Fontanella - enquiries@fontanella.co.uk (0)1306 627 332 Surrey, UK
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Biographies

All the members of Fontanella are highly experienced chamber musicians who continue to enjoy successful careers in both performance and educational work. Over the past decade, they have each performed in concerts, festivals and recordings across the world in many different guises, bringing a valuable collective experience to the ensemble.

Rebecca Austen-Brown

Rebecca graduated in 1995 from the Royal Academy of Music with the Francis Ayling BMus prize. She furthered her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and was a prizewinner in the International Moeck Recorder Competition.

She has performed on early fiddles and woodwinds in several established early music ensembles, including Mediva, Bardos Band, and Tintagel, playing in music festivals throughout the UK, Europe and the US, as well as recording live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and 4. Her interest in experimenting with a 21st century twist has led to working and recording with the Mediaeval Baebes, touring with singer-songwriter Maplebee, and co-founding duoWyrewood. Touring with the Young Vic Theatre in 2000 she played 17 instruments in the production of Arabian Nights, visiting Brazil, Taiwan, Hong Kong and New York.

As well as her pupils in primary and secondary schools, Rebecca has taught at London College of Music and Media, Oxford University, Surrey University, and the Triora Musica medieval course in Italy. She teaches medieval fiddle at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In March 2007 she travelled to adjudicate in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.

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Katriina Boosey

Kati gained her MMus degree at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 1993. She studied the recorder with Han Tol at the Akademie fur Alte Musik in Bremen and with Peter Holtslag and Anneke Boeke at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Katriina has an active career as a soloist and chamber musician both in her native Finland and in Britain. She has appeared on radio in Finland and the UK. Her recording of Telemann with the Finland-based Baroque Ensemble Battalia was highly acclaimed.

Katriina teaches recorder and coaches the Baroque Ensembles at Wells Cathedral School.

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Louise Bradbury

Louise studied recorder at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded the Princess Alice Prize and Guinness Prize for Music in the Community.

With Passacaglia, Louise has performed at numerous music festivals, in the Wigmore Hall's Master Series and in the South Bank's Early Music Series. She has recorded discs of Telemann and Boismortier chamber music for the Linn label. Louise is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 3 and has also broadcast as a soloist on BBC television, Classic FM and European radio.

Louise’s desire to encourage young recorder players has led to her teaching at the Birmingham Conservatoire, several universities and the junior department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has been invited to adjudicate and examine at festivals and music colleges across the UK.

Louise has a passion for taking live music into the community and co-directs Little notes for Little Folks, an acclaimed programme of music classes and concerts for 0-5 year olds in Horsham, West Sussex. She works as a music leader for West Sussex County Council and offers training programmes on creative musical play to families and early years practitioners.

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Sarah Humphrys

Sarah studied recorder and baroque oboe at the Royal College of Music in London and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel. She has since toured and performed across the UK and Europe with many leading early music orchestras and ensembles including the Gabrieli Consort, Dufay Collective, the Hanover Band, the Sixteen, Florilegium, Cantus Cölln, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. In 2005-2006 she was principal oboe of the European Union Baroque Orchestra. Sarah also plays with a number of chamber music ensembles including Meridiana (winners of the 4th International Telemann Competition 2007,) the medieval ensemble Mediva, the Gonzaga Band, and The Oboe Band (currently ensemble in residence at the Royal College of Music).

Sarah has made a number of radio broadcasts with the BBC and recordings for films, including "Shrek 3". She teaches the recorder and coaches baroque ensembles and recorder consorts at the Royal College of Music Junior Department.

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Annabel Knight

Annabel graduated from the Royal College of Music with a Master's degree, winning the postgraduate prize for early music research. Now one of the UK’s most respected recorder players and baroque flute artists she has performed for early music festivals and radio networks across Europe and America. With the baroque ensemble Passacaglia, she has given recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall and South Bank as well as numerous radio broadcasts, including BBC Radio 3's Early Music Show, Music Restored and In Tune. She has also recorded several commercial discs, most notably for Linn Records.

Annabel also enjoys working and performing with Fontanella, and  is the founder and director of the unique Woodhouse Recorder Week summer school for young recorder players; she also teaches at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Centre for Young Musicians in London.

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"Their performance left no doubt about either the quality of their ensemble or the potential it has for the future"

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Woodhouse Recorder Week

Together the members of Fontanella also run the unique Woodhouse Recorder Week, Britain’s first international summer school for talented and aspiring young recorder players.