Orsino Ensemble

Britain's Orsino Ensemble, a wind quintet, may both expand for larger repertory and contract for smaller pieces. Since its founding in the late 2010s, the group has played steadily more prestigious venues and festivals. The Orsino Ensemble was founded by flutist Adam Walker in 2018 with the aim of exploring lesser-known wind repertory. All the members have flourishing careers; Walker became principal flutist of the London Symphony Orchestra when he was 21. The group is named for Duke Orsino in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (who says, "If music be the food of love, play on!"). In addition to Walker, the members are oboist Nicholas Daniel, clarinetist Matthew Hunt, bassoonist Amy Harman, and hornist Alec Frank-Gemmill. The group's collaborators have included bass clarinetist Peter Sparks, pianists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Tom Poster, and bassoonist Llinos Owen, among others. The Orsino Ensemble made its debut in 2018 at the Aldeburgh International Festival. Signed to the Chandos label, the ensemble made its recording debut in 2021 with the album Belle Epoque: French Music for Wind, featuring pianist Pavel Kolesnikov. The group has often been seen at festivals across the British Isles, including the West Cork Chamber Music, Chipping Campden, and Ryedale Festivals. During the 2022-2023 season, the Orsino Ensemble appeared at London's Wigmore Hall and the LSO St. Luke's Concert Hall and held a weekend residency at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. The group developed a collaboration with Bavouzet, performing it at Wigmore Hall and Sibelius Hall in Helsinki. During the 2023-2024 season, the Orsino Ensemble appeared on the Leeds International Chamber Season concert series at the Leeds Conservatoire, performing a program of music by Germaine Tailleferre, Darius Milhaud, Camille Saint-Saëns, Francis Poulenc, and André Caplet. In 2023, the Orsino Ensemble released Echoes of Bohemia: Czech Music for Wind, its sophomore album on Chandos.
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