Magdalena Consort

:: players

strings

Matthew Truscott Matthew Truscott studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and subsequently at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, and now pursues a busy freelance career combining modern instrument playing with gut strings and period performance.

Very active as a chamber musician and soloist, he was for four years a member of the Dante Quartet, with whom he appeared at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Bath and Kuhmo (Finland) festivals as well as performing regularly on BBC Radio 3 and at London's Wigmore Hall. He has recently joined the Quince Quartet, which is an exciting new development.

Matthew is increasingly in demand as an orchestral leader and plays principal violin in a number of international ensembles, including The King's Consort, Florilegium, St. James' Baroque and The Classical Opera Company. He is a leader of The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and was a guest principal at the English National Opera in their production of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo".

Jean Paterson was born in north Pembrokeshire into a farming family, moving later to Hampshire. She read music at Oxford, studying the violin with Emanuel Hurwitz, and at the Royal Academy of Music with Manoug Parikian. She later took up the baroque violin with Micaela Comberti and John Holloway, and now plays with many of the leading period instrument ensembles in Britain, Florilegium, London Handel Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, English Baroque Soloists, The Sixteen, and the Canadian group "The Theatre of Early Music". Her special love is chamber music, which she indulges in with groups including The Revolutionary Drawing Room and Canzona.

Jean has been a guest leader for the Edinburgh-based group, the "Dunedin Consort", now directed by the Bach scholar, John Butt. She is leader the Woodmansterne Collection in their performances of Beethoven and other late-classical repertoire.

Jane Rogers studied viola at the Royal Academy of Music in London with John White and Stephen Shingles. It was there that she became interested in historical performance practice and commenced studying the baroque viola with Jan Schlaap. This led to her gaining a place in the European Union Baroque Orchestra under Roy Goodman. Whilst at the Academy, Jane started to work with such groups as Collegium Musicum 90 (Simon Standage), The Parley of Instruments (Peter Holman), The English Concert (Trevor Pinnock) and The Academy of Ancient Music (Christopher Hogwood). On leaving the Academy Jane was appointed co-principal viola with the English Concert and began freelancing with such groups as The London Classical Players (Roger Norrington), The Gabrieli Consort (Paul McCreesh) and Florilegium.

She was a member of the Eroica string quartet for several years and became interested in 19th century bowing techniques and early recordings of the string quartet. Jane is currently principal viola with The Dunedin Consort (John Butt), The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ton Koopman), The Kings Consort (Matthew Halls), The English Baroque Soloists (John Eliot Gardiner) and The European Brandenburg Ensemble (Trevor Pinnock). She also plays modern viola with the Southern Sinfonia and English Touring Opera. Jane teaches the Baroque Viola at The Royal Academy of Music, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Birmingham Conservatoire. She has appeared on over 200 CD recordings as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Her passions include 20th century English string repertoire, organ music written before 1750 and played on original organs and knitting.

Sarah McMahon began her cello studies with Nora Gilleece at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin in 1987. In 1995 she moved to London where she studied at the Royal Academy of Music with David Strange, Jenny Ward-Clarke and Colin Carr graduating with a first class B Mus Performance Degree and a Dip RAM.

Sarah is now much in demand as soloist and chamber musician throughout Ireland and the U.K. She is a member of the Callino String Quartet with whom she has a busy performing schedule. They have toured widely throughout Europe collaborating with many diverse artists such as Edgar Meyer and John Abercrombie. The Quartet has worked closely with several composers on their works for string quartet and earlier this year they released a CD of music by Ian Wilson for the Riverrun label.

In addition to her commitments with the Quartet, Sarah takes a keen interest in historical performance and regularly works as principal cellist with the King's Consort, Gabrieli Consort and the Academy of Ancient Music. She has performed concertos at St. John's Smith Square, the Casa da Musica in Porto and the National Concert Hall in Dublin and recently appeared as concerto soloist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Sarah also performs regularly in Canada with the Theatre of Early Music under the direction of Daniel Taylor. She is principal cellist of the Irish Baroque Orchestra and recently she was featured as soloist in a critically acclaimed disc for Hyperion of the Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto.

keyboard

Silas Standage was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and sang for the wedding of Charles and Diana as well as being part of a real boy band of trebles called "Too short"! During his teens his flare for composing and arranging music flourished. While at Cambridge he directed performances of Purcell's Fairy Queen for the Opera Society as well as a series of concerts with students playing on historical instruments. He went on to study the harpsichord at the Guildhall, London and the Conservatoire Royale, Brussels. Since then he has played for all the major British early music groups and has been principal continuo player for Sir John Eliot Gardiner since 1999, performing as a soloist in the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000. Silas is passionate about 17th-century music and is writing a PhD on the repertoire of Charles II's violin band.

Robert Howarth studied music at the University of York where he won the Department prize for his outstanding Musical contribution. He quickly established himself as a Harpsichordist in England, specialising in continuo playing. As a keyboard continuo player he plays for many Early Music Ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, English Baroque Soloists, Gabrieli Players and the New London Consort.

As musical assistant to Ivor Bolton, Robert works regularly for the Salzburg Festival, Florence's Maggio Musicale and the Bavarian State Opera. As a conductor he has worked in the Hamburg State Opera and with the Northern Sinfonia in England and also with Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg in concerts with Angelicka Kirschlager and Thomas Hampson. He also opened the Munich Opera Festival last year conducting Handel with the Bayerische Staatsorchester.

He is currently working on a Monteverdi cycle with Graham Vick and the Birmingham Opera Company which culminates in performances of Ulisse in 2005. Future plans include working on Poppea for Paris Opera and then a Gluck Cycle in Vienna beginning in 2007.

His chamber music recordings with La Serenissima, Ricordo and his own group - The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble - have all met will great critical acclaim, winning special recognition in both the Gramophone and BBC Music magazines. Future plans include a complete recording of Monteverdi's 1610 Mass and Vespers. He is now the Artistic Director of the Avison Ensemble of Newcastle.

woodwind
Bassoonist Ursula Leveaux, a former pupil at Chetham's School of Music, furthered her studies with Martin Gatt in London, Brian Pollard in Amsterdam and also studied Baroque bassoon with Danny Bond in The Hague. Whilst still a student in London she was the winner the Shell-London Symphony Orchestra Scholarship and also became a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra working with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Georg Solti.

In 1987 she returned from the Netherlands to join the SCO as Principal Bassoon, a post she fulfilled for twenty years, before returning to the freelance world. Ursula is frequently asked to appear as guest principal with major orchestras in Britain and throughout Europe. She is also in demand as a performer on Baroque and Classical Bassoon, playing regularly for John Eliot Gardiner, including taking part in his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, last year she appeared at the Proms with Andrew Manze and the English Concert and will tour again with them next year.

A busy chamber musician,Ursula is a member of the Nash Ensemble of London and the Hebrides Ensemble in Scotland. For the last three years she has been invited to participate in the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival in the USA.

A regular contributor to Radio 3,Ursula's CD recordings include the complete chamber music of Poulenc and of Saint-Saens, Beethoven Septet and Schubert Octet, all with the Nash Ensemble. She can also be heard on the complete recording of Chabrier Songs with Dame Felicity Lott and Graham Johnson. With the SCO she has recorded the Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto in D minor, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Bassoon Concerto, Strathclyde Concerto No 8 which was written especially for her, and the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, released in 2006.

strings
	Matthew Truscott Matthew Truscott studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and subsequently at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, and now pursues a busy freelance career combining modern instrument playing with gut strings and period performance. Very active as a chamber musician and soloist, he was for four years a member of the Dante Quartet, with whom he appeared at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Bath and Kuhmo (Finland) festivals as well as performing regularly on BBC Radio 3 and at London's Wigmore Hall. He has recently joined the Quince Quartet, which is an exciting new development. Matthew is increasingly in demand as an orchestral leader and plays principal violin in a number of international ensembles, including The King's Consort, Florilegium, St. James' Baroque and The Classical Opera Company. He is a leader of The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and was a guest principal at the English National Opera in their production of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo".
	Jean Paterson was born in north Pembrokeshire into a farming family, moving later to Hampshire. She read music at Oxford, studying the violin with Emanuel Hurwitz, and at the Royal Academy of Music with Manoug Parikian. She later took up the baroque violin with Micaela Comberti and John Holloway, and now plays with many of the leading period instrument ensembles in Britain, Florilegium, London Handel Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, English Baroque Soloists, The Sixteen, and the Canadian group "The Theatre of Early Music". Her special love is chamber music, which she indulges in with groups including The Revolutionary Drawing Room and Canzona. Jean has been a guest leader for the Edinburgh-based group, the "Dunedin Consort", now directed by the Bach scholar, John Butt. She is leader the Woodmansterne Collection in their performances of Beethoven and other late-classical repertoire.
	Jane Rogers studied viola at the Royal Academy of Music in London with John White and Stephen Shingles. It was there that she became interested in historical performance practice and commenced studying the baroque viola with Jan Schlaap. This led to her gaining a place in the European Union Baroque Orchestra under Roy Goodman. Whilst at the Academy, Jane started to work with such groups as Collegium Musicum 90 (Simon Standage), The Parley of Instruments (Peter Holman), The English Concert (Trevor Pinnock) and The Academy of Ancient Music (Christopher Hogwood). On leaving the Academy Jane was appointed co-principal viola with the English Concert and began freelancing with such groups as The London Classical Players (Roger Norrington), The Gabrieli Consort (Paul McCreesh) and Florilegium. She was a member of the Eroica string quartet for several years and became interested in 19th century bowing techniques and early recordings of the string quartet. Jane is currently principal viola with The Dunedin Consort (John Butt), The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ton Koopman), The Kings Consort (Matthew Halls), The English Baroque Soloists (John Eliot Gardiner) and The European Brandenburg Ensemble (Trevor Pinnock). She also plays modern viola with the Southern Sinfonia and English Touring Opera. Jane teaches the Baroque Viola at The Royal Academy of Music, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Birmingham Conservatoire. She has appeared on over 200 CD recordings as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Her passions include 20th century English string repertoire, organ music written before 1750 and played on original organs and knitting.
	Sarah McMahon began her cello studies with Nora Gilleece at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin in 1987. In 1995 she moved to London where she studied at the Royal Academy of Music with David Strange, Jenny Ward-Clarke and Colin Carr graduating with a first class B Mus Performance Degree and a Dip RAM. Sarah is now much in demand as soloist and chamber musician throughout Ireland and the U.K. She is a member of the Callino String Quartet with whom she has a busy performing schedule. They have toured widely throughout Europe collaborating with many diverse artists such as Edgar Meyer and John Abercrombie. The Quartet has worked closely with several composers on their works for string quartet and earlier this year they released a CD of music by Ian Wilson for the Riverrun label. In addition to her commitments with the Quartet, Sarah takes a keen interest in historical performance and regularly works as principal cellist with the King's Consort, Gabrieli Consort and the Academy of Ancient Music. She has performed concertos at St. John's Smith Square, the Casa da Musica in Porto and the National Concert Hall in Dublin and recently appeared as concerto soloist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Sarah also performs regularly in Canada with the Theatre of Early Music under the direction of Daniel Taylor. She is principal cellist of the Irish Baroque Orchestra and recently she was featured as soloist in a critically acclaimed disc for Hyperion of the Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto.
keyboard
	Silas Standage was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and sang for the wedding of Charles and Diana as well as being part of a real boy band of trebles called "Too short"! During his teens his flare for composing and arranging music flourished. While at Cambridge he directed performances of Purcell's Fairy Queen for the Opera Society as well as a series of concerts with students playing on historical instruments. He went on to study the harpsichord at the Guildhall, London and the Conservatoire Royale, Brussels. Since then he has played for all the major British early music groups and has been principal continuo player for Sir John Eliot Gardiner since 1999, performing as a soloist in the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000. Silas is passionate about 17th-century music and is writing a PhD on the repertoire of Charles II's violin band.
	Robert Howarth studied music at the University of York where he won the Department prize for his outstanding Musical contribution. He quickly established himself as a Harpsichordist in England, specialising in continuo playing. As a keyboard continuo player he plays for many Early Music Ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, English Baroque Soloists, Gabrieli Players and the New London Consort. As musical assistant to Ivor Bolton, Robert works regularly for the Salzburg Festival, Florence's Maggio Musicale and the Bavarian State Opera. As a conductor he has worked in the Hamburg State Opera and with the Northern Sinfonia in England and also with Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg in concerts with Angelicka Kirschlager and Thomas Hampson. He also opened the Munich Opera Festival last year conducting Handel with the Bayerische Staatsorchester. He is currently working on a Monteverdi cycle with Graham Vick and the Birmingham Opera Company which culminates in performances of Ulisse in 2005. Future plans include working on Poppea for Paris Opera and then a Gluck Cycle in Vienna beginning in 2007. His chamber music recordings with La Serenissima, Ricordo and his own group - The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble - have all met will great critical acclaim, winning special recognition in both the Gramophone and BBC Music magazines. Future plans include a complete recording of Monteverdi's 1610 Mass and Vespers. He is now the Artistic Director of the Avison Ensemble of Newcastle.
woodwind
	Bassoonist Ursula Leveaux, a former pupil at Chetham's School of Music, furthered her studies with Martin Gatt in London, Brian Pollard in Amsterdam and also studied Baroque bassoon with Danny Bond in The Hague. Whilst still a student in London she was the winner the Shell-London Symphony Orchestra Scholarship and also became a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra working with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Georg Solti. In 1987 she returned from the Netherlands to join the SCO as Principal Bassoon, a post she fulfilled for twenty years, before returning to the freelance world. Ursula is frequently asked to appear as guest principal with major orchestras in Britain and throughout Europe. She is also in demand as a performer on Baroque and Classical Bassoon, playing regularly for John Eliot Gardiner, including taking part in his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, last year she appeared at the Proms with Andrew Manze and the English Concert and will tour again with them next year. A busy chamber musician,Ursula is a member of the Nash Ensemble of London and the Hebrides Ensemble in Scotland. For the last three years she has been invited to participate in the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival in the USA. A regular contributor to Radio 3,Ursula's CD recordings include the complete chamber music of Poulenc and of Saint-Saens, Beethoven Septet and Schubert Octet, all with the Nash Ensemble. She can also be heard on the complete recording of Chabrier Songs with Dame Felicity Lott and Graham Johnson. With the SCO she has recorded the Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto in D minor, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Bassoon Concerto, Strathclyde Concerto No 8 which was written especially for her, and the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, released in 2006.