Ironwood is Australia's renowned historically informed performance group crossing the boundaries of old and new. Ironwood is a flexible ensemble of world class musicians who are based in Australia and perform at an elite level, exploring the sound of chamber music on gut strings.
Ironwood comprises some of Australia’s foremost chamber musicians, who perform on both period and modern string instruments. The musicians have performed with Les Arts Florissants, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Pinchgut Opera, Florilegium, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Flametree Festival Orchestra, Sydney, Melbourne & Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Alpha Centauri, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, La Petite Bande and Ludovico’s Band.
The ensemble came together in late 2006, presenting a festival of Mozart’s chamber works for strings and piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and since then has presented concerts in conjunction with Historic Houses Trust, NSW at Vaucluse and Elizabeth Bay Houses, exploring the music of mid-19th century Sydney and Europe as well as performances at Sydney's Sydney Harbour Trust historic North Head Artillery School Ballroom and St.John's in Sorrento, Victoria.
Ironwood have an active commissioning program for music on early instruments, including commissioning new works for gut strings by Australian composers including Rosalind Page, Kevin March and Paul Stanhope. The group has performed widely, including a national tour for Musica Viva Australia, performances for the Peninsula Music Festival and the Sydney Biennale.
Ironwood runs a successful early music educational program with workshops in Victoria and NSW, and for various organisations including MLC School, Sydney, Adelaide Chamber Players, and Wollongong Conservatorium. In October 2007 Ironwood were one of the first music ensembles as Artist-In-Residence at the Arthur Boyd property, Bundanon, on NSW’s south coast and in 2009 and 2010 they have continued this honour.
Members of Ironwood also record and broadcast for many organizations including the ABC, Sony, Channel Classics, Tall Poppies, and radio networks across Europe, including WDR radio (Germany), Naxos and Teldac. Recently Ironwood has been involved in several recordings for ABC Classics as well as broadcasts for ABC Classic FM.
Violinist, Rachael Beesley is one of Australia’s most versatile and dynamic performers. Based in The Netherlands over the last 14 years, she has established an exciting career as concertmaster and soloist with the finest European orchestras specialising in Early Music. Now based in Australia, Rachael has made a resounding impact on the music scene in Australia, performing, educating and directing programs around the country. A Graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor and Graduate Diploma of Arts in Music and a Master of Music from The Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, The Netherlands, Rachael is much in demand as a chamber musician and soloist, performing with Ironwood, Salut! Baroque and La Compañia. Rachael appears as guest concertmaster with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, director and soloist with the Tasmanian Symphony and Melbourne Chamber Orchestras as well as concertmaster with Opera Australia, Victorian and Pinchgut Opera and has recorded over 50 CD recordings for Harmonia Mundi, BIS, Sony and ABC Classics. As a professor at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, The Netherlands, Rachael has developed unique courses on Historical Performance Practice and Practising In Flow. A devoted educator Rachael teaches and guest lectures at the Conservatoriums of Music in Melbourne and Sydney and the Australian National Academy of Music.
ALICE EVANS - VIOLIN
Perth born Alice Evans was fifteen when she became a full-time student at the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music. In 1990 she became a core member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra where she remains. In 1997, Alice was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to spend a year in Europe studying Baroque Violin. During this time she also played with various leading period ensembles including Florilegium, The Hanover Band and King's Consort. Alice also joined the leading French Baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques for their performances in the Sydney Festival in 1998 and Florilegium for their tour of Australia in 1999. Alice has played with most of the Australian period instrument ensembles including The Philharmonia Choirs Orchestra, The Australian Bach Ensemble, Salut! Baroque, Sirius, Sinfonia Australis, Orchestra of the Antipodes (Pinchgut Opera), Romanza and more recently Ironwood and The Fifth Continent, with which she performed at the inaugural Peninsula Summer Music Festival in January 2008.
Melbourne born violinist, Julia Fredersdorff, studied baroque violin with Lucinda Moon at the Victorian College of the Arts, before travelling to the Netherlands to study with Enrico Gatti at The Royal Conservatorium, in The Hague. Recently repatriated having been based in Paris for almost 10 years, Julia has freelanced with some of the finest European ensembles, such as Les Talens Lyriques, Les Folies Françoises, Le Concert d’Astrée, Le Parlement de Musique, Ensemble Matheus, Les Paladins, Il Complesso Barocco, New Dutch Academy and Bach Concentus. In Australia, Julia is a regular member of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, La Compañia and Ludovico’s Band as well as the Orchestra of the Antipodes. Julia has participated in over 20 CD recordings for Virgin Classics, Deutsche Grammaphon, Accent, Accord, Naïve, Erato, Passacaille, Ambronay, ABC Classics and Tall Poppies. Passionate about chamber music, she is a founding member of Ironwood, with whom she toured Australia for Musica Viva last year, as well as the new trio, Latitude 37, which recently completed a highly succesful tour of New Zealand for CMNZ. Julia is founder and Artistic Director of the annual Peninsula Summer Music Festival on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, and teaches baroque violin at the conservatoriums of Sydney and Melbourne.
Nicole Forsyth’s interest in chamber music spans four centuries. She plays with early and avant-garde groups Halcyon, Kammer, Ensemble Offspring, Ironwood, Romanza, Ludovico’s Band & Pinchgut Opera. Nicole appears on disc and broadcast with these groups for ABC Classics/ABCFM. Festival appearances include Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Castlemaine , Queensland, and with Ironwood, for the new Peninsula Summer Music Festival, Victoria. Nicole also enjoys freelance orchestral life with Sydney Symphony, has played with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, AOBO, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra and teaches in the Early Music Unit, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, MLC School, Sydney and within Ironwood’s Workshop and Education programs. Nicole is currently writing on chamber music in early 19thc Sydney, with articles and lecture-recitals for Historic Houses Trust of NSW and the Macquarie Bicentenary, and was assistant curator at the Museum of Sydney in 2004.
Daniel Yeadon is in much demand as a fine period cellist, gamba player and teacher. His repertoire ranges from the 17th to the 21st centuries. He is a part-time member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, records regularly for ABC Classics and has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. In Europe, Daniel was a member of the Fitzwilliam String Quartet and is currently guest prinicipal cellist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The English Baroque Soloists and Florilegium, the award winning group he co-founded in 1990.
Neal Peres Da Costa specialises in performance on historical keyboard instruments of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. He lectures at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in the Musicology and Keyboard units and is Chair of the Early Music Unit. After graduating from the University of Sydney with first class honours B.Mus., Neal attained a Postgraduate Diploma in Early Music from the Guildhall School of Music and a Master in Music Performance from the City University in London. In 2002, he attained a PhD from the University of Leeds, where he researched performing practices in late 19th-century piano playing with particular reference to early recordings. Neal was co-founder of Florilegium, an internationally renowned period instrument ensemble with which he performed around the world and made many award-winning recordings. He has also performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Australis, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Pinchgut Opera, and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.