Principal Players
| Ashley Solomon Bojan Cicic Jennifer Morsches Reiko Ichise James Johnstone |
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Ashley
Solomon
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. 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. TopBojan Čičić violin
Bojan works regularly with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, The Gabrielli Consort, and The Sixteen. In 2010 Bojan will become 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.
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
James
Johnstone
For seventeen years he was a principal keyboardist in the Gabrieli Consort and Players and as such contributed as both soloist and continuo player to 22 of their award-winning recordings on Deutsche Grammaphon. His main areas of interest are now recital work, chamber music and teaching. As a core member of Florilegium since 2001 he has made 10 discs and toured Europe and the Americas. He recently reformed the chamber group Trio Sonnerie at the invitation of violinist Monica Huggett. He also works regularly with London Baroque and Trinity Baroque with whom he has recorded the Bach Motets for Raumklang on the historic organ in Naumberg. He has made 6 unanimously acclaimed solo discs of works by Blow, Gibbons, Bach, Pasquini, Cornet and Elisabethan Virginalists. As a recitalist he has performed in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Iceland, Spain, Israel, Colombia and the USA. James teaches early keyboards at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at Trinity College of Music in London, and has given masterclasses in Europe and the States.
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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 20 recordings on this
Dutch label.
Bojan
Čičić originally graduated with a diploma in modern violin from
The Zagreb Academy of Music. In 2005 he obtained a post-graduate
diploma in baroque violin with François Fernandez from the
Paris Conservatoire, and in 2007, a Masters Degree with Distinction
from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, in the class
of Rachel Podger.
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. 
