Ensemble La Falsirena
"Ensemble La Falsirena is a new rising star in the London Early-Music firmament.
The programmes are a pleasure - imaginatively constructed and irresistibly performed."
Ivor Bolton, Chefdirigent, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg
"Full of fantasy."
"Wholly refreshing."'
Delo
"The soprano Suzana Ograjenšek completely enchanted the audience."
NiSi Kamnik
Photo: Marko Kapus
Ensemble La Falsirena is devoted to vocal chamber music of the high Baroque and has performed across the UK and internationally. One of the ensemble's commitments is in rediscovering seventeenth- and eighteenth-century works and composers and bringing them to the modern audience. Their performances at the Festival Brežice 2007, with the programme of Handel's Arcadian cantatas, were acclaimed as ‘completely enchanting' and ‘wholly refreshing' by the press and were covered by Radio and Television Slovenia. Their programme ‘Ah, qual s'apre al mio cor tragica scena' features arias from little-known eighteenth-century tragic operas and was prepared in collaboration with the Faculty of Classics in Oxford. It includes works by Handel, G. Bononcini, Leo, Bioni, Traetta and Gluck. In 2008 the Ensemble took place at the ‘Handel and the Divas exhibition' organized by the Handel House in London, with a programme focusing on Handel's diva Francesca Cuzzoni, presenting some of the most famous arias written for her by Handel (highlights from Rodelinda, Giulio Cesare and Tamerlano), as well as a selection from manuscripts of little-known operas by C.F. Pollarolo and G. Bononcini. Most recently, La Falsirena performed at the London Handel Festival in 2009 as part of the recital series presenting Handel's cantatas.
Slovene soprano Suzana Ograjenšek is rapidly establishing herself on both concert and opera platforms. She has worked extensively in Baroque repertoire and has collaborated with leading baroque conductors William Christie, Ivor Bolton, and Christopher Hogwood. She has performed at major baroque festivals, including the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music and The London Handel Festival. In 2008 she sang at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in Purcell's The Fairy Queen, and in the current season she has made her professional operatic debut in Handel's Jephtha at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg. Apart from her appearances with La Falsirena, Suzana's chamber work also features a collaboration with The Fitzwilliam String Quartet in a repertoire stretching from the classical period to contemporary music. Her discography includes the release of J.K. Dolar's Miserere with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra on the RTV Slovenia record label. Suzana is a Research Fellow at Cambridge University, editing Il pastor fido for the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe.
Luke Green has a busy and varied career as a keyboardist, chamber musician, director, accompanist and coach both in his native Australia and his adopted home of Great Britain. Luke studied with David Kinsela at Sydney's Conservatorium, and then furthered his studies at London's Royal Academy of Music with John Toll and Virginia Black. While a student, he attracted the attention of the conductor Ivor Bolton, which has led to engagements at the Salzburg Festival and with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. His most recent work includes engagements at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg under Ivor Bolton, and a tour with Rachel Podger (violin and director) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Luke continues to work with the foremost period instrument orchestras based in the UK and has developed a fruitful collaboration with the Northern Sinfonia, stretching into 19th and 20th century repertoire (Fauré, Debussy and Ligeti).
Swedish-born Henrik Persson studied baroque and classical cello with Jennifer Ward-Clarke and viola da gamba with Richard Campbell at the Royal Academy of Music. After graduating in 2002, he now lives in London and enjoys a varied and flourishing international career, most notably as a chamber musician. Henrik has worked with many of the world's leading period instrument groups such as the Academy of Ancient Music, the Gabrieli Consort, Ex Cathedra, the New Dutch Academy (the Netherlands), L'Orfeo Barock Orchester (Austria) and he was a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra 2002/03. His chamber music work includes such diverse groups as Ensemble Shudi, Ensemble Severin (the Netherlands), Xiacona (Spain), Anima e Corpo Ensemble (Spain),the Parnassian Ensemble and the Musical and Amicable Society with which he has also appeared as a soloist.