Introducing the performers…

The Adderbury Ensemble Chamber Orchestra and Chorale directed by Christopher Bucknall (harpsichord)

Christopher Bucknall

Conductor and harpsichordist, Christopher Bucknall, is a rising star both on the concert platform and in the opera house, sharing his passion for bringing music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries alive. Christopher made his conducting debut in 2012 with Handel’s Apollo e Dafne at the Wigmore Hall and has since gone on to conduct critically acclaimed productions of Handel’s Agrippina (Iford Arts); Haydn’s Il Mondo della Luna (English Touring Opera); Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Silent Opera); Handel’s The Choice of Hercules (Bampton Classical Opera); Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona (Vestfolds International Festival Norway); and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Silent Opera). In January 2014, Christopher made his Scandinavian debut conducting Handel’s Alcina for Den Norske Opera.

On the concert platform, Christopher has appeared conducting B’Rock (Belgian Baroque Orchestra Ghent), Real Filharmonie de Galicia, Norwegian Wind Ensemble and International Baroque Players in varied repertoire ranging from Monteverdi through to Mozart. He also regularly collaborates with the UK’s finest vocal ensembles including performances of Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with the BBC Singers, and highly praised preparation of the Glyndebourne and English National Opera choruses in works by Purcell and Rameau.

Christopher frequently plays many of Europe’s top concert halls and festivals as harpsichordist and continuo player appearing with groups including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Kings Consort, Brecon Baroque, Academy of Ancient Music, Early Opera Company, and The Classical Opera Company. Recent projects include conducting Vivaldi’s La Senna Festeggiante for B’Rock with Karina Gauvin and Sonia Prina; assisting Ivor Bolton with Handel’s Rodelinda in Madrid and conducting Handel’s Jeptha for Iford Arts.

Christopher attended Lincoln College, Oxford and the Royal Academy of Music, studying harpsichord and fortepiano.

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Adderbury Ensemble

Formed in 1986 by a group of the UK’s finest young freelance musicians, the Adderbury Ensemble have always had a flexible line-up, mixing and matching different players to deliver performances primarily as quartets, quintets or small chamber groups and occasionally adding further instruments to play symphonies and concertos by the likes of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn or Brahms – with or without a conductor.

Everyone who performs as part of the Adderbury Ensemble is an eminent instrumentalist, usually a principal player with one or more of the leading orchestras of Europe. From their early years playing Sunday evening concerts in the beautiful village of Adderbury in north Oxfordshire, the group have gone on to develop a global reputation. They perform regularly throughout Britain and other European nations, and played their first concerts in the United States in Spring 2016. They also helped found the world-famous Oxford Coffee Concerts at the Holywell Music Room, the oldest purpose-built music venue in Europe.

The Adderbury Ensemble have released ten recordings in their own right since their first CD was released in 1997, and individual members have recorded many more, either as soloists or as members of other groups.

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