ABBA

Percussionist from London, England, who learned the ropes in the Royal School of Church Music and played double bass, piano and violin until gravitating to percussion in the Royal Academy of Music.

One of his early stage credits was in the orchestra pit for a production of The Beggar’s Opera under the baton of Carl Davis at The Theatre Royal in Stratford, England. Then he went on the road with the Prospect Theatre Company for mountings of King Lear and Love’s Labour’s Lost. He has not always played in such conventional venues, having appeared in concerts at HM Prison, Korolevu Beach, and the Leeds-Liverpool canal.

When not performing on beaches, in canals, prisons or theatres, he has worked with a wide variety of groups, including the Academy of Ancient Music, the Arditti String Quartet, the Bach Choir, Canzona, Capricorn, the Carnival Band, the Cambridge Singers, the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, the Choir of New College, Oxford, the City of London Sinfonia, Collegium Musicum 90, the English Baroque Soloists, the English Chamber Orchestra, Ex Cathedra, the King’s Consort, the King’s Singers, the London Brass, the London City Brass, the London Sinfonietta, the Milton Keynes City Orchestra, the Monteverdi Choir, the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra, the Parley of Instruments, the Philharmonia, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Sixteen, the Stuttgart Barockorchester, and the Westminster Abbey Choir.

His discography—as you can imagine, based on the list above—is massive, but here are some highlights: Benjamin Britten Presents John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera with the City of London Sinfonia; Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts; Gavin Bryars: Henry Purcell: The Complete Anthems and Services, Vol. 7; Der Messiah with the Monteverdi Choir; Modern Times with London Brass; Music for His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts with Alistair Ross; Music from the Time of Civil Wars; Shepherds Watched: Christmas Music from English Parish Churches, 1740-1830; Sing Lustily and with Good Courage and Tapestry of Carols by Maddy Prior & the Carnival Band; Thomas Arne: Six Favourite Concertos with the Parley of Instruments; and, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Les Symphonies Vol. 4 by the Academy of Ancient Music.

On 25^th January 2003, he took part in the Alan Taylor Celebration Concert at the Royal Opera House. What about when he has to travel out of country? It’s not so easy. American airline regulations have made it difficult to get their weighty instruments on board. To address the problem, he invented his own fiberglass timpani in order to satisfy the weight requirements. These join his considerable collection of approximately forty instruments.

A few of the instruments he plays (besides fiberglass timpani): bass drum, bells, celeste, cowbell, drums, side drums, tabors, tambourine, tubular bells, and wood blocks. He’s even been known to chip in backing vocals.

In December 2006, he participated in a pair of Christmas concerts with fellow percussionist Nigel Bates, the Bach Choir, conductor David Hill, the London City Brass and organist Jane Watts at Cadogan Hall in London. The same group, with David Corkhill taking Nigel’s palace returned to Sloane Terrace for a holiday entertainment on 3^rd December 2009.

In the field of music education, he has taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and the Watford School of Music. He has also served as an examiner at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dance.

The King’s Singers recordings

Patapan and Farandole (Bernard De La Monnoye/Georges Bizet/Jeremy Jackman)

EMI 49909 (CD: A Little Christmas Music)

Countertenor and composer - Jeremy Jackson

Countertenor - Alastair Hume

Tenor and Arranger - Bob Chilcott

Baritone - Bruce Russell

Baritone - Simon Carrington

Bass - Stephen Connolly

Sources:

http://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/student-staff-area/staff-biographies/charles-fullbrook.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carnival_Band_(folk_group)