Concert

• Emma-Marie Kabanova – Baroque Violin

Danish/British violinist Emma-Marie Kabanova completed Bachelor and Masters degrees in composition, musicology and violin performance at Goldsmith’s College, University of London. She undertook further studies in violin performance at the Novosibirsk Conservatory and studied privately with a principal violinist of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra in Moscow, Russia.

Emma-Marie studied baroque violin and historical performance at the Malmo Academy of Music in Sweden and attended masterclasses at the Antonio Vivaldi Academy in Venice, Italy. Recent concerts include appearances with the Oxford Alternative Orchestra UK, The National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova, and at festivals in the UK, Hungary and Turkey and France.

Formerly based in Moscow, Emma-Marie was a guest principal with the Moscow Baroque Soloists

and the artistic director of Globus Music baroque ensemble; under Emma-Marie’s direction, the ensemble presented the first historically informed performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ oratorio in Russia and created collaborative projects with artists of the Bolshoi Theatre, the Helikon Opera, The Stanislavsky Theatre, Opera Omnia and with ballet dancers from leading companies in Moscow. As a soloist, Emma-Marie often performs programs for unaccompanied violin that combine music from the Baroque era with folk music from the British Isles, Scandinavia and Russia, mixed with improvisation and her own compositions to create a unique sound that is both familiar yet otherworldly. She also performs contemporary music and recently gave the UK premier of four works for unaccompanied violin at Cambridge University.

Emma-Marie teaches violin and has worked as a classroom music teacher. Between 2007 and 2014

she set up musical education projects working with terminally ill children in Siberia and young offenders in an institution in Moscow. In 2017 she was given a ‘Points of Light’ award by the UK Prime Minister for this work. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Emma-Marie found it impossible to stay in Russia and returned to the UK where she has been working as a freelance violinist.

• Tim Laycock plays duet concertina, melodeon and ukulele.
• Colin Thompson plays violin, viola, mandolin and guitar

Tim Laycock and Colin Thompson are both highly experienced players of Dorset traditional music and songs and recognised experts in their fields. Together they perform country dance tunes from the repertoires of the Hardy family of Bockhampton and Benjamin Rose of Belchalwell. Their songs are drawn from the 700 songs collected by Henry and Robert Hammons in Dorset between 1905 and 1907, and also from the texts noted by Thomas Hardy, and mentioned in his poetry and novels.

Tim Laycock is a folk musician and actor with a particular interest in the works of Thomas Hardy and William Barnes. Tim is the Artistic Director of the New Hardy Players, and in 2021 he directed ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ in the Dorset Museum with Emma Hill. Tim has worked at the National Theatre and at the RSC; he was folk music consultant on the BBC drama ‘The Living and the Dead.’

Colin Thompson is regarded as one of the finest exponents of the English style of folk fiddle in the country. He is also an accomplished guitarist and recorder player. Colin is a member of Doves Figary who give historically informed performances of dance music from 1500 to 1800, often for dancing.

Colin and Tim played together in The New Scorpion Band and have made many recordings of traditional folk music. The most recent is ‘Any Little Old Song Will Do’, a CD of poems and music associated with Thomas Hardy’s novels and poems and recorded in Hardy’s Cottage. They have also produced a facsimile copy of the music manuscript book of Benjamin Rose, containing all 135 country dance tunes.