Tabea Debus, Jonathan Rees, Alex McCartney
Biography Tabea Debus, Jonathan Rees, Alex McCartney
Tabea Debus
Described by The Times as a charismatic virtuoso, Tabea Debus is constantly exploring the horizons of music for recorder and has performed widely across Europe, Asia and the USA.
As a soloist Tabea has appeared with La Serenissima, the English Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall, and WDR Rundfunkchor at the Funkhaus in Cologne. She is a regular guest on the BBC’s In Tune and Early Music Show, and has just released her fourth CD Favourites, a follow-up to the highly acclaimed XXIV Fantasie per il Flauto, which features twelve newly commissioned pieces based on Telemann Flute Fantasias.
Previous highlights include recitals at the Wigmore Hall, at the Early Music Festivals in London, York and Brighton, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and at the Schleswig Holstein, Resonanzen, Brecon Baroque, Musica Antiqua Bolzano, Baroque at the Edge, and Edinburgh International Festivals. She has collaborated with leading musicians and ensembles such as Rachel Podger, Iestyn Davies, Richard Egarr, Lawrence Cummings, Dunedin Consort, The English Concert, LSO Soundhub, and Music for Awhile, among many others.
Awards include the WEMAG Soloists Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, first prize at The Society of Recorder Players/Moeck International Solo Recorder Competition in London, as well as at the Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and Hülsta Woodwinds International Competitions. Tabea was also a City Music Foundation Artist, St John’s Smith Square Young Artist, and Handel House Talent. She was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT), and subsequently joined the Concert Artists Guild (CAG) roster.
Born in Würzburg, Germany, Tabea studied at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with Prof. Michael Schneider and at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Pamela Thorby. Graduating with the Principal’s Prize, she went on to be appointed Meaker Fellow at the RAM. During her studies she received scholarships from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes.
Tabea teaches recorder at Wells Cathedral School, leads composition and chamber music workshops at the Royal Academy of Music and Cambridge University, has collaborated with London Music Masters and Jackdaws Music Education Trust, and has been adjudicator for the British Composer Awards (BASCA) and Jugend musiziert.
The release of her debut album Upon a Ground (ClassicClips), was followed by Cantata per Flauto, XXIV Fantasie per il Flauto, and Favourites (all TYXart).
Jonathan Rees
has performed across the globe as cellist and gamba player with the UK's leading historical performance and chamber ensembles. He has performed as continuo / principal cellist and gamba soloist with the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Dunedin Consort, The Sixteen, ENO, Britten Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, La Nuova Musica and Solomon's Knot.
He has performed with the viol consorts Fretwork and Phantasm and is a founder member of Newe Vialles. As a chamber musician and soloist he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, London Baroque Festival, at the York, Lammermuir, Hastings and Bristol Early Music Festivals amongst others, and venues across Europe.
He has given historical performance classes at the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire, Cambridge University and the Royal Northern College of Music. He has been employed by the University of Cambridge as a researcher into 17th-century French street song. He has devised and led music workshops and children's concerts for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Brighton Early Music Festival and others. For five years he directed and performed at Bristol's acclaimed annual festival, Really Classical Relay. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.
Outside of the world of music he spends a lot of his time making compost and growing plants for the sustenance of humans, bees, butterflies and even the odd lucky greenfly.
Alex McCartney
Continually in demand as an accompanist and soloist, lutenist Alex McCartney has performed extensively in the UK and abroad, working regularly with artists such as Emma Kirkby, The Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The English Concert, The English Baroque Soloists, The Early Opera Company, The Royal Opera House, His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts, Poeticall Musicke, La Nuova Musica, Ensemble Libro I, Ensemble Marsayas and The Royal Ballet. Alex also often performs live via radio and television.
Alex is regularly recorded and is a resident artist with his own record label Veterum Musica. Amongst an array of recordings, some featuring his ensemble Poeticall Musicke, Alex has recently released his critically acclaimed debut solo album of works by the lesser known composer René Mésangeau. Future solo projects include an album of works by Dowland, Holborne and Batcheler.
Occasionally Alex consults and teaches for film and television productions, the most recent being an adaptation of 'Wolf Hall' by the BBC broadcast in January 2015. In addition to on-set consultancy, Alex had the challenge of teaching the actors Damian Lewis and Max Fowler to play the lute to a professional standard in the short space of one month.
Alex teaches the lute at the University of Aberdeen, and at the Early Music Shop in London.
In 2015, Alex authored his first book "Memory Methods:Music" which provides a practical, waffle-free approach to both general and musical mnemonic methods.
In his spare time Alex enjoys making lutes in his studio in Glasgow.
