Patrick Ayrton: Astrophil & Stella Patrick Ayrton, Louise Ayrton, Lauren Lodge-Campbell

• Patrick Ayrton (b. 1960): Oh, For a Bowl of Fat Canary:
• 1 Ayrton: Oh, For a Bowl of Fat Canary 03:28
• Fairy Revels:
• 2 Ayrton: Fairy Revels 03:19
• Ouverture:
• 3 Ayrton: Ouverture 04:06
• Where the bee sucks:
• 4 Ayrton: Where the bee sucks 02:38
• Come, Sleep!:
• 5 Ayrton: Come, Sleep! 07:59
• Witches’ Song:
• 6 Ayrton: Witches’ Song 03:10
• Sublunar Pavan:
• 7 Ayrton: Sublunar Pavan 05:19
• Sublunar Galliard:
• 8 Ayrton: Sublunar Galliard 01:59
• Syrinx:
• 9 Ayrton: Syrinx 03:07
• With how sad Steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies:
• 10 Ayrton: With how sad Steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies 04:04
• A Wanderer’s Fantasy:
• 11 Ayrton: A Wanderer’s Fantasy 06:11
• Fairy Land:
• 12 Ayrton: Fairy Land 04:21
• Break of Day:
• 13 Ayrton: Break of Day 03:23
• The Willow Song:
• 14 Ayrton: The Willow Song 05:08
• Under the greenwood tree:
• 15 Ayrton: Under the greenwood tree 02:55
• Oh, that joy so soon should waste!:
• 16 Ayrton: Oh, that joy so soon should waste! 03:30
• Total Runtime 01:04:37

Info for Patrick Ayrton: Astrophil & Stella

"Astrophil & Stella" is the fruit of a life's devotion to the spirit and craft of 17th-century music. Harpsichordist, conductor, and composer Patrick Ayrton has delved into the intricate fabric of this era's compositions, unearthing its hidden mechanisms and timeworn secrets. The result is a song cycle of his own, for soprano and instrumental ensemble. Historically, the art of composing was not merely a skill but the very lifeblood of every musician, and to compose was to speak the language of the present. Thus, Patrick does not aim to simply revive the past, but to rekindle a tradition, one that hovers between memory and reinvention. In his hands, ancient forms breathe anew, woven with reverence, yet subtly imbued with his own artistic voice.

He writes: "I believe that the line between improvisation and composition is a fragile, blurry and undefined one. Could some of the great works not simply be the crystallising of numerous extemporisations? The fact is that after many decades of "inventing at the keyboard" (with a considerate dose of trial and error!), I began, in 2022, for the first time, to set things to paper, with Purcell and his contemporaries as a main source of inspiration. Born of an enduring fascination with this repertoire, Astrophil & Stella is a love letter to the English Baroque - with its sinuous melodies, refined ambiguities of modulation, and tender reminiscences of old folk ballads - qualities that have long inspired me."

All these elements converge in a joyful tribute, at once intimate and expansive, deeply rooted yet untethered by time.

Lauren Lodge-Campbell, soprano
Louise Ayrton, violin
Salomé Gasselin, viola da gamba
Marie Bournisien, harp
Etienne Galletier, theorbo and guitar
Clara Espinosa Encinas, oboe
Tabea Debus, recorder
Zands Duggan, percussion
Patrick Ayrton, harpsichord, organ, direction

Patrick Ayrton
divides his time between performance on a variety of keyboards and his work as a conductor. He studied organ and sacred music at the Vienna Academy where he was a pupil of Alfred Mitterhofer, Michael Radulescu and Erwin Ortner.

Later, he moved to The Netherlands where he followed courses in harpsichord and chamber music under the guidance of Ton Koopman.

He was a laureate of the Organ Competitions at Innsbruck in 1983 and Bruges in 1985. Patrick Ayrton currently teaches thorough-bass, chamber music and improvisation at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. He has been a tutor for the European Union Baroque Orchestra audition courses and has given masterclasses at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and Gnessin School in Moscow, the Yonsei University of Seoul, the Latvian Academy in Riga and the Summer School of the Salzburg Mozarteum. Patrick Ayrton is the central figure in a documentary film based on “Tregian’s Ground”, a prize-winning novel by the Swiss writer Anne Cuneo. His association and collaboration with the Dutch conductor Arie van Beek has led him to develop his skills as a music director. In recent years, he has received invitations to conduct orchestras of repute such as the Orchestra of the Auvergne, the Chamber Academy of Potsdam, the Dijon-Bourgogne Orchestra, the Pasdeloup Orchestra in Paris, the Nordic Chamber Orchestra (Sweden), the Symphony Orchestra of Cannes, the Latvian Radio Choir and the Chamber Orchestra of Munich. Patrick Ayrton is also the founder of the Les Inventions,

a period ensemble which explores uncharted 18th century repertoire, such as the works of Joseph Touchemoulin and Thomas Linley. Les Inventions work in close partnership with acclaimed British vocal ensemble VOCES8. Patrick Ayrton is also known for his pre-concert talks and is a regular lecturer. In 2004, he was appointed artistic director of the Bach en Combrailles Festival in France.

Lauren Lodge-Campbell
studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the Queensland Conservatorium, Australia. Lauren was awarded 2nd prize at the 2023 Concours Corneille with Le Poème Harmonique, 2nd Prize and Audience Prize at the 2018 Handel Singing Competition, and was a prize winner in the finals of the 2024 Cesti Competition in Innsbruck. Lauren was a member of the 9th edition of Le Jardin des Voix, the young artist programme of William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants and is a Samling Artist.

Lauren’s 2024-25 season includes a new production of Handel Apollo e Dafne at the London Handel Festival, conducted by David Bates and directed by Thomas Guthrie; Eurydice in Telemann Orpheus at the Drottningholm Slottsteater, conducted by Francesco Corti and directed by Elena Barbarich; Bach & Purcell with The English Concert and Kristian Bezuidenhout; Rameau Pygmalion with Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn and concerts with Apollo’s Cabinet at Thüringer Bachwochen and the London Handel Festival.

In 2023-24 Lauren returned to Sydney to sing La Musique/Filli in Charpentier Les Plaisirs de Versailles/Amor vince ogni cosa with Pinchgut Opera; made her US debut singing Filia in Carissimi Jephte with Les Arts Florissants at the Morgan Library in New York; Monteverdi L’incoronazione di Poppea (Amor) and Handel Brockes Passion with The English Concert and Harry Bicket, and a recital at Bachfest Leipzig with Apollo’s Cabinet.

Lauren’s 2022-23 season included Euridice in Charpentier La descente d’Orphee at the Vache Baroque Festival; First Witch in Purcell Dido and Aeneas with Les Arts Florissants conducted by William Christie, Bach Christmas Oratorio with the Britten Sinfonia under Stephen Layton; Bach Magnificat with the Royal Northern Sinfonia under Nicholas McGegan; a revival of Handel Hercules at the Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe; Purcell King Arthur with the Gabrieli Consort, and a return to Pinchgut Opera in Sydney to sing Buxtehude Membra Jesu Nostri and Eufemia in Legrenzi Giustino.

Season 2021-22 saw Lauren sing several concerts with Les Arts Florissants including Purcell Indian Queen and Filia in Carissimi Jephte; her German debut as Iole in Handel Hercules at the Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe conducted by Lars Ulrik Mortensen and alongside Ann Hallenberg, and Cupid in Purcell King Arthur with the Gabrieli Consort at Festival International Opéra Baroque & Romantique Beaune.

Lauren’s 2020-21 season included Mozart Exsultate Jubilate (English Chamber Orchestra); a recital at the Oxford Lieder Festival with pianist Dylan Perez; Handel Messiah at the Saint Denis Festival with La Chapelle Harmonique, and Amor in Gluck Paris and Helen with Bampton Classical Opera. Engagements cancelled due to Covid-19 included a tour of Purcell Hear My Prayer (Les Arts Florissants), with a solo concert with Red Dot Baroque in Singapore; Ninfa/Proserpina Orfeo (Les Arts Florissants); Purcell Fairy Queen (Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing cond. Alexis Kossenko) and Serpetta in Mozart La finta giardiniera on tour in Asia and Australia with Les Arts Florissants.

Other operatic engagements include Serpetta La finta giardiniera with Les Arts Florissants; Minerva Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Pinchgut Opera); Venus Venus and Adonis and Amore Il ballo delle ingrate at Brighton Early Music Festival; Princess The Hogboon with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle and Gretel Hansel and Gretel with Iford Arts.

Lauren is at ease on the concert platform and has recently sung Bach Magnificat at Hereford Cathedral; Handel Messiah with the London Handel Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia; Handel Brockes Passion with Arcangelo; and Bach St Matthew Passion at Dartington International Festival. A keen recitalist, Lauren has performed in recital at Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, London Handel Festival, Leicester International Music Festival, Foundling Museum, London Song Festival, LSO St Luke’s and the Holywell Music Room, Oxford. A member of the Guildhall Song Guild directed by Graham Johnson OBE, Lauren has participated in masterclasses with such artists as Roger Vignoles, Julius Drake, Elly Ameling, Richard Stokes, Dame Emma Kirkby and Dame Felicity Lott.

At the Guildhall School Lauren was the winner of the Susan Longfield Prize and the Franz Schubert Institut Lieder Competition. The latter awarded her a full scholarship to study at the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden, Austria. Lauren was the winner of the inaugural Cheltenham Bach Choir Competition, the Schubert Society Song Prize at the London Song Festival, and a Semi Finalist in the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition with duo partner, Michael Sikich.

Lauren lives in London and continues to study with Professor Janice Chapman, Yvonne Kenny and Sophie Daneman.

Louise Ayrton
Raised in France, Louise is a third year Philosophy student at Trinity College Cambridge. She has recorded with Voces8 and Les Inventions on baroque violin, and collaborated with the acapella group for educational projects around the UK. She has performed with her family trio in the French festival Cordes Sensibles as well as the festival Bach en Combrailles, where she also works on the communication team. On her gap year in Seville, she played in a production of Cosi Fan Tutte in the Teatro Lope de Vega. Other than music, she enjoys theatre, film and opera, and has been part of the Pirates of Penzance 2014 production in Cambridge West Road Theatre and a French production of the Bourgeois Gentilhomme. She also appears in a short film by Swiss film director Anne Cunéo. » Upcoming plans include a production of the B minor mass at the Bach en Combrailles festival in France.

Salomé Gasselin
French viola da gamba player Salomé Gasselin won a unanimous first prize at the Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award in Lugano, Switzerland in 2020. She had already won several prizes as a soloist – including a second prize at the 2018 Bach-Abel Competition in Köthen – as well as chamber music prizes with the Goldfinch Ensemble.

After hesitating between a career in rugby, drawing or genetics, she chose music and entered Marianne Muller’s class at the Lyon Conservatoire (CNSMD). She then studied at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague with Philippe Pierlot, and finally at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Vittorio Ghielmi. In parallel to her musical training, Salomé studied modern literature at the University of Paris X. She soon joined several ensembles of her generation and played with Pygmalion, Jupiter, Capriccio Stravagante, Ratas Del Viejo Mundo, Le Poème Harmonique and Masques. Attracted by contemporary creation, she works with composers such as Philippe Gouttenoire and Jerzy Bielski, as well as with the director Lazare Herson-Macarel.

In addition to her concerts, and her viola da gamba class at the Pierre Barbizet Conservatoire in Marseille, she dreams of marquetry on early instruments, and has a passion for the sound studies and for cheese.

Salomé plays a bass viol made in Paris by Simon Bongars in 1653.

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