The Beginners’ Consort is the Society’s small group for novice players, and the next meeting will be held on Wednesday 17th April. Music has been sent out! Contact us if you would like to come and need music sent to you.

Where: The Don Bank Museum, 6 Napier Street, North Sydney. 10-minute walk from North Sydney station; parking in surrounding streets.

Contact: email the organisers, Susan and Rob, on sydneyrecorders@gmail.com

Fee: $10 per rehearsal, to cover venue hire, supper and music.

We will play for an hour, then break for tea, coffee and a chat about all things ‘recorder’. We hope you can join us!

Alexei Caulfield has been studying recorder for 12 years under guidance from Hannah Coleman and then Hans-Dieter Michatz as his tutors. He is currently in his third year studying a bachelor’s degree in historical performance on the recorder at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

 He has performed on many occasions with some highlights including playing at the Sydney Opera House as a part of the NSW Recorder Consort, NSW Parliament House in 2016, the online Sydney Sacred Music Festival in 2020, Encore for HSC in 2022, as well as the Australian Recorder Festival Competition in 2023 where he won second place. 

As well as performance, Alexei is currently tutoring private lessons at Lane Cove Public School and Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, and offering lessons to people of all ages and levels.

Following last year’s very popular Celtic Celebration workshop, Irene Stone is running a second workshop in April with new music. This one is not to be missed! It will be held in the hall at St Scholastica’s College in Glebe. See our Meetings tab for a map and detailed instructions on how to get there.

Cost: $40 members; $45 non-members.

Register via our Contact tab.

Consort 8 presents ‘Reflections’: Music for Lent and Passiontide. Sublime music by a myriad of composers from the 16th to 21st centuries: J S Bach, Binchois, Byrd, Caldini, Eccles, Ferrabosco, Kedrov, Kogler, Lane, Navarro, Palestrina, Tallis and Tunder. Consort 8 invites you to join them for a glass of bubbly and supper after the concert.

Where: Santa Sabina Chapel, 90 The Boulevarde, Strathfield.

Tickets can be purchased at the door ($45/$40 card/cash) or online at: https://consort8.org/concerts/

The Beginners’ Consort meets again on Wednesday 20th March. Music has been sent out! Contact Susan, as below, if you would like to come and need music sent to you.

Where: The Don Bank Museum, 6 Napier Street, North Sydney. 10-minute walk from North Sydney station; parking in surrounding streets.

Contact: email the organisers, Susan and Robert, on sydneyrecorders@gmail.com

Fee: $10 per rehearsal, to cover venue hire, supper and music.

We will play for an hour, then break for tea, coffee and a chat about all things ‘recorder’. We hope you can join us!

Joanne Arnott is one of Australia’s leading recorder players and has a deep love for all things early music – Baroque, Renaissance and Medieval. She also loves to explore and perform modern music with different electronic mediums including fixed media and live electronics. Jo is currently learning to work with Ableton Live software to create new music for recorders of all sizes, some inspired by the recorder’s early music tradition and some with the goal of exploring modern recorders (Paetzolds) and their capabilities within a duo setting.

Jo is passionate about spreading a deeper understanding and knowledge about the beauty of the recorder’s sound as well as its versatile capabilities in the context of modern music. With Bachelor, Honours and Master’s degrees from Sydney Conservatorium of Music and over 25 years teaching and performing experience, Jo has performed with groups such as Bel A Capella, Innominata, Consort 8, and Thoroughbass, and has tutored at early music, recorder, band and orchestral workshops throughout Australia. She is currently based on the NSW Central Coast and teaches at the Central Coast Conservatorium of Music.

The EMA/SSRP meetings start with a bang in 2024, with recorder virtuoso/teacher/arranger Hans-Dieter Michatz opening the meeting with a talk on his musical experiences and observations. Hans-Dieter, the SSRP patron, has been a performer and educator for more years than he cares to remember. As a well-known player of modern and Baroque flute as well as recorder, he has performed and recorded with many orchestras and early music groups such as the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Salut! Baroque, and the Sydney Consort, with whom he toured widely in Europe. After the opening talk, we’ll break for afternoon tea, then there will be an opportunity for small group performance prior to the massed play at 415Hz. Music for the massed play will include J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 1.

Venue: St Paul’s Anglican Church hall, 205-207 Burwood Rd, Burwood. An entrance fee of $15 covers the meeting and afternoon tea.

The SSRP is starting up the very successful Beginners’ Consort again in 2024.

When: 3rd Wednesdays of the month, beginning in February, 7-9pm

Where: The Don Bank Museum (the oldest wooden house in North Sydney), 6 Napier Street, North Sydney. 10-minute walk from North Sydney station; parking in surrounding streets.

Contact: email the organisers, Susan and Robert, on sydneyrecorders@gmail.com

Fee: $10 per rehearsal, to cover venue hire.

The recorder is the most social of instruments. Many players like to participate in small groups, playing one-to-a-part, but this can be daunting and small groups can be hard to find. The Beginners’ Consort is a ‘safe’ place, where new members and beginner recorder players can get the music ahead of the rehearsal, practise and feel prepared. It’s also a good group for players approaching a new instrument, or new fingering, and wanting to gain confidence in an unthreatening environment.

We will play for an hour, then break for tea, coffee and a chat about all things ‘recorder’. We hope you can join us!

Helen has had a long and distinguished career in music education. She currently teaches Music at Redlands School, runs a small private music studio, accompanies students for music exams at all levels from Grade 1 to Diploma, and works as a relief church organist at various churches across Sydney. Passionate about sharing her love of music and helping recorder players to improve the musicianship of their playing, her goal is to encourage amateur musicians to reach for the stars, growing their technical skills, developing their understanding of musical interpretation and gaining that amazing sense of achievement which comes from a polished performance.

About the February meeting Helen has planned: “We will play music with influences from around the world, including Native America, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Germany and France. You will be able to play your instrument in a variety of ways, including: like a bear, a drum, bagpipes, a penny whistle and a trumpet. There will be parts for instruments ranging from sopranino to contrabass as well as drums (bring your own if you choose to play this part). Music will be emailed to SSRP members so that you can practise in advance. Please print it off and bring your music to the meeting.”

Rob Small will present ‘Baroque & Before’ on the first Friday in January and it’s a great programme, showcasing the recorder, and written by Andrew Dziedzic. Included are van Eyck, Paisible, J.S. Bach (a trio sonata, and Brandenburg 4) and the lovely Ruth Wilkinson (frequent SSRP tutor) playing Dieupart on voiceflute. Don’t miss this great show with so many Baroque classics of the recorder repertoire. If 10pm to midnight is too late for you, you can ‘Listen Anytime’ in the following week via the link on the website, or via the 2MBS App.

Join us for a night of Christmas music chosen and conducted by the inimitable Irene Stone. It won’t just be the usual tired carols - oh no! Irene prides herself on finding rare, challenging and surprising musical Christmas morsels for this meeting. And there will be a delightful Christmas supper to follow… Don your seasonal attire and bring your Christmas spirit for a night of musical celebration!

Join us for a workshop north of Sydney, led by the vivacious Jo Arnott! Jo’s repertoire choices are always lively, and sometimes surprising - but there will certainly be Telemann. Come and share some recorder camaraderie in our last workshop for the year, at the Adamstown Uniting Church.

Email Robert Small or use the website contact form to ask for additional information and to register.

Guest speaker: Matthew Manchester

We’re lucky to welcome Matthew Manchester as our guest speaker at our next EMA-style meeting! Matthew is recognised as one of Australia’s leading practitioners and teachers in the historically informed performance of Renaissance & Baroque early brass instruments, most notably cornetto and baroque trumpet. The meeting will begin with Matthew’s talk, then we’ll have afternoon tea, followed by performances and then group playing at A415Hz pitch. Music for this meeting will follow a French theme. Join us for an afternoon of early music, including Charpentier Christmas music, at St Paul’s, Burwood!

Like the Players’ Night, the Soiree is an opportunity to perform the pieces you or your group have been working on. Unlike the Players' Night it’s also an evening to invite friends and family to show them what you can do! This is a night of food, drink, entertainment and friendship, and we promise a kind and supportive audience. So practise up those favourite pieces and get your invitations out! Items are limited to 4 minutes per individual or group. Please email Irene Stone with the name of your group, the players involved, the names of the pieces and their duration. Please bring cash for entry fee and raffle tickets, and finger food to share.

We recognise it, we play it, we can sing it and dance to it. It’s happy, sad, wistful, joyous, stirring, emotive and melodious. It is Celtic Music. Irene Stone will lead us through music from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, with some pieces for quartet and some for recorder orchestra. Join us at St Scholastica’s College Hall (see directions on our Meetings tab) for a workshop of feel good music! Email Irene on ibstoned01@gmail.com to register for this sure to be popular workshop. (Some pieces to be provided prior to the day.)

Past president of the Society, presenter of the SSRP radio show on 2MBS Fine Music, and long-term member of Sydney’s own early music ensemble, Consort 8, Robert specialises in consort music and consort playing. He also plays trumpet, and was a member of the Turrumburra Concert Band and Burns Bay Big Band. Robert was one of the founders of the Bundanoon recorder weekends with CREMS, and recently began a new venture of combined meetings with the SSRP and Early Music Association. By encouraging beginner players, performing in public with Consort 8, conducting Society meetings, and broadcasting music featuring recorders on 2MBS, Robert sees himself as an evangelist for the recorder as a beautiful instrument with a pedigree and repertoire as strong as any other.

Clive Lane is a Sydney based composer, specialising in music for guitar, recorder, viols, small ensembles, band music and choral music. He graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium (BMus) and the University of NSW (MMus) and spent many years as a high school music educator, composing and arranging for a variety of musical ensembles and conducting bands.

When he retired he was able to concentrate full time on composition and performance on guitar (classical and other styles), viola da gamba, recorder and singing. He loves many different kinds of music, but his favourite period of music is probably the Renaissance, for both instrumental and choral music.

The next SSRP/EMA meeting will be held on Saturday 26 August at St Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, 205-207 Burwood Rd, Burwood. We are thrilled to announce that the opening talk will be given by eminent teacher, performer and recording artist, Dr Shaun Ng.

Format for the meeting:

Opening talk by Dr Shaun Ng on historical lutes and viols and their repertoire.

Performances by members. Perform your favourite piece of early music. Shorter works welcome.

- AFTERNOON TEA -

Group playing at A415. There are 3 loan alto recorders for use by members. Repertoire will be:

• J.S. Bach Alla breve from Motet No. 2

• Giovanni Gabrieli Canzon La Spiritata

• Luzzasco Luzzaschi Canzon Decima

Scores and parts will be available soon, including viol parts in alto clef.

Attendance fee : $15 (includes afternoon tea)

Guest Artist: Hans-Dieter Michatz (recorder)

This is a concert of early music from the British Isles. It includes music from the court of Henry VIII, virtuosic divisions on The English Nightingale and Daphne by Van Eyck, consort music of Holborne and Brade, three Old Scots Airs from Geminiani’s Treatise of Good Taste in Musicke and an arrangement of Barbara Allen’s Cruelty for countertenor, viols and lute.

Venue: St Paul’s Anglican Church, 205-207 Burwood Road, Burwood

Tickets now available at https://events.humanitix.com/the-english-nightingale

Joanne Arnott is a recorder player, music teacher and conductor based on the NSW Central Coast. With a masters degree from Sydney Conservatorium of Music and over 20 years teaching and performing experience, Jo has performed with groups such as Bel A Capella, Innominata, Consort 8, and Thoroughbass, and has tutored at early music, recorder, band and orchestral workshops throughout Australia, including the recent Australasian Recorder Festival run by Orpheus Music in January 2023.

As a founding member of The Australian Recorder Project, Joanne (along with Dr. Alana Blackburn) has designed and run workshops for recorder players of all ages and levels. The ARP has recorded works commissioned for Vivid in 2015 as well as some medieval canons not previously recorded. This first album will be ready for release soon.

A Saturday workshop with internationally renowned recorder virtuoso and academic, Susanne Fröhlich. This is an incredible opportunity to learn from one of the world’s foremost recorder players, and our first workshop with an international visitor for several years!

A note from Susanne on what she’ll cover in this workshop: “Playing in an ensemble was for me the biggest inspiration to study music and to become a professional musician. This workshop is all about making music together with fantastic arrangements for the recorder orchestra. Through different repertoire we will explore various techniques such as how to play together, how to breathe together, how to tune together and how to make music together. Following works will be part of the workshop: "Ave verum corpus" by Wolfgang A. Mozart, "Solveig's Song" by Edvard Grieg, "in the mood" by Garland/Razaf and "The Pink Panther Theme" by Henri Mancini.”

See more information about Susanne here: Susanne Fröhlich Webpage - - SUSANNE FRÖHLICH - (susannefroehlich.com)

Email Susan Foulcher to register or use our Contact form - last tab on the website.

You are invited to play at the Player’s Night in July!  Please send details of your item (music title and duration, how many in your group and a contact email address/phone number) to ibstoned01@gmail.com so that you can be added to the programme. All items presented should be up to a maximum of 5 minutes duration. You don’t need to be perfect - just committed.

A workshop exploring the development of all the different forms of renaissance instrumental music for recorder consort – chansons, dances, canzons, ricercares, fantasias and large scale vocal works. We will look at the haunting beauty of the very early development of polyphony and progress through to the multi choir music of Giovanni Gabrieli. The workshop will focus on ways of improving consort playing, interpretation (with a couple of novel ideas), technique tips etc. Participants are asked to bring as many sizes of recorder as they can with 8ft instruments being particularly welcome. There will be a lot of playing for participants. The pitch of the day is 440.

Tutor: Susan Christie

Refreshments: Morning and afternoon tea/ coffee will be provided. Please bring your own lunch.

Cost: $40

Registration: Please register by emailing or phoning Irene Stone 0412 2942 40. Click here to email.

Venue: St Paul’s Anglican Church,205-207 Burwood Rd Burwood.

The church is a 10 minute walk from Burwood station and there are regular buses along Burwood Rd. Some parking is available in the church grounds and there is plenty of parking at the Woodstock Community Centre (enter from Fitzroy St). Walk 100 metres down Duff St to the church.

Alexei has been studying recorder for 11 years under guidance from Hannah Coleman and then Hans-Dieter Michatz as his tutors. He is currently in his second year studying a bachelor’s degree in historical performance on the recorder at the Sydney Conservatorium of music.

He has performed on many occasions, with some highlights including the Opera House as a part of the NSW Recorder Consort, NSW Parliament House in 2016 , the online Sydney Sacred Music Festival in 2020, Encore for HSC in 2022, as well as the Australian Recorder Festival Competition in 2023 where he won second place. 

As well as performance, Alexei is currently tutoring private lessons at Lane Cove public school and offering lessons to people of all ages and levels.

When Jude is not playing the recorder, she is a flute player and teacher. Jude has over 40 years experience as a flute teacher, maintaining a busy schedule at schools in Sydney and a home studio, where she teaches beginners through to Diploma level students. She leads several ensembles as part of her work and has played flute with Sydney Wind Symphony and Kuringai Orchestra, although her current focus is on Early Music performance with Consort 8.

Jude has co authored a book on teaching flute with Jocelyn Fazzone and has several times been a guest presenter on pedagogy at the Australian Flute Festival and will present again this year to teachers at the Festival in September. She is a specialist Flute and Recorder examiner for the AMEB. An active participation in the Committee of the Flute Society of NSW over the years has given her a platform, through adjudication at Eisteddfods, masterclasses and ensemble leadership, to further her passion for leading young players to explore their potential as music makers.

Jude’s love of recorder playing began in primary school. She has an abiding love of consort playing, and has been guest tutor on a number of occasions for the Sydney Society of Recorder Players weekly meetings and at their Bundanoon workshops. Jude continues to enjoy studying traverso and recorder solo repertoire and to explore the intricacies of historically informed performance with her teacher Hans Dieter Michatz. A commitment to lifelong learning and music making is central to her life

Alexandra is a Sydney and Melbourne based recorder player, music educator and conductor.  

​Alexandra first discovered the recorder with Zana Clarke (AUS). She then went on to complete her Bachelor of Music in recorder performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne. During that time, Alexandra specialised in ensemble and soloist historical performance practice with Ruth Wilkinson (AUS). In 2016 she completed her Masters of Music Performance-Teaching (majoring in conducting, performance and teaching). 

​Alexandra is part of The Recorder Co-op a recorder quartet specializing in recorder music both contemporary and early.  She is also a member of Trillo, an early music ensemble made up of multi-instrumentalist musicians who play repertoire from the medieval to the classical period. In the past she has performed with the Organs of Ballarat Goldfields festival (VIC), Bach Akademie Australia (SYD), Salut! Baroque (SYD), The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (SA), and the Bach Cantata program at St Johns Southgate (VIC). Alexandra has been broadcast on ABC Classic FM and ABC Regional Radio. 

​Alexandra teaches recorder to students of all ages and is currently teaching private lessons in Sydney. Alexandra has been a tutor, conductor and performer for the Sydney Recorder Society, Canberra Recorder & Early Music Society, Victorian Recorder Guild, Recorder and Early Music Society of Western Australia and the annual Orpheus Music Recorder Courses (Armidale, NSW). Alexandra is one of the four founding members and organisers of The Melbourne Recorder Academy, organising workshops for recorder students around Victoria. She currently tutors recorder ensembles at the Sydney Conservatorium High School.  

​When Alexandra isn't busy teaching or performing, she writes articles on the recorder, interviews other recorder professionals and creates Gecko Newsletters on behalf of Orpheus Music. In the last few years, she has been creating Composition Competitions through Orpheus Music and co-organizing Orpheus Music courses and the Australasian Recorder Festival. 

Mikaela Oberg is a recorder and flute player who specialises in historical performance practice. She completed her undergraduate studies in recorder performance and music education at the Sydney Conservatorium and went on to postgraduate studies in early music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Barthold Kuijken. During this time she performed both in The Netherlands and abroad, including with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under the leadership of Frans Bruggen. Mikaela returned to Australia in 2014 and performs regularly with Sydney based early music ensembles such as the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, which she has been a member of since 2005 and is often both flute and recorder soloist on regional and national tours, Pinchgut Opera, Australian Haydn Ensemble, Bach Akademie Australia, The Muffat Collective, the Australian Haydn Ensemble. Mikaela is also a woodwind examiner for the AMEB and teaches both instruments in her home studio and at Queenwood School for Girls and Fort Street High School.