo
works by J. S. Bach, Leo Brouwer, Zamboni and Domeniconi as
well as arias by Handel with Andreas Scholl, Purcell with
Renée Fleming, a traditional Macedonian song with Macedonian
singer and songwriter Kaliopi, and a work by and with Sting.
Edin Karamazov plays several plucked
instruments of various cultures and epochs and remains
committed to exploring the use of lutes in modern music and
contemporary improvisational contexts. In addition to his solo
career he enjoys accompanying singers in different styles and
backgrounds.
MASAKO
ART, Single-Action Pedal Harp (Erard 1809)
Masako Art (née
Fujimura), began to play harp after long years of piano.
After the university, she took historical harp lessons
from William Taylor in Scotland and began her studies in
medieval and renaissance music with Crawford Young and
Heidrun Rosenzweig at Schola Cantorum in Basel, after
which she finished with a diploma in Baroque harp in 2004.
She went on to study with Mara Galassi in Milan and ended
her studies with another diploma in Baroque Harp in 2009.
Masako has taken part in opera productions with René
Jacobs, Andrea Marcon, Peter Tilling and Jean-Claude
Malgoire in Berlin, Innsbruck, Vienna, Basel, Stuttgart,
München, Freiburg and Paris. She has played with renowned
baroque orchestras such as Concerto Vocale, Akademie der
alten Musik Berlin, Freiburger Barockorchester, La Cetra,
Grand Ecurie et la Chambre du Roi, L'Arpa Festante, {oh!}
Orkiestra Historyczna, La Nuova Musica, as well as in
diverse chamber ensembles. She participated in recordings
including those with Ferrara Ensemble (Corps Feminin),
Luca Scandali and Stefano Molardi (Giovanni Maria
Trabaci), L'Arpa Festante (Händel, Neun Deutsche Arien)
and with Il Vero Modo (Arcadia, Love Letters), Il Profondo
(La
Pazza) and in CD/DVD "L'Orfeo" with Le Grand Ecurie
et la Chambre du Roi, as well as radio/TV recordings by
DRS, ORF, 3SAT, arte and FranceMusique. Since 2008 she has
taught in Musikhochschule Luzern. In 2014 she took part in
the world premiere of the opera "Das geopferte Leben" by
Hector Parra at Münchner Biennale with Freiburger
Barockorchester and Ensemble Recherche.
Her repertoire includes essential
harp-obligato literature such as Monteverdi's 'L'Orfeo',
Händel's 'Julius Caesar', 'Saul' and 'Esther', and Gluck's
'Orfeo ed Euridice' as well as the works of many Italian
(Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Mayone, Trabaci, Stradella, d'India,
Carissimi, Caccini, etc), German (Froberger, Schütz, Schein,
Telemann etc), and English (Purcell, Dowland, Lawes, John
Parry, Händel etc) composers in solo/chamber music settings.
She is also an experienced player of
14th-early 16th century music, from Trecento to Frottola,
Machaut to Agricola, and its contemporary solo keyboard
settings.
