Ashley Solomon
flute/recorder
Director

As Director of Florilegium much of Ashley’s time is spent working and performing with Florilegium, the ensemble he co-founded in 1991. They have a busy touring schedule and each year perform at major international festivals and concert series throughout Europe as well as the Americas. Florilegium have been recording with Channel Classics since 1993 and have to date made over 20 recordings on this Dutch label.

Born in Sussex, Ashley won a recorder and flute scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he was awarded first class honours. He went on to complete his post-graduate studies there in 1991 with a scholarship from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust studying recorder with Peter Holtslag and baroque and classical flute with Lisa Beznosiuk. That same year he won first prize in the Moeck International Recorder Competition, resulting in a solo debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. This led to a debut solo recording project for the English label Meridian Records of recorder and Italian baroque flute music which was released in 1994.

He has performed as a soloist throughout Europe, the Americas, the Far East and Australia, in prestigious venues including the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), The Frick Collection (New York), Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires) and the Sydney Opera House. He frequently records programmes for radio and television and as well as his many recordings with Florilegium for Channel Classics, he has been recording as a solo artist for the same label since 1998. His solo discography on Channel Classics includes the complete Bach Flute Sonatas (two volumes) as well as a recording of music for period harp and flute with works by Mozart, Rossini, Gluck, Nadermann, Bochsa and Tulou. Volume 1 of the Bach Sonatas was described by Gramophone magazine as “exceptional…prepare to be uplifted” and it went on to be selected as one of the magazines favourite CDs for 2001.

From 1997-2000 Ashley was a frequent guest principal flautist with the Sydney based Australian Chamber Orchestra when they performed on period instruments. This position involved several national tours each year as well as recordings for CD and national radio.

Much in demand as a teacher he has given masterclasses and lectures in Australia, Singapore, the Americas, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Portugal, Norway and the UK. In 1998 he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and this was followed in 2000 with Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music, where he has been Professor since 1994. In 2006 he was appointed to the new position of Head of Historical Performance at the Royal College of Music.

Since his appointment at the Royal College of Music he has directed a number of projects, including the RCM’s first performance of Bach’s Easter Oratorio in April 2007 with the College’s chamber choir. In January 2008 he directed the first of a series of Bach Cantata concerts, and the second, in January 2009, took place in St John's Smith Square.

In 2003 Florilegium started working with Bolivian Baroque music; initially with a concert at the Wigmore Hall, Ashley led the group in performances in Bolivia 2004 and every two years since then, and they made recordings there in 2004 and 2006, and a third CD was recorded in the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam, which was released in January 2010.

In 2007 he directed three Bolivian national tours with Arakaendar Bolivia Choir, the choir he formed in that country in January 2006 to perform and record Bolivian Baroque music. Their first CD, released to critical acclaim in 2007, won a number of awards and was nominated for a 2008 BBC Music Magazine award. In February 2008 he directed a European tour with the Choir and Florilegium, including a concert tour in The Netherlands, a concert at the Royal College of Music and a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast.

Ashley was awarded the 2008 Hans Roth Prize; this prestigious Bolivian award has been given to him in recognition of the enormous assistance he has given to the Bolivian native Indians, their presence on the international stage and the promotion and preservation of this music.

Bojan works regularly with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, The Gabrielli Consort, and The Sixteen. In 2010 Bojan became the principal violinist of Florilegium.

He was a finalist of the 2004 Baroque Music Competition in Schärding, Austria, presided by Ton Koopman. In 2006, he was Leader in a production of Purcell Dido and Aeneas for the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and a year later in Monteverdi Madrigals, both under the direction of Kenneth Weiss. In August 2006 Trevor Pinnock asked him to be one of the soloists in the European Brandenburg Ensemble on their tour across Europe and in the Far East. Their recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos won the 2008 Gramophone Award for the best instrumental recording in the early music category. He was asked to lead Charivari Agréable Sinfonie on a recording of 12 Concerti Grossi by G. Torelli.

Bojan plays on a violin by Ruggieri kindly loaned to him by Jumpstart Junior Foundation.

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Jennifer Morsches
cello

Jennifer Morsches spent her formative years in Alexandria, Virginia, studying cello with David Hardy under the auspices of the scholarship Fellowship and Apprenticeship Programs of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. During the summer months she participated in orchestral and chamber music courses at the New England Music Camp, Eastern Music Festival and the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in New Hampshire. She has been invited as a guest artist and coach at Apple Hill since 2002.

She pursued a liberal arts education at Smith College, where she graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa and First Group Scholar with degrees in Music and German Literature, and was recipient of the Ernst Wallfisch Memorial Prize in music upon graduation in 1990. Jennifer was subsequently accepted into the studio of Timothy Eddy at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, where she received her Master's degree. She continued to study with Mr. Eddy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she received her Doctorate of Musical Arts in 1995. During her post-graduate years, she was a Fellow at the Bach Aria Festival, the Quartet Program and the Tanglewood Music Center. She received regular chamber music coaching sessions with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Eugene Lehner, Louis Krasner, Felix Galimir, Julius Levine and Gilbert Kalish, and was awarded the C.D. Jackson Prize for outstanding merit and contribution at Tanglewood in 1994. That summer she was also invited to perform with Yo-Yo Ma as part of Wynton Marsalis' educational music videos, recorded by Sony, which have been aired on television worldwide. She was a member of the Cassatt String Quartet in New York City from 1995-96.

A growing interest in period instrument performance led her to London in 1996. Since then she has been in great demand as both continuo cellist and chamber music collaborator in the UK as well as on the Continent. As principal cellist of the highly acclaimed baroque ensemble Florilegium, with whom she regularly records for Channel Classics, she has toured extensively throughout the globe and performs regularly at, among other venues, the Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Royal Albert Hall. Jennifer performs and tours chamber music in Germany with Trio 1790 (CPO records) and in the Netherlands with the quartet, Island (Centaur Records). Additionally, she is a member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre des Champs Elysees and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. This past spring she was invited to be the continuo cellist for Luc Bondy's production of Hercules at the Nederlands Opera. She also regularly performs in recital with countertenors Michael Chance and Derek Lee Ragin.

On modern cello, Jennifer participates in chamber music festivals such as El Paso Pro-Musica, Bravo! Colorado, Consonances Festival in Saint Nazaire, France, the Barossa Music Festival in Australia and the Flanders Festival in Belgium. She has given world premieres of chamber works by David Matthews, Ben-Zion Orgad, Luna Pearl Wolff and Michael Wolpe. She has performed live on BBC Radio 3, BBC World Service, Deutschlandfunk, CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia), WGBH-Boston, WQXR-New York and NPR in the United States.

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Reiko Ichise
viola da gamba

Reiko was born in Tokyo and began her musical training as a pianist. She read musicology at the Kunitachi College of Music where she started playing the viola da gamba, having lessons with Yukimi Kanbe and Tetsuya Nakano.

In 1991 she came to Britain, winning the foundation scholarship at the Royal College of Music, to study gamba with Richard Boothby. Whilst there, she won the concerto prize and completed her post graduate study with distinction. Since leaving the RCM, she has established herself as one of the leading gamba players in the UK.

Reiko has performed extensively throughout the UK as chamber musician and soloist, appearing in venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Royal Opera House.

She has worked with many leading conductors and orchestras including Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, Sir David Willcocks and the English Chamber Orchestra, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort, and Kurt Masur and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Reiko regularly works with early music ensembles such as Concordia, Passacaglia, Charivari Agreable and the Early Opera Company. She has recorded chamber music for Lynn, Metronome, ASV and deux-elles. Since 2001 she has been a core member of Florilegium

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Terence Charlston
harpsichord/organ

Terence Charlston was born in Blackpool, Lancashire. From an early age, he was drawn to the sound and repertoire of old instruments, especially the harpsichord, which he first experienced through recordings and BBC Radio 3 broadcasts. He studied piano and organ from childhood and later took degrees in Oxford and London, and in organ, harpsichord and musicology beginning his career in church music. As a harpsichord and organ soloist, he has toured extensively within Europe, as well as to Japan, the USA and South America giving courses and master classes in Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico and USA.

He is well known to chamber music audiences and performs and records with most of today’s leading period singers, instrumentalists and ensembles. He was a member of the quartet London Baroque between 1995 and 2007 with whom he gave nearly 500 concerts worldwide. Like many a Lancashire man, he has gravitated south but is proud to be a patron and guest director of Lancashire Sinfonietta. His wide repertoire spans from the 16th century to the present day and reflects his passionate interest in keyboard music of all types and styles.

He has recorded over 50 commercial CDs on harpsichord, organ, virginals, clavichord and fortepiano and can be heard on the Deux-Elles, Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, ASV, Channel Classics and BIS labels. Recent recordings include Baroque music on the Silbermann style organ belonging to the St. Albans International Organ Festival. For the National Trust he has recorded all the playable keyboard instruments of the Fenton House Collection in Hampstead, London. His harpsichord and organ recordings have been well received in the musical press, and he can be frequently heard on BBC Radio 3.

In addition to an international performing career, he is much in demand as a teacher. He taught academic studies, performance practice and harpsichord at the Royal Academy of Music, London where he founded the department of Historical Performance (1995) and now teaches basso continuo and clavichord. He also lectures for the London centre of Lawrence University, Wisconsin and has given master classes in Italy, Germany, Greece, USA and Mexico. He is professor of harpsichord at the Royal College of Music, London and International Visiting Tutor in Harpsichord Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Terence is an important advocate of English and continental keyboard music of the 17th and 18th centuries and his fascination with this repertoire has resulted in a number of pioneering concerts and recording projects. These include editions and recordings of all Matthew Locke’s organ and harpsichord music, Carlo Ignazio Monza’s Pièces modernes pour le Clavecin, and a recording and interactive edition of the keyboard music of Albertus Bryne. His recording of William Byrd’s My Ladye Nevell Booke can be heard on the British Library’s Turning Pages website and he made the world premiere recording of the recently discovered keyboard manuscript of Antoine Selosse.

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