Robert Woolley - Impulse

Concerts this season include: St John's Smith Square, London; The University Church, Oxford, West Horsley; Robinson College, Cambridge; Internationale Orgelwoche, Waldshut; Kingston upon Thames Parish Church; Ergue Gaberic, Gumiliau, Brittany; Flanders Festival; Dartmouth Festival; Cobbe Collection, Hatchlands Park; Dunblane Cathedral;

Repertoire incoudes:
Louis Couperin - Newly discovered and transcribed organ works
Sweelinck - Fantasias, Variations, Toccatas for harpsichord and organ
JS Bach - Piece d'Orgue (early version after JJ Walther)

In May Robert travelled to Prague as a member of the jury of the 2005 Prague Spring International Harpsichord Competition.

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BIOGRAPHY

Robert Woolley is well known as a harpsichord and organ soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player: his acclaimed solo recordings include discs of harpsichord, organ and fortepiano works by Tallis, Gibbons, Byrd, Frescobaldi, Purcell, Weckmann, Bohm, Handel, Bach, Scarlatti and Seixas for EMI, Virgin, Archiv, Hyperion, and Chandos, including discs of the Partitas by J.S.Bach for Chandos.

He has given performances in the UK, USA, South America, Japan, Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and was artist-in-residence at Washington University, St.Louis. He regularly broadcasts for the BBC, and programmes have included many recordings on historic organs, harpsichords and fortepianos.

Recently Robert Woolley has played in recital series at Hatchlands (Snetzler chamber organ), Queen's College, Oxford (Frobenius), and at the Grosvenor Chapel (William Drake), and has recorded the first disc in a complete recording of Sweelink's keyboard music on the 17th century van Hagerbeer organ at the Pieterskerk in Leiden. (www.pieterskerk.com)

PURCELL QUARTET

Robert Woolley co-founded the Purcell Quartet in 1984, with which he has made many recordings for Chandos, including the complete concertos for harpsichords by J.S.Bach. The Quartet regularly tours Europe, the USA, South America and Japan and has played at most of the major UK and European Festivals. They gave a concert of Bach Cantatas in London at The Wigmore Hall on 28 July 2000, the 250^th anniversary of Bach's death. Their recording with Emma Kirkby of cantatas by Buxtehude was released last year.

Click here to go to the Purcell Quartet webpages.

The Purcell Quartet celebrated twenty years music making in February 2004 at the Wigmore Hall, with friends and collaborators.

The programme included the first UK performance of a reconstruction for pedal harpsichord of J.S.Bach's Fantasia in G BWV 572 - see below.

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CDs
Click on the icons below to hear extracts from Robert Woolley's Chandos Recording of Bach Partita No.4 Overture Courante Gigue
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Latest CD:
The recording of Sweelinck I made last summer has been released by Chandos Records. This offers the unique recreation of Sweelinck's soundworld and was made on the magnificent large 17^th century organ built by van Hagerbeer in the Pieterskerk, Leiden, which has recently undergone an enormously complex restoration by Verschueren Orgelbouw back to its original 17^th century form. It is currently the largest organ in the world tuned in meantone temperament, and has some of the earliest speaking pipes in existence, dating from a previous instrument in the Pieterskerk built in 1446.
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Click on the icons below to hear extracts from Robert Woolley's Chandos Recording of Sweelinck Toccata Psalm 140 Buy this CD or order direct from Chandos
"(Robert Woolley) rises magnificently to all the technical challenges posed by this attractive and well planned programme" Elizabeth Roche - Daily Telegraph - Click here for full review
Click here to view a complete list of CDs.
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CONTACTS AND LINKS

Robert can be contacted by email on:
info@ woolleys.org.uk (please type into your email server)

Link to online catalogue of Robert's Chandos CDs
Chandos Recordings

Harpsichord Services of London - Claire Hammett
www.harpsichord.services.btinternet.co.uk