The Albion Ensemble comprises an outstanding group of Britain's best players and teachers of woodwind instruments.

Angela Malsbury is professor of clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music, the UK's oldest and premier music school. George Caird is a former professor of oboe at the RAM and now is Principal of the Birmingham Conservatoire, the only conservatoire attached to a university in the UK. George Caird, Angela Malsbury are principals in the celebrated chamber orchestra, the London Mozart Players.

Additional information on the Albion Quintet and players may be found on the Web by following the links below.

Angela Malsbury, Clarinet

Robert Manasse, Flute

Robert Manasse - flute

Robert is working as a free-lance flute-player with a wide variety of orchestras including the English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Welsh and English National Operas, London Philharmonic, The Philharmonia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. He is a member of the London Mozart Players, works with Jane Manning's contemporary music group Jane's Minstrels, and with the chamber music groups CHROMA and the Galliard Ensemble. Robert has a long-standing duo with the harpist Helen Cole. He studied with Kate Hill initially, and then later with Michael Cox and Sebastian Bell as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music.

Robert has taught at Dartington International Summer School, for the Royal Academy of Music and at the Junior Guildhall. He is a visiting flute teacher at schools in Oxford and Abingdon, and has taught at the Oxford International Flute Summer School.

Recordings include the award-winning CD of music by Harrison Birtwistle made in association with the Galliard Ensemble, music by Tony Payne played by Jane's Minstrels, and arrangements of Beethoven played by the Albion wind ensemble.

Robert plays on a nickel-silver Bonneville flute made in Paris around 1890 and when not playing or teaching, enjoys growing and harvesting allotment vegetables.

Although Julie Andrews was always passionate about music, she decided to study for a biochemistry degree at Bristol University, before embarking on the performer's course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study the bassoon. She was very soon busily engaged in the musical life of London and was a founder member of the Wren Orchestra and new Mozart Orchestra while still at college. She also toured extensively with the English Chamber Orchestra.
For many years, she was principal bassoon with the Haffner Wind Ensemble and the Britten Sinfonia with whom she made many radio broadcasts and recordings. As a soloist, she recorded the Richard Strauss Duo Concertante for clarinet and bassoon (EMI) the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante and the Mozart bassoon concerto (classic fm label). The latter recording was chosen as the best available version of the work, by the BBC Radio 3 'Building a Library' review programme.
Julie leads a busy life as a freelance bassoonist, playing as a guest with all the London symphony orchestras and chamber orchestras and many chamber ensembles. She will be appearing as guest Principal bassoon with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in several Promenade concerts, at the Royal Albert Hall, this summer.
She has a long association with the Albion Ensemble and the Endymion Ensemble.
She has also played on many commercial recordings, for film sound tracks and light music backing tracks.
Julie has been involved in a variety of educational work and very much enjoys coaching and teaching students, from beginners to advanced performing standards.

Stephen Stirling is a renowned horn soloist with an international reputation as a chamber musician and many acclaimed recordings to his credit. He has had an unusually varied career ranging from perfoming at Carnegie Hall to playing to classrooms of street children in Bombay. A member of several leading chamber ensembles including being a founder member of the Fibonacci Sequence since it's inception in 1994, and also of Endymion since 1976. He has appeared regularly with the Albion Ensemble in concert and as a coach on music courses over the last twenty years.

Stephen has broadcast concertos on BBCTV and Radio 3, and appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. His recordings of Mozart's Horn Concertos with the City of London Sinfonia are constantly broadcast on Classic FM. The marvelous new Horn Concerto by Gary Carpenter was written for him and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and given its world and broadcast premiere in April 2005. Other recent first performances have included solo works by Martin Butler and Stephen Dodgson.

2008 sees the release of 'Horn' a CD of rarely recorded chamber works for horn with the Fibonacci Sequence on Deux Elles. This season's highlights include the Brahms Horn Trio with Angela Hewitt at her festival in Trasimeno, Italy, opening the brand new King's Place concert hall in London with a horn fanfare and recording the Schubert Octet with the Fibonacci Sequence.

Stephen studied in Manchester with Ifor James and privately with Julian Baker. He is now a professor at Trinity College of Music London, on the faculty of the Yellowbarn Summer School in Vermont, Chamber Music International, and a seasoned participant at the Dartington International Summer School.

www.stephenstirling.com. Photograph by Achim Liebold

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This page updated 25 September 2007