The Recorder Co-Op
We are all professional recorder players: musicians who love the recorder and make our careers from it. Being a recorder player is a pretty varied sort of job - so on any given day you might find us practising, programming, conducting, teaching, rehearsing, adjudicating and examining, researching, writing, doing admin or, perhaps most importantly, performing! We are so excited about supporting young musicians who love the recorder too.
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To find out more about who we are, check out the links to our websites. We also play together, in the Recorder Co-op. You can find out more about what our quartet is up to here.
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Get to Know Us - The Recorder Co-op
THE RECORDER CO-OP is a recorder quartet made up of some of Australia's most well-known recorder players, including Hannah Coleman, Ruth Wilkinson, Ryan Williams and Alexandra Bailliet-Joly.
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The Recorder Co-op is an exciting ensemble leading future directions for the recorder in Australia - its instruments and its music. The ensemble specialises in performing renaissance and contemporary repertoire on a matched set of consort recorders based on historical models by Danish maker Ture Bergstrøm, the only set of its kind in Australia. They commission Australian composers to write for their unique sound and their concerts reflect a blend of old and new repertoire.
They have performed extensively including at the Ballarat Festival of Organ and Fine Music, Melbourne Conservatorium Lunch Hour series, Daylesford Christ Church Concerts Music Festival, the Trinity Lecture series, and the Lyrebird Music Society concerts series. As well as their own concerts, The Recorder Co-op is committed to collaboration with chamber ensembles and composers; seeking new sounds and performance contexts for their instrument. They have worked with composers; Ros Bandt, Alice Humphries, Claire Cross, Holly Moore, & Ryan Williams to develop new works for renaissance recorder consort, and have collaborated with ensembles; Consortium - Melbourne’s Consort of Viols, and Auncient Hermony.
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They run community music workshops together, and share their passion for their instrument with young people through the Melbourne Recorder Academy. The Academy aims to create an inspiring recorder community for young recorder players by providing them with workshops and ensemble performance opportunities.
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With the help of the Victorian Recorder Guild and DCMT, the members established the Melbourne Recorder Academy, focusing on workshops for young recorder players. MRA aims to create an inspiring community and music making opportunities for young recorder players, lead by professional musicians.
IF you'd like to keep up to date with the Recorder Co-op or the Melbourne Recorder Academy we have a facebook and instagram with news, events and all our upcoming projects and concerts.
Don Cowell Memorial Trust and the Victorian Recorder Guild
The Melbourne Recorder Academy is generously supported by both the Don Cowell Memorial Trust and the Victorian Recorder Guild.
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The Don Cowell Memorial Trust was set up by the VRG and the Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra in 1980 in memory of Don who died in 1979. Don was a founding member of the VRG, a recorder teacher and a recorder soloist of the MMO. The DCMT has played an important role in supporting young recorder players in Australia over the past decade.
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The Victorian Recorder Guild is a network of recorder enthusiasts - players, performers and teachers - that encourages the playing and performance of recorders. The Guild runs a series of events throughout the year to encourage recorder playing in Victoria, which are well worth attending!
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