Chamber Ensembles
Florian Ensemble
Kay Stephen, Joy Becker (violins)
Anna Brigham (viola)
Chris Terepin (cello)
I’ve been a member of the Florian Quartet since 2012, and quartet playing is one of my absolute favourite forms of music-making. The group does quite a few different things: at its core is concert appearances with many UK music societies, but we’ve also put on lecture recitals exploring music’s relationship to science and history, done extensive education work in the South-West, and nurtured a new community of audiences through a series of house concerts in London. In 2019 the group received repeat funding from Arts Council England to continue its ambitious ‘Creating Musical Stories’ project, based in primary schools in East Cornwall.
The quartet was formed at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2012, and its principal mentors have been James Boyd and Catherine Manson of the London Haydn Quartet. The group has also been affiliated with ChamberStudio, the organisation supporting the new generation of chamber musicians.
The Florians have always drawn on a broad range of musical influences, and learning from each other is one of the joys of quartet playing. While grounded in classical discipline, our approach has become increasingly suffused with alternative styles, especially folk music and improvisation.
“Truly outstanding chamber music… (an) emotional roller-coaster and virtuoso performance”
Fortescue Duo
Anna Brigham - violin, baroque violin, viola
Chris Terepin - cello, bass viol
Anna Brigham and I have played duos since 2012, when we were fellow postgraduate students at the Royal Northern College of Music. We’ve performed all over the UK since then, and it’s often commented that our concerts are surprisingly multi-dimensional, compared to what you might expect of a string duo.
As the ‘bottom half’ of the Florian Quartet, we’ve spent a lot of time together over the years, and working on and performing duos is especially rewarding when you know each other so well. There are also things you can do as a team of two that you wouldn’t get away with in a four! The name reflects this connection with the quartet - Florean Fortescue is the name of the ice cream seller in Harry Potter, of which Anna is among the world’s biggest and most knowledgeable fans. We take our music extremely seriously, but also genuinely enjoy working together.
Our programmes usually contain one of the two large-scale twentieth-century pieces for violin and cello - by Zoltan Kodaly and Maurice Ravel - alongside a varied assortment of other musical styles, idioms and instrumentations. So we also play Elizabethan and Jacobean consort pieces, our own versions of folk tunes, Romantic character pieces, elegant eighteenth century duos, and virtuosic showpieces like the Handel-Halvorsen Duo.
K’antu Ensemble
Ruth Hopkins - soprano, violin and recorders
Sarah Langdon - alto and recorders
Michelle Holloway - alto and recorders
Ben Mitchell - tenor, guitar and charango
Chris Terepin/Andrew Hopper - bass and viola da gamba
Tymoteusz Jóźwiak - bass and percussion
K’antu is a unique ensemble that fuses early, world and folk music. Led by the charismatic Ruth Hopkins, the group’s repertoire is built around the music of many different traditions, including South America (particularly Bolivia), Spain and England.
Performing with unusual and flexible instrumentation, K’antu Ensemble has appeared at Bridgewater Hall, Cheltenham Festival, Leamington Music, Newbury Spring Festival, King’s Place and St Martin-in-the-Fields, as well as tours to Hungary, Romania and Egypt. It’s also been heard several times on BBC Radio 3 (In Tune, The Early Music Show and Late Junction).
Since 2017 the group has collaborated with historical dancers, putting on workshops and events at heritage sites across the UK. They also run interactive music sessions for SEND and dementia as well as mainstream schools. I’ve played with K’antu since 2018, sharing viol duties with Andrew Hopper.