Aurora Ensemble

MAXINE WILLIS (flute), GWENLLIAN DAVIES (oboe), ANDREW MASON (clarinet), RICHARD BAYLISS (horn), HELEN SIMONS (bassoon)

 

Gioachino Rossini

Overture to the Italian Girl in Algiers

 

Paul Taffanel

Wind Quintet                                         

 

Jacques Ibert

Trois Pieces Breves

 

Russell Pascoe

Keskan V – premiere

 

WA Mozart (arr. Meyer)

Fantasie in F minor KV608

 

INTERVAL 

 

Darius Milhaud

La Cheminee du Roi Rene

 

Berio

Opus Number Zoo

 

Established in 1996, the Aurora Ensemble is a traditional wind quintet which also expands to work with piano, strings or to explore the repertoire for wind octet. Each of its players works regularly with some of the country’s leading orchestras and chamber ensembles.

Prizewinners at the European chamber music competition, Musique d’Ensemble held at the Paris Conservatoire in 2001, the ensemble has broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and performed in many major venues including the Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall (for the Park Lane Group), Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall and Cardiff’s St. David’s Hall. Each season it performs for numerous music clubs and festivals.

Maxine Willis 

A wind finalist in the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year competition, Maxine read English at Brasenose College Oxford, followed by two years of postgraduate study at the Royal College of Music having received an award from the Countess of Munster Musical trust. She has given recitals at St James Piccadilly, Union Chapel Islington, and the October Gallery WC1, and performed concertos both in England and France. Maxine plays with Welsh National Opera and Kokoro and has appeared with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic.

Gwenllian Davies 

Gwenllian comes from Pembrokeshire and read music at Jesus College, Oxford. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama after receiving awards from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Myra Hess Trust and the Arts Council of Wales. She is a busy freelance oboist and plays with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Symphony and RTE Concert Orchestra. She has also worked with the Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban and Teatro Marrucino Opera in Italy.

Andrew Mason 

Andrew studied at the Royal College of Music as a Foundation Scholar winning the Frederick Thurston Clarinet Prize and the Roger Fallows Memorial Prize. He has performed on Radio Three for the BBC Proms Composer Portrait series and in 2002 made his Purcell Room debut for the Park Lane Group’s New Year series for which The Times praised his “subtle virtuosity... mercurial responses and reactions”. In March 2003 he made his debut at the Wigmore Hall. Andrew has played for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra amongst others. In 2013 he was appointed 2nd clarinet of Opera North.

Richard Bayliss 

Richard enjoys a varied musical career, encompassing historical performance, orchestral music, chamber music & musical theatre. His studies at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) led to solo appearances with the RAM String Orchestra in Haydn's Concerto for two horns and Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn and strings. Richard performs regularly with many of the UK’s Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, and he has a passion for early music, working with Gabrieli Consort, Academy of Ancient Music & English Baroque Soloists, among others. As well as being a founder member of the Galliard Ensemble, Richard’s interest in Chamber Music has led to performances of the Mozart Quintet for horn & strings, and recordings with the Wallace Collection & the Golden Section brass ensembles.

Helen Simons 

Helen studied at the Purcell School of Music before continuing her studies with scholarships to the Royal Academy of Music and the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna, studying with John Orford, Rachel Gough, Milan Turkovic, and David Chatterton. After several years of freelancing Helen took a position in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra where she has been a member for 12 years. She continues to freelance with groups such as the English Chamber Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra alongside her positions in the RPO and the Galliard Ensemble. Helen has recently become a member of the professorial staff at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as coaching chamber music. Helen has been a member of the RPO education team since joining the RPO, taking music into schools, hospitals, day centres and youth clubs. Helen plays on a 10000 series Heckel bassoon.