ThoroughBass is a baroque ensemble with a difference. Founded in 2008 by harpsichordist Diana Weston, the group consists of between three and ten members. We pepper the special sound of baroque music on period instruments with transcriptions, arrangements, unusual combinations and contemporary works. Drawing upon a pool of Sydney’s finest singers and instrumentalists – both experienced and emerging musicians – this formula guarantees a fresh and vigorous quality.
The ensemble holds a regular concert series at St Luke’s Church, Mosman, under the banner of the church’s own St Luke’s Concerts series. Our focus is on the local community, and with the intimate setting and warm resonance of the St Luke’s acoustic making this a particularly appealing venue, we are rapidly growing in popularity.
ThoroughBass’ guest artists have included members of Sydney’s most prestigious early music ensembles – Monika Kornel (The Sydney Consort), Stan Kornel (The Sydney Consort, Sydney Symphony Orchestra), Tim Chung (Australian Brandenburg Choir), Susan Christie (The Renaissance Players), Anthea Cottee (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra), Anna Fraser (The Song Company, Pinchgut Opera), Belinda Montgomery (Cantillation), Inara Molinari (Australian Opera, The Tall Poppeas), Hester Hannah (The Tall Poppeas) amongst others.
Next year’s program is already taking shape and looking to be a wide-ranging and fascinating one. It includes the Flamboyant (Bach’s Brandenburg No.4 arranged for 2 harpsichords and 2 recorders), the Intimate (songs inspired by Shakespeare) and the association of Pain with Beauty (based on concepts from Greek mythology and Neitsche). In addition, Elena Kats-Chernin’s arrangement of her Reinventions will be premiered, and a new work commissioned from promising young composer Nadje Noordhuis. We are also very excited about the prospect of performing a more substantial work – an oratorio by Marcello, noteworthy for its abundance of marvellous melody and bad text. Members of The Song Co. again join us for this great project.
In July 2012 Thoroughbass takes part in a collaboration with The Tall Poppeas, in the staging of a short chamber opera by Francesca Caccini, La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina. This is the first opera written by a woman and an Australian premiere. We simply can’t wait!
image shows group from Sensuous Pleasures
biographies
Diana Weston – Director, Harpsichordist Diana has a Masters in Music (Hons, Performance Research) from the University of New England. Originally studying as a pianist with European concert artists Igor Hmelnitsky, Winifred Burston and Tessa Birnie, Diana has spent many years as an ensemble player and accompanist in Sydney. In 2004 she began studies on harpsichord performance and continuo accompaniment with Monika Kornel, further refining her skills under the guidance of Prof. Lars Ulrik Mortensen. Since exchanging piano for harpsichord, Diana has performed with large and small ensembles throughout Sydney including the Sydney University Grad Choir and Orchestra, the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, The Tall Poppeas, The Sydney Consort, The Marais Project and others. She has appeared with the New England Bach Festival on several occasions, as well as local festivals such as the Willoughby Spring Festival and Manly Arts Festival. A recording Bach and Harmonious Euphony featuring music for two harpsichords was made with Monika Kornel in 2010. With her ensemble Thoroughbass which she established in 2008, she runs a regular concert series in Mosman. Diana makes a brief return to the piano world in November in a recital with international dramatic soprano Claire Primrose performing songs by American composers and Wagner’s Wessendonk Songs.
Myee ClohessyMyee’s interest in the world of Early Music Performance was ignited at the Ringve Academy’s Early Music Summer School in Norway. Already an accomplished violinist, having worked with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, London Soloists and Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Myee was so inspired she decided to continue lessons with Lucy van Dael and Margaret Faultless. She subsequently joined the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra and performed for a number of years at the European festivals of Schleswig-Holstein, Cothen, Ansbach, Bremen, Lucerne, Frankfurt, Oslo and Bergen. Together with the Ringve Ensemble, Myee recorded for SIMAX the lost Trio Sonatas of the Norwegian composer, Johan H. Freithoff. In 2003, after living fifteen years overseas, Myee returned home to Australia and quickly established herself as one of Sydney’s most versatile musicians. As a member of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra she performed alongside guest soloists Marc Destrube, Andrew Manze, L’Arpeggiata, Andreas Scholl and Elizabeth Walfisch and played chamber music with Lucinda Moon, Jamie Hey and Melissa Farrow. She has also played in a number of acclaimed Pinchgut Opera productions and was guest leader of Salut! Baroque for a number of years. As a modern violinist, Myee has toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra over the last four years and is now concentrating on her chamber group the Acacia Ensemble who will be releasing a CD this year for Vexation 840 of the complete works for string quartet by Elena Kats-Chernin.
Tim Willis Tim is currently studying baroque violin with A?P Marina Robinson at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he currently leads the baroque orchestra. Tim works with many period instrument ensembles throughout Australia and New Zealand, including The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, The Australian Chamber Choir, Ludovico’s Band, The Baroque Orchestra of Newman’s College, AK Barok (Aukland), Parsons Affayre, The Sydney Consort, Saluti Armonici, Coro Innominata, the Baroque Orchestra of St James and Ironwood Chamber Ensemble in their Developing Artists Programme. In addition, he regularly performs with a number of smaller chamber ensembles in Rural areas, such as the Hunter Valley, The Far South Coast and Inland New South Wales. Tim is also the winner of numerous awards, among them the 2011 Early Music Association prize and the 2010 Sydney Conservatorium of Music Concerto Competition, in which he won first prize. Outside the world of Historically Informed Performance, Tim enjoys a keen interest in folk music, taking out the 2008 folk music championships for his services to Hungarian folk music. He has recently returned from a trip to a number of isolated Hungarian communities in Transylvania in order to document and preserve a vanishing musical tradition. Tim also has an active interest in musicological research. He is currently preparing an article to be published by the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden, on his work to attribute previously anonymous Eighteenth Century manuscripts to Johann Georg Pisendel. Tim plays an early 18th century violin from Mittenwald, assumed to be made by a member of the Klotz Dynasty. He also plays viola d’amore, baroque viola and violino piccolo.
Tara Hashambhoy Tara has recently completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying viola with Nicole Forsyth. Her interest in Early Music developed whilst studying recorder with Matthew Ridley in her high school years, and was furthered in her tertiary education through playing in Sydney Conservatorium’s Early Music Ensemble, directed by Neal Peres da Costa. In 2010 she was the recipient of the Early Music Association prize. Tara has performed with many outstanding Australian ensembles, including the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs Orchestra, Salut!Baroque and the Pinchgut Opera Company. Tara has an eclectic teaching career. She teaches recorder and violin privately, and is a chamber music tutor for Sydney Conservatorium High School. She is also a regular tutor for Sydney Recorder Society, and adores facilitating early childhood music classes.
Angus Ryan Angus is a full-time student at the University of Sydney now studying Philosophy for his Honors year. In December of 2009 he completed his undergraduate degree in Arts (Advanced) while on exchange at Middlesex University (London). Angus has a strong interest in baroque music having studied for 10 years with baroque cellist and Australian Brandenburg member Anthea Cottee. As a result, he is well versed in the technique of cello continuo accompaniment. As an Arts student his particular areas of interest are Philosophy, Government and Music. He is a past member of the SBS Radio and Television Youth Orchestra and the Sydney University Symphony Orchestra, and is a recipient of an ARS Music Australis scholarship. While studying in the United Kingdom Angus continued his musical education performing with the provincial Southgate Symphony Orchestra. He also plays cello in the highly sought-after covers band Mimesis. Mimesis has won numerous competitions and prizes including ‘most outstanding group’ in the Sydney Provincial competition. Since then Mimesis have released a record and have gigged regularly. Angus’ cello is by Peter Walmsely, dated 1745. It arrived in Australia in 1880 having been sequestered in Wagga Wagga with the Catholic Church for many years.
Anna Fraser Born in Sydney and a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2000) and New England Conservatory (2002) in Boston, Anna Fraser has gained a reputation as a versatile soprano specialising predominantly in the interpretation of early and contemporary repertoire. In 2002, before returning to Australia, Anna attended the Britten-Pears Young Artist Program in the UK and was a soloist in Handel’s Dixit Dominus and the masque Acis and Galatea at the Aldeburgh Festival. Anna performs extensively with a number of Sydney’s professional ensembles including Cantillation, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Sydney Symphony, Ironwood, Salut! Baroque, ACO Voices, the Sydney Consort, Thoroughbass and performed with The Tall Poppeas for four years. As a permanent member of the Song Company since 2008, Anna regularly performs in tours of Australia, most recently with Tura New Music joined by William Barton (didgeridoo) travelling through remote and beautiful areas of Western Australia and the Northern Territory in 2011, as well as abroad to destinations such as the Flanders Festival in Gent (2009), the Shanghai World Expo, China and a national tour with Chamber Music New Zealand in 2010. Anna has also been performing with Pinchgut Opera in its annual productions since 2004, with roles in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Speranza), Rameau’s Dardanus (Une Phrygienne) and in its 2009 production, Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, she performed the two roles of Mirinda and Melide to much acclaim. Anna again joins Pinchgut in 2012 for its production of Rameau’s Castor et Pollux. With both professional chorus Cantillation and Pinchgut Opera, Anna has been featured in numerous recordings for ABC Classic release as an ensemble singer and soloist.
Richard Butler Richard started singing as a boy at Newcastle and Durham Cathedrals, England. He was awarded a choral scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge under the direction of Stephen Cleobury where he read Classics. Having left Cambridge, Richard then became tenor lay clerk at Westminster Cathedral where he remained until December 2007. Recent career highlights include the role of Corydon in a series of international performances of Acis and Galatea for the Gabrieli Consort, Haut-Contre soloist in a Purcell Odes program at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and in Poland for the same, the Sailor in Dido and Aeneas at the Beaune International Music Festival, Huntsman in Blow’s Venus and Adonis for Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company at the Wigmore Hall and Tenor soloist in the Monteverdi Vespers with the Parley of Instruments. He also performed as soloist in Bach’s B Minor Mass for the English Baroque Choir at St John’s Smith Square. Richard has also sung the role of evangelist in both the St John and St Matthew Passions by J.S Bach, performing the St Matthew in Llandaff Cathedral, and the St John for the Sagittarian Consort under the directorship of David Hill as well as in Antwerp for Bart Van Reyn. Most recently Richard was part of the quartet ‘Die Familie’ in Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins in Milan with Ute Lemper, sung the titular role in Britten’s St Nicolas in Cardiff and performed the role of Secrecy in a semi-staged production of the Fairy Queen for Harry Bickett and the English Concert at the Cadogan Hall, St George’s Hall in Bristol and in Madrid, Malaga and Castellon. Since arriving in Australia, Richard has been appointed tenor lay-clerk at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney and was soloist in the Mozart Requiem for Christ Church St Laurence. In 2010 he performed the principal tenor role in Purcell’s Dioclesian for Pinchgut Opera.
Lanneke JonesLanneke’s love of performing began at an early age when she made her Sydney Opera House debut at the age of five. She performed with Opera Australia’s Children’s Chorus for some years, then became a solo performer and toured for over four years as Flora in Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the As a teenager she made many trips to New Orleans and learnt how to sing and swing Jazz and Gospel music. Later she graduated with Honours in Music and Education from UNSW, formed an “a cappella” quartet Sorelle and her own band “Soul Kiss”. She has sung with the Sydney Philharmonia Choir and Motet, and her diverse performing career includes solo work with Opera Australia, The National Chamber Opera of Australia, The Taverner and UNSW Burgundian Consorts and Cafe Of The Gate Of Salvation. She is a professional singer and teacher in classical and contemporary music, freelancing with Corporate Bands and Sydney’s Jazz musicians. Lanneke joined The Song Company in 2009 which saw her touring to China and New Zealand.
Mark DonnellyMark spent five years at the Queensland Conservatorium under the tutelage of Gregory Massingham. During this time he performed the roles of the Sailing Master in the Australian premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music and excerpts from Cosi fan Tutte, The Marriage of Figaro and The magic Flute. In 1993, he commenced working with Opera Queensland as a Chorus member, also covering principal roles in Rigoletto, Eugene Onegin, Carmen and Don Giovanni. Fifteen years ago Mark Donnelly joined The Song Company; since then he has recorded numerous CDs with the ensemble and toured extensively throughout Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Portugal, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, England, Italy and the USA. During this time he has also performed with Cantillation and recorded film scores for Babe II: Pig in the City and The Bank and numerous documentaries for TV and radio. Mark Donnelly has also appeared as a soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Newcastle University Choir and the Sydney University Musical Society.
