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 is a violinist, director and conductor who specialises in performing music from 1600-1900 on period instruments. He is Musical Director of the Tilford Bach Society and Associate Musical Director of the London Handel Festival. He directs the London Handel Orchestra and Players and is increasingly invited as a guest soloist and director in Europe and Canada.

His solo recordings include CPE Bach sonatas (ATMA), Handel's Violin Sonatas (Somm) and Leclair's 1st Book of sonatas (Naxos, 3 discs).

As well as the Revolutionary Drawing Room, Adrian leads the London Handel Players who perform regularly at the Wigmore Hall and at festivals throughout Europe and in Canada. Their recent Handel recordings, of his Op.2 and Op.5 trio sonatas and "Handel at Home" (Somm) have received glowing reviews.

Repertoire Adrian has conducted includes Bach's B minor Mass, Handel's La Resurrezione and Alcina, Purcell's Fairy Queen, Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di Anima e Corpo and Rameau's Pigmalion and recent concerto appearances include numerous baroque works, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with the LHO and the Beethoven Concerto with the Hanover Band.

He works regularly with the Southbank Sinfonia, is Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music in London, gives masterclasses in Europe and North America and teaches on the Aestas Musica Baroque Course in Croatia.

Highlights of the 2010-11 season include conducting Bach's B minor Mass at the Tilford Bach Festival, recording Leclair's Book 2 sonatas in London and Bach Suites in Toronto, organising a 'Chandos' day of events at Cannons in north London in the London Handel Festival, directing the Handel Players at the Wigmore Hall and at the Goettingen Handel Festival and directing the Croatian Baroque Orchestra in Zagreb as well as giving a solo recital in Montreal.

Adrian is married to the period-instrument flautist and recorder player Rachel Brown and they have one daughter.

Kathryn Parry
Violin II
Kathryn Parry read music at Selwyn College, Cambridge and studied the violin with Howard Davis at the Royal Academy of Music where she won several prizes for chamber music and was awarded the prestigious Dip RAM for ensemble playing. She has performed chamber music in recitals for music clubs and festivals worldwide, as well as playing with several London orchestras, including the Academy of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London Mozart Players and City of London Sinfonia. Kathryn was a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, then joined the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and for eight years lived in Edinburgh with her husband and three children.

She has appeared as leader of the Edinburgh Quartet, and the Scottish-based Quartet Dom, and is a frequent guest of the Hebrides Ensemble and Britten Sinfonia. Kathryn plays regularly with several period instrument ensembles, including La Serenissima, London Handel Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She plays a violin by Andrea Guarneri dated 1672.

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 is a violinist, director and conductor who specialises in performing music from 1600-1900 on period instruments. He is Musical Director of the Tilford Bach Society and Associate Musical Director of the London Handel Festival. He directs the London Handel Orchestra and Players and is increasingly invited as a guest soloist and director in Europe and Canada. His solo recordings include CPE Bach sonatas (ATMA), Handel's Violin Sonatas (Somm) and Leclair's 1st Book of sonatas (Naxos, 3 discs). As well as the Revolutionary Drawing Room, Adrian leads the London Handel Players who perform regularly at the Wigmore Hall and at festivals throughout Europe and in Canada. Their recent Handel recordings, of his Op.2 and Op.5 trio sonatas and "Handel at Home" (Somm) have received glowing reviews. Repertoire Adrian has conducted includes Bach's B minor Mass, Handel's La Resurrezione and Alcina, Purcell's Fairy Queen, Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di Anima e Corpo and Rameau's Pigmalion and recent concerto appearances include numerous baroque works, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with the LHO and the Beethoven Concerto with the Hanover Band. He works regularly with the Southbank Sinfonia, is Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music in London, gives masterclasses in Europe and North America and teaches on the Aestas Musica Baroque Course in Croatia. Highlights of the 2010-11 season include conducting Bach's B minor Mass at the Tilford Bach Festival, recording Leclair's Book 2 sonatas in London and Bach Suites in Toronto, organising a 'Chandos' day of events at Cannons in north London in the London Handel Festival, directing the Handel Players at the Wigmore Hall and at the Goettingen Handel Festival and directing the Croatian Baroque Orchestra in Zagreb as well as giving a solo recital in Montreal. Adrian is married to the period-instrument flautist and recorder player Rachel Brown and they have one daughter.
Kathryn Parry Violin II	Kathryn Parry read music at Selwyn College, Cambridge and studied the violin with Howard Davis at the Royal Academy of Music where she won several prizes for chamber music and was awarded the prestigious Dip RAM for ensemble playing. She has performed chamber music in recitals for music clubs and festivals worldwide, as well as playing with several London orchestras, including the Academy of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London Mozart Players and City of London Sinfonia. Kathryn was a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, then joined the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and for eight years lived in Edinburgh with her husband and three children. She has appeared as leader of the Edinburgh Quartet, and the Scottish-based Quartet Dom, and is a frequent guest of the Hebrides Ensemble and Britten Sinfonia. Kathryn plays regularly with several period instrument ensembles, including La Serenissima, London Handel Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She plays a violin by Andrea Guarneri dated 1672.
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: