The Brook Street Band
Taking its name from the London street where George Frederick Handel lived from 1723 until his death in 1759, the Brook Street Band was founded in 1996 by Baroque cellist Tatty Theo. The group has evolved into one of the leading period-instrument ensembles specializing in Handel's music, both playing his chamber works and collaborating with larger forces. A favorite on the BBC 3 classical radio network, the Brook Street Band has performed at the Dartington International Summer School, the Barcelona Early Music Festival, and Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, and has established its own festival, love: Handel, in Norfolk, U.K. It has regularly given concerts at London's Wigmore Hall.
The group has created new pieces, partly by commissioning new texts to be fitted to Handel's music. It has an ongoing Handelian collaboration with several authors and librettists including Louis de Bernières and Alasdair Middleton, fusing newly commissioned prose with Handel's music. The ensemble created a program for schools entitled Getting a Handle on Handel, a project that resulted in a new oratorio, Il Pastorale, L'Urbino e Il Suburbano, by composer Matthew King -- a response to Handel's L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato.
The Brook Street Band made its recording debut on the Avie label in 2004 with The "Oxford" Water Music, a collection including Handel's famous composition along with related works by Corelli, Geminiani, and Leclair. It has continued to record for Avie, releasing music by both Johann Sebastian and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach along the way, in addition to Handel works. In 2013 it issued its first volume of Handel trio sonatas. The group's membership in 2017 included, in addition to Theo, Swedish-born violinist Rachel Harris, violinist Farran Scott, harpischordist Carolyn Gibley, and Portuguese-British recorder player Lisete da Silva Bull. Soprano Nicki Kennedy has a longstanding relationship with the Brook Street Band in Handel's vocal works.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
10 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Bach: Trio Sonatas
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 12 Oct 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel's English Cantatas and Songs
Nicki Kennedy, Sally Bruce-Payne, The Brook Street Band
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 9 Oct 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
"Oxford" Water Music
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 6 Apr 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dixit Dominus: Handel • Scarlatti
The Brook Street Band, Owen Rees, Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 13 May 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Sonatas for Violin & Basso Continuo
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 1 Jun 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Trio Sonatas Op. 5
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 27 Sep 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. & C.P.E. Bach: Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord
The Brook Street Band, Tatty Theo, Caroline Gilbey
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 10 Mar 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Six ‘Cello’ Sonatas (recorder sonata transcriptions)
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A German in Venice (Album)
The Brook Street Band, David De Winter
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by First Hand Records on 19 Apr 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Dragon of Wantley, Act I: Gentle Knight! All Knights Exceeding
The Brook Street Band, Mary Bevan, John Andrews
Opera - Released by Resonus Classics on 17 Jun 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo