Who we are

Wendy Hancock (baroque flute, recorders)

Wendy Hancock is a music graduate of Exeter University, who gained an M.A. in the Interpretation and Editing of Renaissance and Baroque Music at Nottingham University, and continued her research into 17th-century English music for an M.Phil. For ten years she was editor of Chelys, the journal of the Viola da Gamba Society.

In Nottingham she founded the Holme Pierrepont Opera Trust for the performance of Baroque opera on period instruments. She now performs widely, writes and edits, and also teaches part-time for Nottingham University, and on the International Recorder Summer School at Mechelen. She has recently recorded two CDs of Elizabethan music for The Gift of Music label (playing Renaissance flute, recorder and treble viol), and two with Musica Donum Dei (playing recorder, tenor viol and Baroque flute): Ring a Ring A Roses, and For the Love of Shakespeare.

Wendy plays recorders by Anthony Arnold

Stewart McCoy (lute, theorbo, renaissance and baroque guitars, viola da gamba)

Stewart McCoy has a Diploma in lute teaching from the Royal College of Music, and a Master's degree in Historical Musicology from King's College, London. He has performed in Russia, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Australia and the USA. For a season he was lutenist for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, and has taken part in a recording of Christmas music with Emma Kirkby.

He is a regular tutor at the Norvis Summer School, and on courses run by the English Lute Society. He has contributed articles to Early Music and The Lute, and has edited music for the Viola da Gamba Society, the Lute Society, and Fretwork Editions. Stewart and Wendy have recently recorded two cds of Elizabethan music for The Gift of Music label.

Ian Gammie (viola da gamba, renaissance and baroque guitars)

Ian enjoys a wide ranging career in music, as a performer on viola da gamba and violone, also as a guitarist, teacher and publisher. He has toured throughout Europe and North America, and recorded with the Early Music Consort directed by David Munrow, the Deller Consort under the direction of Alfred Deller, I Solisti Veneti with Claudio Scimone, The Consort of Musicke, The English Consort of Viols, The Parley of Instruments, and Opera Restor'd.

His recent work has included the compilation of a catalogue of music belonging to Jane Austen, which has led to three recordings of Georgian domestic music on the ISIS label, and also two CDs of 19th century guitar songs. He is director of Corda Music Publications which specialises in publishing string works of the 16th-18th century, as well as 20th-century music. He has published more than 100 works for guitar ensembles, a major contribution to broadening the use of the guitar in music education. For relaxation, he plays jazz guitar and researches the more obscure corners of 17th and 18th century history.

Christine Jones (soprano)

Christine Jones was brought up in Nottinghamshire, and sang with Cantamus Girls Choir from 1986 to 1991. She attended Nottingham University where she gained a first in Music, and she then worked as advisory teacher for The Voices Foundation in London and the home counties.

Christine was assistant director with both Surrey and Hampshire county youth choirs. In 2003 she returned to Nottinghamshire to take up the post of singing teacher at the High School for Girls in Nottingham, and she now lives in the area with her husband and young daughter.

This page last updated 24 December 2007