Soniccouture

Birmingham Conservatoire is an international music school and major concert venue in central England. The school is a renowned centre for Early Music ; The Early Music Programme was set up in 1991 and has led the field in introducing historical instruments and style to as many young musicians as possible for over 20 years. 

Soniccouture worked with Martin Perkins, Early Music Lecturer & Instrument Curator, and Joshua Sadler, a postgraduate, who acted as consultant producers for the Conservatoire Collection project - choosing the instruments to be sampled, sourcing players and advising on the best way to sample them.

For this product we invited some composers with experience in Early Music to create some demo tracks for us:

David Hirschfelder : We were thrilled that the renowned Australian film composer was able to contribute, having heard his score for Elizabeth (1998), as wel as countless other feature films.  David wrote the exhilarating Rondeau a La Fondue for us, using only instruments form the Conservatoire Collection.

Guy Sigsworth : Guy has long been a Soniccouture associate, and although better known as a pop producer,  he is also an accomplished Harpsichordist who studied the instrument in his earlier career. Guy performed two pieces for us : 

1. Walter Leigh (1905-1942) - Harpsichord Concerto (2nd movt) - French harpsichord, using both 8' manuals. This pieces uses additional string sounds, not in the library.

2. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - Praeludium in C sharp Major BWV 848 - Flemish harpsichord mute stop

Bernhard Willer : Bernhard is conductor, composer, pianist, and teacher in conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich.  Bernhard wrote several demos for us, including a John Downland piece for english Theorbo with the soprano Suzan Zeichner, and the striking Hurdy Gurdy Ensemble.