Coming up, however, is our concert of music from German-speaking countries, on July 5th in Canberra. Here we are in George's kitchen with Heinrich Isaac's evergreen number Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen:
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Now, here's some background on the Company:David Yardley
countertenor
David has sung with a number of highly-regarded ensembles in Australia and overseas in Cambridge, UK, both as a counter-tenor and as a baritone. He held a choral scholarship with the renowned Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge in 2003-4 (under conductor Daniel Hyde), and sang under Edward Wickham in the Cambridge Medieval Music Group also in that year. In Australia, he has sung on scholarship with the choir of St James Church, King Street, under David Drury and with the choir of St Mary’s Cathedral. He also has performed with many other Australian groups, such as the Sydney Chamber Choir, including in their recent collaboration with UK-based group The Tallis Scholars.
As a composer, David's work is informed by Renaissance and Mediaeval music. Recordings of his solo performances, and recordings of performances of his compositions as well as the sheet music for his compositions and arrangements are freely available from his personal website, www.davidyardley.net .
David Mackay
tenor
David Mackay has performed as a conductor and soloist in Australia and the United Kingdom, including work with Opera Australia, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Sydney Chamber Choir, the Sydney Chamber Orchestra, Nova Camerata, the choir of St James Church, King Street, the choir of St Simon Zelotes, Chelsea, and the Guys and St Thomas' Hospitals Orchestra and Choir. He was the founding Music Director of the Goodenough Chamber Orchestra and Voices in London, for whom he commissioned Kasper Cornish's oratorio The Wanderer, for baritone, chorus and orchestra.
He is also active as a composer. His first disc, The Bethlehem Road – also featuring compositions by David Yardley – was released in 2002. A second disc (working title Miniatures) is due for release during 2007.
In 2007, he appears with the Pocket Score Company, and sang the Evangelist in J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion on Good Friday. He is the Musical Director of the Canberra Chamber Choir.
George Brenan
tenor
George Brenan has been singing in church and chamber choirs since the age of 8, when he started training as a treble with Brisbane’s Holy Trinity, Fortitude Valley. In more recent years he has sung with the choir of St James King Street in Sydney, and St Mary’s Kangaroo Point and St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane. Also in Brisbane, he performed in a number of recordings and national broadcasts involving ensembles such as the Quodlibet Singers and Canticum, and the specialist baroque ensemble Cantilena.
He has appeared as soloist in diverse works from the chamber music repertoire, including larger works by Schütz, Buxtehude, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Britten. A relatively new arrival in Canberra, he has performed most recently with the Canberra Handel Choir. He has a particular interest in the pre-baroque, and post-20th century repertoire from north-eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
Ian Blake
bass
Ian enjoys folk music, early music and electronica, and his own music often shows traces of all three: he has worked as a composer for theatre, film, chamber music, dance and public art projects, while his production and sound engineering skills have earned him a Gold Disc and an ARIA nomination.Originally from London, Ian made his Covent Garden debut at the age of 13, but hasn't had a gig there since: however, his subsequent career has been varied and far-ranging... mainly in the folk and world music scene with, amongst others, Pyewackett, Andrew Cronshaw, June Tabor, Michelle Shocked, and the Mellstock Band; in venues from Alaska to Zanzibar. Since moving to Australia, Ian has toured extensively with Eric Bogle and produced two of Eric's CDs at his Canberra studio.
Ian has produced award-winning records for children, many for the ABC: his multi-instrumental abilities and arranging skills have contributed to some classics, notably with Mike Jackson.
In 2005 he received an ACT Creative Arts Fellowship and is now pursuing a PhD in composition and sound art at the Australian National University. He was awarded the 2006 National Folk Fellowship which led to a live/electroacoustic piece based on material from the children's folklore collections at the National Library, performed at the 2007 National Folk Festival.
More at www.ianblake.net and www.myspace.com/abelkain .