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Artists
Catherine King ~ Mezzo-Soprano
The English mezzo-soprano, Catherine King, began her vocal studies
as a choral scholar at Trinity College Cambridge followed by
a period at the Guildhall in London, and later study with Josephine
Veasey. Catherine King regularly performs music covering a vast
period from the present day back to the 11th century, and in
many languages (often with period pronunciation). She has performed
with many of the UK’s leading ensembles and orchestras including
the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Taverner Consort, Northern Sinfonia, the Nash
Ensemble, the Gabrieli Consort and Players, Gothic Voices, London
Baroque, Fretwork, Singcircle, the New London Consort, Florilegium
and The Academy of Ancient Music. She also makes regular appearances
in Brirish and European festivals, including at the Three Choirs
Festival in Gloucester, Edinburgh International Festival, the
Lufthansa Festival at St John’s Smith Square and the Bruges
Early Music Festival, Belgium. Recent appearances (2001) include
Prague, Hamburg, Paris, the USA, live BBC broadcasts from the
Wigmore Hall and St John's, Smith Square.
Well known as a versatile early music specialist, Catherine King's
duo with lutenist Jacob Heringman and the group Virelai seek
to bring life to long forgotten music, performing it with a freshness
which belies the years since its writing. Catherine King frequently
performs from the full range of great oratorios throughout the
country. As well as works by Händel, Bach and Mozart, she
has sung larger scale pieces such as Elgar’s Music Makers
and Verdi’s Requiem. She has recently performed and recorded
Händel’s Judas Maccabaeus in Germany, Bach arias in
Oslo and Lyon, given several performances of Elgar’s Dream
of Gerontius in Britain, and a series of lute song recitals in
the USA. She has also recorded and premiered songs written for
her by a number of composers, most recently at the Spitalfields
Festival in London with a commission by Andrew Keeling. Opera
performances include Mercedes (Carmen) and Diane (Rameau Hippolyte
et Aricie), the latter under William Christie. In December 2002
performerd Messiah with Robert King and the Stavanger Symphony
Orchestra in Norway. Contemporary performances include new works
in London Spitalfields Festival with Sing Circle, Tippett's Crown
of The Year with the Nash Ensemble, as well as premieres of specially
commissioned songs performed in the USA , and on radio and CD.
Recordings include recitals for Radio Three and on CD with her
duo partner lutenist Jacob Heringman, pianist Wayne Marshall,
and with leading early music ensembles, including GothicVoices,
Fretwork, London Baroque, the New London Consort, the Consort
of Musicke and the Taverner Consort. The many CDs she has released
during the past five years include the award winning ‘Airs
de cour’ CD for Linn Records, lute songs by Mudarra and
Milán (ASV), 20th century songs by Barber and a recording
of music by Hildegard of Bingen and Jean Catoire (Virgin Classics).
Recent recording project have included Bach Mezzo Arias, for
Linn Records, and a disc of songs by Verdelot to coincide with
concerts at the Wigmore Hall, London.
Charles
Humphries ~ Countertenor
Charles Humphries studied at the Royal Academy of Music with
Charles Brett, Michael Chance and James Bowman, and continues
his studies with Paul Farrington. He appears regularly as a soloist,
not only alongside the recognized baroque ensembles of Britain,
but also in his own right throughout the UK and Europe. These
appearances include venues such as the Barbican Hall, the Queen
Elizabeth Hall, the Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam
and the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels as well as the cities
of Copenhagen, Oslo, Prague and Warsaw. Conductors that he has
worked for as a soloist include Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Richard
Hickox, Robert King, Paul McCreesh, Nicholas McGegan and James
O’Donnell.
Operatic engagements have included Delfa Giasone (Cavalli) at
the Megaron, Athens, the title–role in Pompeo Magno (Cavalli)
at the Varazdin Festival of Baroque Music, Croatia, Lichas Hercules
at the Hans–Otto Theater, Potsdam, the title–role in
Lucio Silla at the Handel Festival, Karlsruhe, the title–role
in Tamerlano for the Britten–Pears School and The Sorceress
Dido and Aeneas for the King’s Consort. Recent concert highlights
have included the Chichester Psalms with the BBC National Orchestra
of Wales, Hamor Jephtha at the Lufthansa Baroque Festival, televised
performances of Judas Maccabaeus in Slovenia, Messiah with the
Ulster Orchestra under Nicholas Kraemer, Monteverdi Vespers 1610
at the BBC Proms, Pergolesi Stabat Mater with the Northern Chamber
Orchestra and a recital at the Halle Festival with Trevor Pinnock.
Charles Humphries recently sang Tolomeo Giulio Cesare for the
Norwegian National Opera. His recordings include Jephtha and
Judas Maccabaeus (K&K Verlagsanstalt), Messiah (Capriccio)
and Vivaldi Cantatas (ASV).
Mark LeBrocq - Tenor
 Mark LeBrocq held a choral
scholarship at St Catherine‘s College, Cambridge where he
read English. He won several prizes and awards at the Royal Academy
of Music including the Blyth Buesset Opera Prize, the Royal Academy
of Music Club Prize and the Worshipful Company of Musicians’
Medal. He was formerly a company principal with the English National
Opera. Over the years, the tenor has worked together with many
important directors, including David Alden, David Poutney, Jonathan
Miller, Niklaus Lehnhoff, Graham Vick and David Freeman. He performed
regularly with the Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh. He sang
with Monserat Caballé and Dennis O‘Neill in Verdi
Opera Galas in Bath, the Mozart and the Verdi Requiems in the
Barbican Centre, London and the Mozart Requiem with The English
Concert under Trevor Pinnock in Salzburg.
Raimund Nolte
~ Bariton
The vocal art of baritone Raimund Nolte was furthered especially
during his studies with Prof. Josef Metternich as well as in
various master classes. At present he is being coached by Prof.
Irmgard Hartmann. Yet his musical career began as an instrumentalist
after completing studies in mathematics, the pedagogics of music
and viola. But soon he was being invited as a singer on stages
all over Europe, Israel, the United States and Japan.
He has sung under conductors such as Jacov Kreizberg, Vlademir
Jurowski, Helmut Müller-Brühl, Howard Arman, David
Stern, Andreas Spering, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Hans-Martin Schneidt,
Wolfgang Gönnenwein, Bruno Weil, Frieder Bernius and Reinhard
Goebel. Under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt he sang at
the Graz Styriarte in Schubert's Lazarus, to great acclaim. He
performed the role of Christus in Bach's St.Matthew Passion under
the direction of Trevor Pinnock in Spain, Germany, Japan and
at the Salzburg Festival. Under René Jacob's direction
he sang in Johann Gottlieb Naumann's rediscovered opera Cora
und Alonzo at the Dresden Musikfestspiele.
Raimund Nolte gave his successful stage début in 1994
during the Innsbruck festival season. After two years at the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg he became
a regular ensemble member of the Komische Oper in Berlin, where
he is now a regular guest singer. His roles in Berlin have included
Schaunard in La Boheme, Don Fernando in Fidelio, Prince Jeletzki
in Pique Dame, Harlequin in Ariadne and Ping in Turandot. He
has built an excellent reputation singing G.F.Handel (Ezio and
Radamisto at the Händelfestspielen and the Opera house in
Halle, Rodelinda at the State Theatre Karlsruhe, Xerxes at the
Royal Copenhagen Theatre, the leading role in Saul at the Komische
Oper in Berlin, Rinaldo at the Theatre Bielefeld) and as a singer
of Mozart (Papageno in Düsseldorf and at the Komische Oper
Berlin in Harry Kupfer's production of The Magic Flute, Guglielmo
in Cosi fan tutte in Potsdam and Bielefeld, Conte Almaviva in
Le Nozze di Figaro at the Opéra de Rouen in France and
in Potsdam). In the season 2004 he sang Sharpless in Madame Butterly,
Father in Hänsel und Gretel and Germont in La Traviata at
the Opera house in Bielefeld. This season he will play the lead
role in the new production of Don Giovanni in the Schloßtheater
Potsdam.
Nolte's repertoire is wide and includes all the main oratorio
roles and a large repertoire of lieder. Numerous radio and CD-recordings
round off his wide range of activities.
David Thomas ~ Bass
The English bass, David Thomas (Lionel Mercer), began singing
as a boy chorister in the choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral
in London. Later he was educated in King’s School, Canterbury,
and as a teenager won a choral scholarship to King’s College,
Cambridge. David Thomas first gained recognition as a soloist
with Rooley’s Consort of Musicke, Christopher Hogwood’s
Academy of Ancient Music, and other early music groups in England.
Subsequently he appeared throughout Europe. In 1982 he made his
USA debut at the Hollywood Bowl. In later years, he pursued an
international career.
David Thomas won particular distinction for his performances
of works by Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Händel, and Mozart.
His repertoire ranges from the Baroque and Classical, in which
he has largely specialised, to Walton, Tippet, Britten, Stravinsky,
Schoenberg and Schnittke. His career has taken him to Europe,
USA and Japan and he has appeared at many prestigious festivals
including Tanglewood, Salzburg, Edingburgh, Luzerne, Stuttgart,
Aldeburgh and the BBC Promenade concerts. David Thomas has appeared
with many of the major symphony orchestras and ensembles in the
UK, including the City of Birmingham Symphony, the London Philharmonic,
the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Hallé, the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe,
the London classical Players, the Scottish Chamber, the Manchester
Camerata, the Northern Sinfonia, the Taverner Consort, the Academy
of Ancient Music and London Baroque, and he has worked regularly
with conductors such as Simon Rattle, John Eliot Gardiner, Nicholas
McGegan and Christopher Hogwood. Notable engagements in the UK
include a television recording of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
with the London Classical Players conducted by Roger Norrington,
Händel’s Orlando at the Proms conducted by Christopher
Hogwood and Die Schöpfung with the Chamber Orchestra of
Europe and Frans Brüggen. He gives regular concerts with
soprano Emma Kirkby and lutenist Anthony Rooley. He sang Sarasto
in the Covent Garden Festival’s production of Die Zauberflöte
and the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and General Spork in Cornet
Cristoph Rilke’s Song of Love and Death for Glyndebourne
Touring Opera.
David Thomas appears frequently in Europe, especially with the
Academy of Ancient Music. Other engagements have included Christmas
Oratorio (BWV 248) performances in Leipzig and Berlin, a series
of Messiahs in Italy and concerts with the Orchestre de la Swiss
Romande, the Fundaçao de Sao Carlos in Lisbon, the Wiener
Akademie, with the Kammerchor Stuttgart in concerts in Göttingen,
and Händel’s Serse and Resurrezione in Brighton and
Göttingen.
Performances last season included concerts in Switzerland, France
and Germany with the Academy of Ancient Music, concerts in Sweden
and Boston (USA). His engagements in the USA have included Messiah
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in the Hollywood
Bowl, The Creation with Boston Symphony Orchestra and Simon Rattle,
Messiah at the Lincoln Center with the Academy of Ancient Music,
Schubert’s Winterreise at Cornell at University and Händel’s
Judas Maccabaeus, Susanna and Theodora with the Philharmonia
Baroque and Nicholas McGegan.
David Thomas’s many recordings include Händel’s
Serse (Hanover Band/Nicholas McGegan), Händel’s Susanna,
Apollo and Daphne and Judas Maccabeus (Philharmonia Baroque/Nicholas
McGegan), Händel’s Semele, Purcell’s Fairy Queen
and Bach’s Magnificat (BWV 243) (Monteverdi Choir/English
Baroque Soloists/ John Eliot Gardiner), Händel’s Acis,
Galatea e Polifemo (London Baroque/ Charles Medlam), Händel’s
Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Bach’s B Minor Mass (BWV 232)
and St. John Passion (BWV 245) (Taverner Consort & Players/Andrew
Parrot), Coffee Cantata (BWV 211) with Emma Kirkby, Mozart’s
Requiem (Hannover Band/ Roy Goodman), Stravinsky’s Pulcinella
(City of London Sinfonia/Richard Hickox) and Die Schöpfung
(City of Birmingham Orchestra/ Simon Rattle). ‘Gramophone’
said of his solo disc of Händel Arias with the Philharmonia
Baroque Orchestra, "Thomas has a formidable range, a dazzling
technique and a tone that is full and dark, yet always clearly
defined."
Maulbronn Chamber Choir (Maulbronner Kammerchor)
The Maulbronn Chamber Choir was founded by its director, Jürgen
Budday, in 1983 and is one of the top choirs in Germany today.
In addition to learning a baroque oratorio, the ensemble compiles
a sacred and secular a-cappella programme every year, its focal
point being 19th and 20th century literature. First prize at
the Baden Württemberg Choir Competition in 1989 and 1997,
second prize at the Third German Choir Competition in Stuttgart
in 1990, and a victory at the Fifth German Choir Competition
in Regensburg in 1998 document the chamber choir's extraordinary
musical standard. The Maulbronn Chamber Choir has received, among
others, invitations to the Ettlingen Palace Festival, the chamber
music series of the Dresden Philharmonic, the cloister concerts
at the Walkenried convent, the First International Festival of
Sacred Music in Rottenburg, and the European Music Festival in
Passau. The choir has also made a name for itself internationally.
The 1983 debut tour through the USA with concerts in, among others,
New York and Indianapolis, and the participation in the Festival
of Music in New Harmony, Indiana, as well as concert tours through
numerous European countries, Israel, Argentina (1993 and 1997),
South Africa, and Namibia (2001) were all greeted with similar
enthusiasm by the public and critics alike. The third tour through
South America followed in autumn 2003 with concerts in Argentina
and Uruguay.
Musica Florea Prague (on period instruments)
The Musica Florea ensemble was established in 1992 by a group
of young professionals who united their common interest in the
study and authentic performance of Baroque music on period instruments.
The ensemble very soon achieved their first major successes under
the guidance of violoncellist and conductor Marek Štryncl.
The first of these included a performance of Missa Sanctissimae
Trinitatis by Jan Dismas Zelenka at the Prague Spring International
Music Festival in 1995. They were also presented with the highest
award for their very first CD recording of the same Mass in the
prestigious French music magazine Diapason in April of that year.
The ensemble was subsequently invited to perform at several of
the most important festivals in the Czech Republic including
Prague Spring 1995, St. Wenceslas Festival 1995, Ceský
Krumlov International Music Festival 1996, Festival Concentus
Moraviae 1996, 1997 (2000), The Strings of Autumn Festival 1996,
1997, 1998, Musica Ecumenica 1998, and regularly to the Valtice
Castle Baroque Summer. The ensemble has also performed at numerous
foreign music festivals including Stary Sacz in Poland; Tours,
Alencon, Le Mans, and Flers in France; Pro Musica Antiqua Bremen
1997 in Germany; the Central European Festival of Concert Art
1998 and Musica Nobilis 1998 in Slovakia; the 1998 Brežice
Early Music Festival in Slovenia; the 1998 French Institute Early
Music Festival and the 1999 Sopron Early Music Days in Hungary;
and Europalia 98 in Belgium. Commissioned by several international
festivals for the 1997/98 season, they performed various larger
works: J. S. Bach’s Magnificat (BWV 243) at the Festival
Concentus Moraviae 1997, M. A. Charpentier’s Te Deum at
the Valtice Festival 1997, and Henry Purcell’s The History
of Diocletian with the Ensemble Philidor and Les Musiciens du
Paradis in France. In September 1998, Musica Florea invited the
Slovakian Baroque music orchestra Musica Aeterna and the French
Ensemble Philidor to perform a celebration concert together as
a large 18th-century Baroque orchestra to present the major orchestra
works by J. D. Zelenka at the opening concert of The Strings
of Autumn 98 Festival in the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle. December
1998 was devoted to a broad presentation of Czech Republic culture
in the very center of Europe, Brussels, where Musica Florea performed
at the prestigious Europalia 98 Festival with great success.
Mr. Hadelin Donnet, General Music Program Director of Europalia
98 for Czech Radio 3, Vltava, observed, “… it was a
very challenging pleasure to hear that in the Czech Republic
Baroque music is performed on such a high standard, comparable
with all the top ensembles of Europe. Listening to the Missa
Sanctissimae Trinitatis of Czech Jan Dismas Zelenka performed
by Musica Florea was unforgettable musical experience completing
the musical program of Europalia 98.” In 1994, Musica Florea
began a series of unique recording sessions for Studio Matouš
of works by P. J. Vejvanovsky, J. H. Schmelzer, H. I. F. Biber,
Ph. J. Rittler, and other composers from the Kromeriz archives.
Musica Florea’s magnificent performances with Czech mezzo-soprano
Magdalena Kožená earned the ensemble their latest
recording success, accompanying arias taken from cantatas and
oratorios by J. S. Bach. The recording of these, published under
the Archiv Production label of the world-renowned Polygram-Deutsche
Grammophon company, won the Golden Harmony Award for best Czech
CD recording of 1997. Great success at Slovenia’s 1998 Brežice
Early Music Festival opened further commissioned cooperation
with Slovene Radio Broadcasting in 1999. During the 1999/2000
season, the ensemble performed the music for the Baroque opera
Castor et Pollux by J. Ph. Rameau at the Estates Theater of the
National Theater Opera in Prague. This was the first performance
of a Baroque opera in the modern history of Czech music realized
in the period style on period instruments and with period ballet
sections, costumes, and scenery, and lighting. During the following
two seasons, the ensemble enjoyed some very interesting tours
abroad. As a part of the unique Bach 2000 project of the Melbourne
International Festival of Arts, Musica Florea along with fifteen
other outstanding ensembles of the world performed almost all
the cantatas, Masses, and oratorios of J. S. Bach. Later they
also toured Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland,
Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary. For Prague’s City of Culture
2000 program, the ensemble prepared a unique historical scenic
performance of the coronation oratorio Sub Olea Pacis et Palma
Virtutis by J. D. Zelenka, which also opened the Europa Musicale
festivals in Germany and the Czech Republic; further special
performances of the oratorio were booked for Hungary, Poland,
and other venues in Germany. Presenting a broad palette of Baroque
music programs reflecting the works of Central European masters
of the époque, the ensemble also toured Germany, Austria,
France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and
Hungary. For the 2000/2001 season, Musica Florea prepared new
recording sessions for the Supraphon Recording Company (Czech
Republic) and Pure Classics (Germany,) as well as a special live
recording for the European Broadcasting Union in March 2000 with
Magdalena Kožená. In 1997 Czech TV filmed a documentary
about the ensemble, Who is Marek Štryncl and Musica Florea?,
and in 1998 they performed in a documentary dedicated to P. J.
Vejvanovský and in the artistic documentary The Last Day
in Bohemia about J. Haydn. The ensemble appears live on Czech
television and radio as well, and the members of Musica Florea
are much sought-after as guest performers at concerts both in
the Czech Republic and abroad.
Jürgen Budday (Conductor)
 Jürgen Budday is director of church
music and artistic director of the concert series at the monastery
of Maulbronn, of the cantor choir and of the Maulbronn Chamber
Choir. He studied music education, church music and musicology
at the Academy of Music in Stuttgart and, since 1979, has taught
at the Evangelic Theology Seminar in Maulbronn. For his teaching
and artistic activity, he has received many awards, including
the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande (German Cross of Merit) and
the Bruno-Frey Prize from the State Academy, Ochsenhausen. Since
2002, Jürgen Budday has also held the chair of the choral
committee of the German Music Council. Several concert recordings
have been made under his artistic direction. They have often
received international recognition and high praise from critics.
These have included the Handel oratorios Jephtha, Samson, Judas
Maccabaeus and Saul with Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Nancy Argenta
and Stephen Varcoe.
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