Revolutionary Drawing Room ~ players

The players:

The quartet:
NB: these biographies and high-resolution versions of the photographs can be downloaded from the publicity page

Adrian Butterfield
violin I
Adrian Butterfield is now established as one of the most versatile period-instrument musicians of his generation in the UK and abroad working as a conductor and violinist-director with both modern- and period-instrument orchestras, and as a concerto soloist, chamber musician and teacher. A former chorister of St. Paul's Cathedral and a graduate of Trinity College Cambridge, he is Musical Director of the Tilford Bach Festival and Associate Director of the London Handel Festival and directs ensembles such as the London Handel Orchestra, the Hanover Band and the Theatre of Early Music, Montreal across Europe and North America. Recent recordings include CPE Bach sonatas (ATMA), JS Bach's Concerto for oboe and violin with John Abberger (Analekta) and Handel's Complete Violin Sonatas (Somm).

He leads two chamber ensembles in London; the London Handel Players, whose two recent recordings, of Handel's Op.5 trio sonatas and 'Handel at Home' (Somm), have been highly acclaimed and also the Revolutionary Drawing Room which specializes in classical and romantic music on period instruments. He is Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music.

Recent highlights include rare performances on period instruments of the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Hanover Band, concerts with Emma Kirkby and the London Handel Players in the UK and Purcell's The Fairy Queen in Romania. Future plans include the release of recordings of sonatas by Leclair (Naxos), Handel's Op.2 trio sonatas (Somm) and Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in E flat RV 254 (BIS).

He is married to the flautist and recorder player Rachel Brown and they have one daughter.

Jean Paterson
violin II
Jean Paterson was born in north Pembrokeshire into a farming family, moving later to Hampshire. She read music at Oxford, studying the violin with Emanuel Hurwitz, and at the Royal Academy of Music with Manoug Parikian. She later took up the baroque violin with Micaela Comberti and John Holloway, and now plays with many of the leading period instrument ensembles in Britain., such as The King's Consort, Florilegium, London Handel Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, English Baroque Soloists, The Sixteen, and the Canadian group 'The Theatre of Early Music'.

Her special love is chamber music, which she indulges in with groups including The Revolutionary Drawing Room and Canzona. She has been guest leader of the Dunedin Consort in their performances of St Matthew Passion, and for the Woodmansterne Collection, playing Beethoven Symphonies. She has had a long association with the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra, for which she was violin coach for many years. She is married to the baritone Peter Harvey, and they have two sons.

Rachel Stott
viola
Rachel Stott read music at Churchill College, Cambridge and subsequently undertook postgraduate studies in viola at the GSMD. She has since pursued a career as both composer and viola player and has performed across the UK and Europe with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Hanover Band, New Music Players and other contemporary music groups.

Her works have been performed at major London venues, at the Spitalfields, Greenwich, Cheltenham and Swaledale festivals in the UK, and abroad in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Japan and Slovenia. She has produced a CD, Airborne, of contemporary song which includes two of her own song cycles and features her playing on the viola and viola d'amore. In 2001 she wrote the series Harmony and Invention for BBC Radio 3 and the following year was commissioned by Yorkshire Arts to compose one of four 'Yorkshire Quartets' for the Fitzwilliam String Quartet. In 2003 she was Composer-in-Residence at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, which led to a number of works inspired by observation of medical procedures. In 2004 she composed a children's opera, 'The Cuckoo Tree', based on the book by Joan Aiken, which was premiered in July at the Frome Festival. She has recently completed a second string quartet, 'The Enchanted Lyre' for the Dante String Quartet.

Ruth Alford
cello
Ruth Alford has established herself as a well-respected chamber musician and continuo-cellist with many ensembles and chamber groups in London. She graduated from Manchester University with an honours degree in music and the Proctor Gregg Performance Award after studying cello there with Bernard Gregor-Smith and the Lindsay Quartet. Further studies followed at the Royal Academy of Music in London with David Strange, Amadeus Quartet, Sidney Griller, Jenny Ward-Clarke and also William Pleeth, whilst gaining performing experience in a wide variety of musical genres ranging from solo recitals to jazz and music theatre.

Indeed, Ruth still thrives on a broad musical diet from Baroque to Contemporary as well as sharing her enthusiasm for music through various educational outlets. She performs and records widely throughout Europe, the Far East and America as a principal player and continuo-cellist with the English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as well as chamber ensembles including Brandenburg Consort, The Music Collection, Fiori Musicali, Florilegium, Configure8 and The Revolutionary Drawing Room.

Adrian Butterfield violin I	Adrian Butterfield is now established as one of the most versatile period-instrument musicians of his generation in the UK and abroad working as a conductor and violinist-director with both modern- and period-instrument orchestras, and as a concerto soloist, chamber musician and teacher. A former chorister of St. Paul's Cathedral and a graduate of Trinity College Cambridge, he is Musical Director of the Tilford Bach Festival and Associate Director of the London Handel Festival and directs ensembles such as the London Handel Orchestra, the Hanover Band and the Theatre of Early Music, Montreal across Europe and North America. Recent recordings include CPE Bach sonatas (ATMA), JS Bach's Concerto for oboe and violin with John Abberger (Analekta) and Handel's Complete Violin Sonatas (Somm). He leads two chamber ensembles in London; the London Handel Players, whose two recent recordings, of Handel's Op.5 trio sonatas and 'Handel at Home' (Somm), have been highly acclaimed and also the Revolutionary Drawing Room which specializes in classical and romantic music on period instruments. He is Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music. Recent highlights include rare performances on period instruments of the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Hanover Band, concerts with Emma Kirkby and the London Handel Players in the UK and Purcell's The Fairy Queen in Romania. Future plans include the release of recordings of sonatas by Leclair (Naxos), Handel's Op.2 trio sonatas (Somm) and Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in E flat RV 254 (BIS). He is married to the flautist and recorder player Rachel Brown and they have one daughter.
Jean Paterson violin II	Jean Paterson was born in north Pembrokeshire into a farming family, moving later to Hampshire. She read music at Oxford, studying the violin with Emanuel Hurwitz, and at the Royal Academy of Music with Manoug Parikian. She later took up the baroque violin with Micaela Comberti and John Holloway, and now plays with many of the leading period instrument ensembles in Britain., such as The King's Consort, Florilegium, London Handel Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, English Baroque Soloists, The Sixteen, and the Canadian group 'The Theatre of Early Music'. Her special love is chamber music, which she indulges in with groups including The Revolutionary Drawing Room and Canzona. She has been guest leader of the Dunedin Consort in their performances of St Matthew Passion, and for the Woodmansterne Collection, playing Beethoven Symphonies. She has had a long association with the Hampshire County Youth Orchestra, for which she was violin coach for many years. She is married to the baritone Peter Harvey, and they have two sons.
Rachel Stott viola	Rachel Stott read music at Churchill College, Cambridge and subsequently undertook postgraduate studies in viola at the GSMD. She has since pursued a career as both composer and viola player and has performed across the UK and Europe with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Hanover Band, New Music Players and other contemporary music groups. Her works have been performed at major London venues, at the Spitalfields, Greenwich, Cheltenham and Swaledale festivals in the UK, and abroad in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Japan and Slovenia. She has produced a CD, Airborne, of contemporary song which includes two of her own song cycles and features her playing on the viola and viola d'amore. In 2001 she wrote the series Harmony and Invention for BBC Radio 3 and the following year was commissioned by Yorkshire Arts to compose one of four 'Yorkshire Quartets' for the Fitzwilliam String Quartet. In 2003 she was Composer-in-Residence at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, which led to a number of works inspired by observation of medical procedures. In 2004 she composed a children's opera, 'The Cuckoo Tree', based on the book by Joan Aiken, which was premiered in July at the Frome Festival. She has recently completed a second string quartet, 'The Enchanted Lyre' for the Dante String Quartet.
Ruth Alford cello	Ruth Alford has established herself as a well-respected chamber musician and continuo-cellist with many ensembles and chamber groups in London. She graduated from Manchester University with an honours degree in music and the Proctor Gregg Performance Award after studying cello there with Bernard Gregor-Smith and the Lindsay Quartet. Further studies followed at the Royal Academy of Music in London with David Strange, Amadeus Quartet, Sidney Griller, Jenny Ward-Clarke and also William Pleeth, whilst gaining performing experience in a wide variety of musical genres ranging from solo recitals to jazz and music theatre. Indeed, Ruth still thrives on a broad musical diet from Baroque to Contemporary as well as sharing her enthusiasm for music through various educational outlets. She performs and records widely throughout Europe, the Far East and America as a principal player and continuo-cellist with the English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as well as chamber ensembles including Brandenburg Consort, The Music Collection, Fiori Musicali, Florilegium, Configure8 and The Revolutionary Drawing Room.

RDR

The players:

The quartet: