Charles Avison (1709-1770) was born in Newcastle and can be considered the greatest composer of his time of orchestral concertos. He wrote more than 50 works in the genre – the best known are his orchestra transcriptions of Scarlatti sonatas - as well as chamber music,accompanied keyboard sonatas and vocal compositions. The existence of his concerto arrangements of Geminiani’s Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo,op. 1 (1716) were unknown until quite recently,and presented here as world premiere recordings. In fact Avison seems to have only arranged eleven of the twelve,but Pavlo Beznosiuk has written his own concerto of the missing work,No. 11 in similar style. All are scored for string ensemble in the Italian concerto-gross style.

It has been established that Avison met and studied with the Italian master in London,who had moved there in1714. There are numerous documented references to this end.

A recording of Avison’s Op. 6 concerti was released by Naxos and is played regularly by radio stations around the world,including Classic fM.

Comprised of some of Europe's leading musicians and soloists and in addition to playing other works from the baroque and early classical periods,the Avison Ensemble promotes chamber concerts and is furthering the revival of the once famous Newcastle Subscription Concerts,originally established and promoted by Charles Avison himself.

The Ensemble have chosen to perform on period instruments in order to recreate as closely as possible the distinctive 'sound world' that Charles Avison would have known. On this recording they comprise:

Pavlo Beznosiuk,Joanne Green and Jane Gordon (first violins),Simon Jones,Simon Kondurand and Katerina Bengtson (second violins),Andrew Byrt and Lisa Cochrane (violas),Richard Tunnicliffe and Deborah Thorne (cellos),Christine Sticher (bass) and Roger Hamilton (harpsichord).

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Fresh from the best-selling and Classic FM hit John Garth Cello Concertos the Avison Ensemble present a generous programme of music by their namesake.

Charles Avison (1709-1770) was born in Newcastle and can be considered the greatest English composer of his time of orchestral concertos. He wrote more than 50 works in the genre – the best known are his orchestra transcriptions of Scarlatti sonatas - as well as chamber music,accompanied keyboard sonatas and vocal compositions. The concertos in Op. 9 & 10 were his final two sets,both published in the last four years of his life.

The Opus 10 works are presented here as world premiere recordings. The score was only recently discovered with other Avison manuscripts. In addition,it is believed that this is the first time all of Opus 9 has been recorded and released in its entirety.

A recording of Avison’s Op. 6 concerti was released by Naxos and is played regularly by radio stations around the world,including Classic fM. The Divine Art release of Avison Concertos after Geminiani (DDA21210) is similarly also regularly played on air. The recent release of John Garth Cello Concertos (DDA25059) is one of Divine Art’s all-time best sellers.

Comprised of some of Europe's leading musicians and soloists,the Avison Ensemble performs works from the baroque and early classical periods. The Ensemble is unique in having its own composer,along with a substantial repertoire of his music,as yet unperformed in modern times. Miraculously they have added to this repertoire with the recent acquisition of two of Avison’s original workbooks,which contain many unpublished works by Avison and other 18^th century composers.

The Ensemble have chosen to perform on period instruments in order to recreate as closely as possible the distinctive 'sound world' that Charles Avison would have known.

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·         Since their critically acclaimed South Bank debut in 2003,the all-female Pavao Quartet have rapidly established themselves as one of the most exciting young string quartets in the UK.

·         The quartet met at The Royal Academy of Music,where they graduated with First Class Honours and were awarded the Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellowship.

·         The Pavaos are equally at home in classical and pop music,are regulars on TV shows such as ‘Parkinson’,  ‘This Morning’ and ‘Top of the Pops’ and also frequent collaborators with the likes of Katie Melua,Charlotte Church and Rod Stewart.

·         Their debut album explores the glamorous world of the Broadway Musical,including stunning new versions of classic songs ‘What a wonderful world’,‘Let’s call the whole thing off’ and ‘Cheek to cheek’.

·         The Pavaos enjoy a hectic touring schedule.   Recent performances have been in Monaco,Israel and New York.

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2009 marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Charles Avison, and The Avison Ensemble plan to record and release all of the remaining orchestral works of Charles Avison, and those of some of his associates and contemporaries, such as John Garth, whose disc of Cello Concertos is our biggest selling title on catalogue (DDA25059).

This release features Six Sonatas for two violins and a bass (Opus 1), coupled with Six Sonatas for harpsichord (Opus 8) – accompanied by two violins and violoncello. All pieces here are première recordings.

Comprised of some of Europe's leading musicians and soloists, the Avison Ensemble performs works from the baroque and early classical periods.

The Ensemble is unique in having its own composer, along with a substantial repertoire of his music, as yet unperformed in modern times. Miraculously they have added to this repertoire with the recent acquisition of two of Avison’s original workbooks, which contain many unpublished works by Avison and other 18th century composers.

The Ensemble have chosen to perform on period instruments in order to recreate as closely as possible the distinctive 'sound world' that Charles Avison would have known.

On this recording they comprise:

Pavlo Beznosiuk (violin); Caroline Balding (violin); Robert Howarth (chamber or chest organ/ and harpsichord); Richard Tunnicliffe (cello)

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Conceptualised nearly 7 years ago, the Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra is the brainchild of Will Dutta (Chimera Productions), borne out of a passion for two seemingly disparate strands of music; hip hop and classical. With the benefit of 5 years spent at Trinity College of Music, Will came to see that throughout the rich history of western classical music there has always been a cross-pollination of sound between art music and folk/dance idioms; be it in the Partitas and Suites of J S Bach or Bartók’s in-depth study of folk song.

The album features the 5 movements of the concerto as performed by DJ Yoda and Heritage Orchestra, followed by 11 inspired remixes that twist and contort Prokofiev’s work using modern production techniques.

Remixers include Heavy Deviance, Monster Bobby, Li’ll Bo Tweak, and Kreepa. There are even two remixes from composer Gabriel Prokofiev under his own name and his grime alias, Medasyn.

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