Bowed Strings

Our string players play on a mix of modern instruments with period setups and copies of period instruments. All of our players use gut strings and period-appropriate bows.

Shown below is a baroque violin made by Koen Boschman. It is a copy of a Baroque violin with original setup found in an attic in the Netherlands. The bows depicted include two bows by Johannesburg-based luthier Svend Christiansen, one in Red Ivory (an indigenous South African wood) and one in the more traditional snakewood. The shorter bow is an early baroque bow by Pieter Affourtit, also in snakewood.

Plucked Strings

Our collection of plucked string instruments includes a Theorbo and a Baroque guitar both on load from the Buskaid Soweto String Project. The theorbo was made by Christopher Doddridge and the baroque guitar by James Cole. We also have a stunning Baroque Mandolino built for us in 2023 by Jo Desepo in London. Our most recent acquisition is a Renaissance Lute built in Germany in the 1970s by Gerhard Reiter.

Winds

We are the proud owners of a large collection of recorders, 2 traversos (baroque flutes) and a crumhorn consort. We also have access to a sackbut consort.

For each programme we decide on whether to play at A=440Hz or at A=415Hz depending on repertoire, period and instruments needed. Whilst string instruments can be retuned, we need to keep wind instruments built at both pitches.

We own two instruments by the French flute maker Vincent Bernolin. The first is an alto recorder in F at A=415Hz, based on the design of Thomas Stanesby Jr. The second is a traverso with corps de rechanges, based on a model by August Grenser. The corps de rechanges allows the instrument to be played at both A=440Hz and A=415Hz. Bernolin’s instruments are unique in that they are hand-carved out of ABS resin. Wind manufacturers often use resin to produce stable and reliable instruments that are still affordable. These are generally injection moulded, resulting in many compromises being required. By hand-carving instruments out of resin, musicians have access to the quality of a hand-made instrument, but at a far reduced cost.

Our Renaissance recorders are a mix of Dream and Waldorf recorders made by Mollenhauer. The Dream recorders are made according to the designs of the late recorder maker, Adriana Breukink, and the Waldorf instruments have similar sound production but with a simplified body. They differ from baroque recorders in that they have a wider bore and larger finger holes. This creates a more blended sound than baroque instruments, which tend to be more penetrating and hence better for solo work.

We are also lucky to have a Brazilian Boxwood soprano recorder at A=415 made by the Japanese maker Hiroyuki Takeyama.

Keyboards

Our Zuckerman Italian virginal was exquisitely restored by John Reid Coulter. John also has a harpsichord collection.