ABBA

This English chamber music quintet of wind musicians was put together in 1991/2 by members of the Britten Sinfonia who have become acclaimed for their performances of a wide range of music that covers the last several hundred years up to modern contemporary. Two of the co-founders, oboist Nicholas Daniel and clarinettist Joy Farrall, currently lead them.

They regularly commission works from today’s composers such as Michael Berkeley, Gary Carpenter and Colin Matthews and regularly invite other wind musicians and pianists as guest musicians to join the ensemble to perform chamber works written for larger groups.

Regularly touring on a national and European level, they have given numerous concert performances and media broadcasts and appeared at several music festivals. They are also very familiar with the studio and have acclaimed recordings under their belt that include William Alwyn: Chamber Works 1&2, Max Kuhn, Richard Strauss: Sonatina No. 2 for Sixteen Winds, Francaix: Wind Quintets and Mozart: Wind Concertos.

The University of Southampton, South East Arts and Cambridgeshire Holiday Orchestra Association, have all had them as their resident ensemble and they have been actively involved in the musical education projects called Discovery Workshop and “Making More of Music” where they provide workshops and concerts throughout Britain.

Past and Present Members:

Horn - Stephen Bell

Flute – Philippe Bernold

Bassoon - Sarah Burnett

Flute – Michael Cox

Oboe - Nicholas Daniel
Clarinet - Joy Farrall

Bassoon – Ursula Leveaux
Flute - Emer McDonough

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