QuintEssential, director Richard Thomas

QuintEssential Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble was formed in 1993. Specialising in early music with an original and unusual repertoire, QuintEssential ensure that period brass instruments speak to a contemporary audience in an exciting and innovative voice. Over the past fifteen years, QuintEssential have performed at many of the major British festivals including York, Beverley, Norfolk & Norwich, Warwick & Leamington, Spitalfield's and Exeter, as well as in Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, Slovenia, Belgium, Italy and Spain. In September 2002, QuintEssential was fortunate to be invited to perform a series of concerts in and around Bogotá, Colombia.

QuintEssential have released two commercial recordings, In Venetia (Meridian) a programme of north Italian instrumental music, and Elisa is the fayrest quene (Chandos), a commemorative disc marking the four hundredth anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I; QuintEssential also appear on Ex Cathedra's three volumes of South American Baroque music (Hyperion). The ensemble has made regular appearances on BBC and commercial radio and television.

In keeping with their philosophy to bring early music to as wide an audience as possible, QuintEssential have been highly active in an educational capacity through Yehudi Menuhin's Live Music Now! scheme. They have performed for all ages and abilities and brought music to those who might otherwise never experience it. Their rich and extensive knowledge of the historical and social importance of their unusual instruments adds a stimulating dimension to their programme and a high level of audience participation ensures an unforgettable experience.

"It is the band's ebullience and danceable vigour...that will win them the following they deserve." - Early Music Today

"QuintEssential were magnificent throughout. Crisp articulation and taut rhythmic playing were their hallmark....The current musical appetite for the Baroque seems insatiable, and not surprising if there are young ensembles of this calibre." (Norfolk & Norwich Festival 1997) - Frank Cliff, Eastern Daily News

QuintEssential can provide the full band if you are planning a performance of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers - ranging from 10 to 23 musicians. Click here for more details

Programmes

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Reformation, Revolution and Restoration - music from Henry VIII to Charles II

The great royal families of the Tudors and Stuarts have cast long dynastic shadows across the history of England and the British Isles . Their legacy can still be felt in British festivals (Guy Fawkes Night), religious structure (Church of England), government (supremacy of Parliament) and the countryside (ruined Abbeys and vast landed estates). Musically, these families oversaw a golden age of English music making: sacred & secular, vocal & instrumental. This programme takes an overview of the 150 years that these two families propagated English music, with works by Henry VIII, Byrd, Bassano, Adson, Locke, Milton and Playford.


In Venetia - music from 17th century Venice

Seventeenth century Venetians loved rich and sumptuous spectacle. Whether this be a public display or a more private affair did not seem to matter. To satisfy the expression of this opulence in musical terms, the printing presses of Gardano, Ravieri, Vincenti, Magni and others were kept busy producing a wealth of instrumental music. The music was designed to echo around the great golden domes of St.Mark ' s Basilica, and also throughout La Serenissima, in the churches, the palaces and the grand houses on the banks of the canals. By the turn of the seventeenth century, instrumental writing had developed into a highly sophisticated art form utilising the glorious spaces of Venetian architecture and the virtuosic abilities of the members of the basilica¹s wind band (musicians such as Girolamo Dalla Casa and Giovanni Bassano). The marriage of virtuosity and outward extravagance led to some of the finest music written for the wind band and gives us a window to our seventeenth-century ancestors ' musical tastes.