Stephen Brown (‘cello)
Stephen is a freelance ‘cellist, baroque ‘cellist, conductor and composer who moved to Cornwall in 2000. He has played regularly with the orchestra of New Devon Opera, and Red Earth Opera, as well as Duchy Opera and many other shows and choral societies in Devon and Cornwall. He currently also plays with St Mewan Sinfonia, The Orchestra of St Mary’s, the James Hook Players, and authentic baroque pitch groups The Heinichen Ensemble and the South West Baroque Orchestra. He was Musical Director of Bodmin Musical Theatre Company from 2010-2016. His compositions include four string quartets, all written for the Corineus Quartet, and various chamber and orchestral works for voice mostly written for mezzo-soprano Maria Heseltine and soprano Elinor Chapman. His setting of John Wesley’s Thou hidden source of calm repose was performed at Truro Cathedral in 2016, and the orchestral Two Sonnets by Rupert Brooke was first performed in Penzance in 2014. One of these, The Soldier was subsequently performed in Plymouth and Liskeard by international soprano Nadine Benjamin. 2018 saw the premiere of Fear no more the heat o’ the sun for mezzo-soprano and orchestra with Maria Heseltine as soloist, and in September 2019 his setting of Wilfrid Gibson’s Second World War poem In Hexham Abbey for soprano, baritone choir and orchestra was performed in Penzance with soloists Elinor Chapman and Jesse Giuliani, with Helston Chamber Choir and the Orchestra of St Mary’s. He recently completed an opera Brainland, part of a multimedia project some of which is currently being filmed, and he regularly contributes to Brainland’s podcast spinoffs, a recent episode being "Joyful Astonishment and the Philosophy of Optimism" in discussion with renowned philosopher & cultural commentator Raymond Tallis. The Ratio Suite, his setting of 5 “cyber songs” with text prepared by Ken Barrett was peformed by Elinor Chapman and the Corineus Quartet on Sept 30th 2023. It is hoped to perform a new work, The Dark Lady - a Triptych, based on sonnets by Shakespeare and Raymond Tallis, in 2024. He is currently working on a new multimedia film project with Ken Barrett using music to support dance and text, based on Raymond Tallis’s book The Black Mirror: Fragments of an Obituary for Life Stephen can also be found at http://cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm
Martin White (Leader)
Philip Gurney (viola)
Jenny Rapson (violin 2)
The other players…
Stephen Brown (‘cello)
Stephen is a freelance ‘cellist, baroque ‘cellist, conductor and composer who moved to Cornwall in 2000. He has played regularly with the orchestra of New Devon Opera, and Red Earth Opera, as well as Duchy Opera and many other shows and choral societies in Devon and Cornwall. He currently also plays with St Mewan Sinfonia, The Orchestra of St Mary’s, the James Hook Players, and authentic baroque pitch groups The Heinichen Ensemble and the South West Baroque Orchestra. He was Musical Director of Bodmin Musical Theatre Company from 2010-2016. His compositions include four string quartets, all written for the Corineus Quartet, and various chamber and orchestral works for voice mostly written for mezzo-soprano Maria Heseltine and soprano Elinor Chapman. His setting of John Wesley’s Thou hidden source of calm repose was performed at Truro Cathedral in 2016, and the orchestral Two Sonnets by Rupert Brooke was first performed in Penzance in 2014. One of these, The Soldier was subsequently performed in Plymouth and Liskeard by international soprano Nadine Benjamin. 2018 saw the premiere of Fear no more the heat o’ the sun for mezzo-soprano and orchestra with Maria Heseltine as soloist, and in September 2019 his setting of Wilfrid Gibson’s Second World War poem In Hexham Abbey for soprano, baritone choir and orchestra was performed in Penzance with soloists Elinor Chapman and Jesse Giuliani, with Helston Chamber Choir and the Orchestra of St Mary’s. He recently completed an opera Brainland, part of a multimedia project some of which is currently being filmed, and he regularly contributes to Brainland’s podcast spinoffs, a recent episode being "Joyful Astonishment and the Philosophy of Optimism" in discussion with renowned philosopher & cultural commentator Raymond Tallis. The Ratio Suite, his setting of 5 “cyber songs” with text prepared by Ken Barrett was peformed by Elinor Chapman and the Corineus Quartet on Sept 30th 2023. It is hoped to perform a new work, The Dark Lady - a Triptych, based on sonnets by Shakespeare and Raymond Tallis, in 2024. He is currently working on a new multimedia film project with Ken Barrett using music to support dance and text, based on Raymond Tallis’s book The Black Mirror: Fragments of an Obituary for Life Stephen can also be found at http://cornwallcomposers.com/stephen.htm