PAVLA FLÁMOVÁ

Pavla Flámová

soprano

Ziv Braha

lute / theorbo

Alexandra Polin

viola da gamba / baroque cello

Anna Scholl

harpsichord

Programme

John Danyel (1564 - 1626): Coy daphne fled

John Dowland (1563 - 1626): Come away come sweet love / Unquite thoughts / Can she excuse my wrongs / Away with these self loving lads / The lowest trees have tops

John Danyel (1564 - 1626): Like as the lute delights (Songs for the lute viol and voice)

Christopher Simpson (1602/1606 - 1669): A ground in e

Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695): Fairest isle / Sweeter than roses / Strike the viol / An evening hymne

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759): "Ma ferma ti pensier, Per te lasciai la luce" - recitative and aria from the cantata Il delirio amoroso HWV 99

Francesco Geminiani (1687 - 1762): Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 5 No. 2 / Andante - Presto Adagio - Allegro

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759): "Credete al mio dolore" - Morgana's aria from Alcina

PAVLA FLÁMOVÁ

Pavla Flámová was born in the Czech Republic (in Ostrava). She studied singing from her childhood, and already as a child she successfully participated in many public performances. She continued in solo singing studies at Janáček conservatory in Ostrava as a student of Eva Dřízgová - Jirušová. After passing the secondary school final exams in May 2005, Pavla started to study solo singing in subsequent post-high school studies at the conservatory simultaneously with the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University, where she successfully graduated in 2011 and received a Masters in Law. Already in the final years of her studies at the conservatory, Pavla actively started to take great interest in baroque music. She participated in the International Summer School of Early Music in Valtice in 2009, where she established co-operation with Jiří Kotouč, who helped her to gain further education in the genre of early music. In 2011 she started to develop style and interpretation with Jana Semerádová, and later with Alena Hönigová.

In May 2013, Pavla was accepted at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and in September 2016, she commenced her studies for Master of Arts in Musikalischer Performance - Alte Musik, Renaissance-Romantik. Pavla Flámová now specializes in historical interpretation of early music. She is passionate about the works of J. S. Bach and G. F. Händel. Meanwhile, feeding another side of her musical soul, is the music with folklore roots, e.g. songs of L. Janáček and another Czech composers. In the future she would also like to continue exploring music of the 20th century. Pavla Flámová has sung with the Ostrava´s Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berg Orchestra, Ensemble Collegium Marianum and etc.

From September 2013, Pavla was a student of Evelyn Tubb and Gerd Türk, at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. At the same time she has been coached by David Blunden (also at the Schola), who is known for his skills in interpretation and ornamentation, and also with conductor Andrea Marcon. She finished her Master studies in July 2016.

Her achievements include winning a special prize at 9 th Principe Francesco Maria Ruspoli Baroque Music International Competition 2017 and being a finalist of the international Händel Singing Competition in London in 2016, where she was awarded the Selma D and Leon Fishbach Memorial Prize. She also achieved success in other competitions and in 2012 she won the prize for Stylistic Interpretation in the Ad Honorem Mozart competition in Prague.

Influential Masterclasses she has taken these last 3 years, have been with Sara Mingardo, Emma Kirkby, Alessandro De Marchi and Andreas Scholl.

ZIV BRAHA

Ziv Braha grew up in Israel and studied electric guitar before discovering the lute and its music. He completed his bachelor's degree in Jerusalem before moving to Basel to continue his studies with Mr. Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum.

He plays regularly with ensembles Thélème, La Morra and La Sestina and leads a lute consort called Delight in Disorder. Ziv teaches the lute in Basel at the Schola Cantorum School of Music.

His interests find focus in the music of the Renaissance, song and instrumental polyphony. He plays lute and viola da gamba with various vocal and instrumental ensembles and has participated in several CD recordings.

ALEXANDRA POLIN

Alexandra Polin started her musical studies at the age 4 with the piano and have moved on to the recorder before settling with the violoncello. She studied with the renown Israeli cellist Prof. Schmuel Magen at the Givatayim conservatory and at Thelma-Yellin art high school. She completed her Bachelor degree with the Viola da Gamba in the Jerusalem Music Academy under Mr. Amit Tiefenbrunn in 2009 and moved to Basel, Switzerland to continue her studies at the Schola Cantorum with Prof. Paolo Pandolfo. During her Bachelor studies she enjoyed a scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation as well as from Erasmus Exchange Program that allowed her to study with Prof. Philippe Pierlot in Brussels.

While in Israel, Alexandra was a very sought after continuo player and has played intensively with large baroque ensembles there: Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, Barrocade Ensemble and the Phoenix Consort as well as with many other smaller ensembles. In Europe, Alexandra has played with Capriccio Basel, Orchestre Symphonique du Jura, Sestina Viol Consort, Profeti della Quinta, La Sestina vocal ensemble, Ensemble Thélemè, Vars Musica, Académie Bach Aix, Stella Matutina, Le Parlement de Musique and others.

Alexandra enjoys playing chambre music above all else and is trying to arrive at an open, intuitive and flowing communication between the musicians on stage and between them and the public. She has founded two such ensembles: Zoom Quartet and Les Etrangers.

ANNA SCHOLL

Since 2017, Anna Scholl has presided as Organist over the historic organs in Altenbruch (Klapmeyer, 1498/1730) and Lüdingworth (Wilde/Schnitger 1598/1682) and is the Artistic Director for the internationally renowned concert series on the two instruments. She is also Guest Lecturer for Harpsichord and Continuo/Early Music Ensemble Conducting at the newly established Center for Early Music at the Université Antonine (Beirut, Lebanon), alongside her colleagues Jana Semaan and Veit-Jacob Walter.

As Director of the CAFÉ INTERNATIONAL baroque orchestra with which she specialises in operas and oratorios of the late baroque period, she directs the musical events while playing on the harpsichord and gives lively historical performances on a high artistic level.

Born in Göppingen, Germany, Scholl studied church music, organ, and harpsichord at the Conservatories in Berlin and Stuttgart, where her organ teachers were Paolo Cirvellaro and Jon Laukvik, and Jörg Halubek in harpsichord and early music conducting. She continued her studies with Wolfgang Zerer at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where she was awarded two master's degrees in historically informed performance practice (organ), both with high honours. She continued her studies in Basel in continuo and ensemble direction under the tutelage of Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, Andrea Marcon, and Andrea Scherer.

In 2020 she completed her master's degree in church music with emphasis on conducting with top marks and distinction at the HfMT Hamburg where she presented G. F. Händel's oratorio "Alexander's Feast" in two sold-out performances.

She has been a finalist in many important organ competitions, and received the Hans Balmer Prize from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis for exceptional organ recitals in 2016 and 2018. Her career as a concert artist as an organist, harpsichordist, continuo player and conductor has taken her to important festivals and historical instruments throughout Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. As a harpsichordist and conductor from the keyboard, she has been involved in many baroque opera and oratorio productions, including Handel's Rodrigo and Alexander's Feast, and Cavallieri's Rappresentation di Anima e di Corpo. A multitude of CDs and video productions document her musical output.