A former Juilliard School double bass teacher, historical basson specialist and world-leading traverso player are just some of the sought-after historical music professionals bringing baroque to the Central Coast this September.

Six musicians specialising in music from the baroque period are coming to Gosford as tutors with the Australian Haydn Spring Academy, Friday 28 September to Sunday 30 September.

Australian Haydn Ensemble founder, Artistic Director and principal violin Skye McIntosh will be joined by baroque/classical violinist and Alexander Technique expert Stephen Freeman, baroque bassoon specialist Simon Rickard, cellist and viola da gamba player Daniel Yeadon, former Juilliard School teacher and double bass player Rob Nairn, traverso (baroque flute) aficionado Melissa Farrow.

For three days, the musicians will join forces with students for the Academy, which will take place at the Central Coast Conservatorium of Music, where they will be exploring the gems of the baroque and classical repertoire, elements of historically informed practice and period instrument practice.

“We are incredibly lucky to have these tutors and musicians of such high caliber, who are all experts in their fields, here on the Central Coast to share their wealth of experience and  inspire and teach our students,” Central Coast Conservatorium of Music Artistic Director Patrick Brennan said.

Applications for the AHE 2022 Spring Academy now close on 16 September. For more details and to apply click HERE

The AHE 2022 Spring Academy tutors are:

Skye McIntosh – Baroque/Classical Violin

Skye McIntosh is the founder, Artistic Director and a Principal Violin of the Australian Haydn Ensemble and a sought after specialist of baroque and classical period violin throughout Australia.

She has performed regularly with Pinchgut Opera (Orchestra of the Antipodes) over the past five years, and has been principal second violin with The Australian Classical and Romantic Orchestra as well as a regular member of The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra for over seven years.

Skye completed a Master of Music degree on full scholarship, specialising in baroque and classical violin performance, at the Sydney Conservatorium in 2011, under the tutelage of Rachael Beesley and Julia Fredersdorff as well as undertaking lessons with numerous specialists including Catherine MacIntosh, Simon Standage and Marc Detrubé. Skye also studied baroque violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London and performed numerous times with the Britten Pears Young Artist Baroque program and was a member of South Bank Sinfonia (London).

As a teacher, Skye has extensive experience having lead numerous education courses and workshops as part of AHE’s activities over the past 10 years. She was also a ensemble, chamber music and violin teacher at the Royal Junior Academy of Music and holds a Licentiate of the Royal Academy in Teaching. She has also held violin and ensemble teaching positions at Melbourne Girls Grammar, SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Colour Strings in London along with numerous other London schools and music schools.

Skye has recently recorded Mozart’s G Major violin concerto with ABC Classics, due for release in late 2022.

Stephen Freeman – Baroque/Classical Violin & Alexander Technique

Inspired by the pioneers of historical performance practice, Stephen pursued his interest in this field at the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague after graduating from the Canberra School of Music in 1991.

Upon completion of his studies and a brief intermezzo back home as principal 2nd with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and teaching at Melbourne Uni, Stephen returned to Europe. Based in Amsterdam for over a decade he performed, toured and recorded with numerous ensembles including Ricercar Consort, Concerto d’Amsterdam, Gabrieli Consort, Capriccio Stravagante, Il Gardellino and New Dutch Academy (concertmaster, 2007-2012).

Alongside his musical career, Stephen trained at the Alexander Technique Centre in Amsterdam qualifying as a teacher in 2010. Back in Australia since 2014 he plays with several of the Sydney based HIP ensembles.

Simon Rickard – Baroque/Classical Bassoon & Baroque Dance

Simon Rickard is a specialist in historical bassoons. He studied at the Canberra School of Music and the Koninklijk Conservatorium in the Hague. He has toured and recorded with countless period ensembles including Les Arts Florissants, the Gabrieli Consort, Pinchgut Opera, the Orchestra of the Antipodes, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Opera Australia, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Latitude 37, Genesis Baroque, the Australian Haydn Ensemble, Ironwood and La Compañia, as well as his own renaissance consort, Unholy Rackett, named for the bizarre renaissance woodwind instrument in which Simon is a leading specialist.

Daniel Yeadon – Baroque/Classical Cello

Daniel has a love of a wide range of musical genres and is an exceptionally versatile cellist and viola da gamba player, performing repertoire from the Renaissance through to Contemporary. Daniel is a passionate chamber musician, playing regularly with Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Ironwood, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian Haydn Ensemble and Bach Akademie Australia.

Originally from the UK, Daniel read physics at Oxford University and then completed his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music in London. For many years Daniel was a member of the exuberant period instrument ensemble Florilegium, Fitzwilliam String Quartet and Concordia Viol Consort. Daniel continues to be guest principal cellist with many of the period instrument ensembles based in London, including the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Daniel has made many award-winning recordings, including: Haydn’s cello concerto in C major with the Australian Haydn Ensemble; an ARIA winning disc of sonatas by J.S. Bach with Richard Tognetti and Neal Peres Da Costa; J.S. Bach sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord with Neal Peres Da Costa; J.S. Bach cantatas and Brandenburg concertos with John Eliot Gardiner and English Baroque Soloists, in addition to many critically acclaimed recordings with Ironwood, Florilegium and the Fitzwilliam Quartet.

Daniel is in much demand as a teacher. Associated with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music since 2005, his research interests are musical group learning experiences and historical performance practices.

Rob Nairn – Double Bass

Rob Nairn was appointed ‘Master Musician in Residence’ at the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide in 2020, having worked as Head of the Early Music Department at Melbourne University from 2017-2020. Previously he also taught on the faculty of the Juilliard School for 11 years and Penn State University for 18 years where he was a Distinguished Professor.

Performance credits include London and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestras; the Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestras; the English, Scottish and Australian Chamber Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, the London Sinfonietta, the Halle Orchestra, London Mozart Players, the Australia Ensemble, The Australian World Orchestra and the Australian String Quartet.

A specialist in historical performance, he is currently principal bass with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra having held a similar position with the Handel and Haydn Society for14 years. He also worked with the Boston Early Music Festival, Juilliard Baroque, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, English Baroque Soloists, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Concerto Caledonia, Ironwood, Washington Bach Consort, the Aulos Ensemble, Rebel, Florilegium, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, the Muffat Collective and Adelaide Baroque.

Rob has recorded for Deutsche Grammaphon, Sony Classical , EMI, Naxos, Tall Poppies, RCA and ABC Classics. In 2008 he was awarded a Howard Foundation Fellowship from Brown University. He has performed recitals and given masterclasses in Europe, Scandinavia, China, the U.S. and Australia.

Melissa Farrow – Baroque/Classical Flute

Melissa is in much demand as a traverso player in Australia, both as an orchestral player and as a soloist. She is also passionate about teaching period flutes, recorder and baroque style on modern instruments and teaches baroque flute at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Melissa has performed and recorded since 2004 with the Orchestra of the Antipodes as principal flute/recorder/piccolo player and is proud to say that she has played in 12 operas with Pinchgut Opera and Orchestra of the Antipodes. Melissa is featured as flute soloist with Pinchgut Opera and Orchestra of the Antipodes in the Gretry flute concerto with the opera L’amant Jaloux.

Melissa is also principal flute of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Australian Haydn Ensemble. She has performed with several other Australian ensembles on traverso including Australian Chamber Orchestra, Latitude 37, The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, The Marais Project and Ironwood.

Melissa appears on several recordings including Brandenburg Celebrates with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, performing as soloist in the Telemann Flute and Violin Concerto. With the Australian Haydn Ensemble she appears on recordings the Haydn Album and Beethoven Piano concertos in chamber arrangements with Neal Peres da Costa and AHE.

Applications for the AHE 2022 Spring Academy now close on 16 September. For more details and to apply click HERE