biographies
joseph crouch cello
The members of Sonnerie
click for individual biographies
- Monica Huggett
- director & violin
- Emilia Benjamin
- viola da gamba,
violin & viola - Matthew Halls
- harpsichord & organ
- Joseph Crouch
- cello
- Sonnerie
Joseph Crouch began his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and was later a Choral Scholar at KingÕs College, Cambridge. Here he first gained a love for early music through constant exposure to choral repertoire of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and went on to study historical performance practice as a postgraduate at The Royal Academy of Music.
In the six years since completing his studies with Jennifer Ward Clarke, Joseph has become one of the UK's leading performers on the baroque cello. As the continuo cellist with The Academy of Ancient Music, The Gabrieli Consort and The Sixteen he has a full orchestral schedule which is complemented by his work with Sonnerie. More recently, he has started to make regular forays away from the bass line, performing concerto solos with AAM and the notorious cello obligato in Boccherini's aria 'Se d'un amor tiranno' in the Munich Philharmonie and for German radio. After several appearances as guest principal with The Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment, Joe was recently invited back as the concerto soloist.
If and when Joe's hands give in/work dries up/lottery numbers come in, he'd like to be a crossword setter. A ludicrous ambition given that he takes a week to solve them, he nonetheless takes pride in his discovery of the following clue: "One of Jeffrey Archer's mistakes (5,5,6)". In the meantime Joe is becoming increasingly involved in teaching, and combines a post at The Royal Welsh College with regular coaching on residential courses both in the UK and worldwide.