The Brook Street Band - where Handel lives!
The Brook Street Band is named after the London Street where George Frideric Handel lived from 1723-59. It was formed in 1997 by baroque cellist Tatty Theo, rapidly establishing itself amongst the UK’s leading Handel specialists, winning grants, awards, and broadcasting opportunities from organisations including Radio 3 and the Handel Institute. The Band has enjoyed an unusually stable core-membership, its players working together for over twenty years; this longevity has enabled them to develop a style of performing and music-making that is precise and spontaneous, musicians able to react instinctively to each other and play as one.
Eighteenth-century chamber repertoire has always been the Band’s driving passion, focusing particularly on Handel’s music.
The Band currently performs and teaches throughout the UK and Europe, and has established love: Handel, its own critically acclaimed biennial music festival. It regularly broadcasts for Radio 3 and Classic FM and its extensive discography has been singled out for critical acclaim, accolades including Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice and inclusion in the chamber music/small ensemble selection category at the Grammy Awards. It’s most recent CD, the world-premiere recording of “Dragon of Wantley” (an English opera by Handel’s bassoonist J F Lampe) is proving to be something of a hit; it has just been awarded the Opera Award in the 2023 BBC Music Magazine Awards. The Band featured at the world’s first ever “Handeliade”, an immersive 4-day event of concerts, masterclasses and talks given by world-renowned Handel experts in 2021 and will perform at the next one later this year.
Tatty's interview from In Tune on BBC Radio 3 about 18th century coffeehouse culture is now available as a BBC podcast