The Picardy Players formed in 2023 to present new and old music on historical instruments through multi-sensory storytelling experiences. In our performances we revive unusual tuning systems from the past with the aim of transporting the audience to mysterious sonic realms and providing a meeting point for different musical cultures.
James Batty
James Batty is a composer and harpsichord player based in London. He has a special passion for historical performance and microtonal music – sounds outside standard western tonality – and has composed and/or performed with a wide variety of ensembles including Noxwode, the BBC Singers, Carice Singers, Riot Ensemble, NYJO, LSO players and Opera North Youth Chorus, at the Spitalfields, Cheltenham, Norfolk & Norwich and Davos Festivals. His two commercial releases of microtonal music to date, “Until I Set Him Free” and “Sanctuary” received critical acclaim and radio play around the world.
Lizzie Knatt
Recorder player Lizzie Knatt’s work spans the worlds of early music and contemporary performance, and she particularly enjoys collaborating with composers to expand the instrument’s repertoire. The recorder has given Lizzie the opportunity to perform across the UK and abroad, recently presenting a solo recital of newly composed works for recorder and electronics as the Open Recorder Days Amsterdam 2023. In 2024, Lizzie will curate three events as the inaugural Young Artist in Association of the Deal Festival, Kent. Lizzie is a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she studied recorder with Anna Stegmann and baroque bassoon with Peter Whelan.
Philip Turner
Philip Turner is a player of early plucked instruments, and explores cutting edge approaches to historical performance in his performances. Playing in various arrangements of ensembles, from large to small baroque orchestras in operas and concerts, to chamber and consort ensembles, to accompanying solo instrumentalists and singers and his own solo recitals, he prides himself in his versatility. Having completed his undergraduate studies under Paula Chateauneuf and Roger Hamilton at the Royal Northern College of Music, he looks to soon complete his masters studies under Liz Kenny at the Royal Academy of music.
Madison Marshall
Violist Madison Marshall enjoys a multifaceted career as a recitalist, chamber musician, and historical performance specialist. She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall and the St. Thomaskirche in Leipzig, made solo debuts with the Utah and American West symphonies, and appeared at festivals including the Perlman Music Program, IMS Prussia Cove, Gstaad Menuhin Festival Academy, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Thy Chamber Music Festival, and Écoles d’Art Américanes de Fontainebleau. Madison grew up in Utah, where she was the final student of noted pedagogue David Dalton. She holds degrees from the Colburn School and Yale University, and currently studies historical performance with Jane Rogers at the Royal Academy of Music.
Bonnie Scott
Bonnie Scott is an innovative harpist based in London and Cambridgeshire. She has performed across the UK and Europe, giving performances across many disciplines at a variety of venues and festivals including The World Harp Congress and the Wales International Harp Festival. Bonnie is passionate about exploring under-represented composers and conventions of harp performance, playing the electric harp as well as the triple harp. She is excited to be a Southbank Centre Future Artist for 2023-2024. Bonnie is fortunate to have been a Leverhulme Artist Bursary holder and is a scholarship student at the RAM under the guidance of RPO Principal Harpist Suzy Willison-Kawalec.
Elizabeth van ’t Voort
Elizabeth van’t Voort is a Canadian violist currently pursuing a Masters degree in Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music. She has been following a career teaching and performing in Canada in various ensembles, orchestras, and as a soloist. Now based in London, England, Elizabeth is studying Baroque viola under Jane Rogers, and will be a member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment experience this coming season. Her passion for music comes from the discovery of music and the joy of sharing it with others in creative new ways.
Mariana Rodrigues
Portuguese soprano Mariana Rodrigues is developing a career particularly in Early and Contemporary music, Classical Opera and Art Song, as well as ensemble singing – where her main interests lie. She is currently in her first year of postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with a scholarship, studying with Marie Vassiliou, Raymond Connell and Philip Sunderland. Recent engagements include ‘Arcadian Nocturne’ at the Islington Festival with Sergio Bucheli (lute/baroque guitar); Monteverdi Vespers and ‘The Nightingale’s Own Brother’ with The Queenes Chappell, Estoril International Music Festival in ‘Amores, Desamores e Dissabores, ‘Vivaldi on the Double’ with Brandenburg Sinfonia, and a recent ‘Love and Nature’ concert with Chantefable – voice and keyboard duo with Andrew Cowie – at the Vilalte Music Festival. She joined the prestigious Bach’s project – Bach in Leipzig at RAM and was very highly commended at the Nancy Nuttall Early Music Competition. Mariana is the recipient of the Regency Award and the Edna Bralesford Vocal Prize.
Emma van der Scheer
Emma van der Scheer is a Dutch Mezzo-Soprano. She is currently part of the Master of Arts programme at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she is studying with Susan Waters. Emma studied classical singing with Yvonne Schiffelers at the conservatory of Maastricht; where she obtained a Bachelor degree with a distinction for Early Music in 2021. Having a great passion and interest for Baroque music, Emma then continued her vocal studies with Rosa Dominguez at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel. Here, she successfully completed a 2-year specialisation in Early Music in 2023. Emma has both solo- and ensemble experience in opera and oratorio, and she has worked with several conductors and ensembles across Europe.
Robert Folkes
Robert is a tenor in his final year of the vocal studies masters studying with Richard Berkeley-Steele and Anna Tilbrook. During his time at Academy, he has regularly performed in the Bach in Leipzig and has been conducted by Masaaki Suzuki, Rachel Podger, Peter Whelan, Eamonn Dougan and Iain Ledingham. He also recently won the Michael Head Song Prize as part of the Academy Vocal Recital Prizes competition. Robert particularly enjoys performing in Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, 20th-Century and contemporary genres within opera, oratorio and song. He also plays the trumpet and is studying with Nick Smart the head of the jazz department at Academy.
Allyn Wu
In his final year at the Royal Academy of Music, Australian baritone Allyn Wu is a regular contributor in the Academy’s Bach in Leipzig series, collaborating with distinguished conductors like Masaaki Suzuki and John Butt. Allyn recently took the lead in George Parris’s new opera “When the Sky Cracks Open” at the Tête à Tête opera festival and assumed the bass soloist role in the AAMplify Telemann cantata project. Engaging in both solo and choral performances, Allyn contributes to various choirs across London, such as Genesis Sixteen and Oxford Bach Soloists. His upcoming performance includes the Academy’s inaugural Resounding Shore concert and Handel’s cantata Apollo e Dafne, along with Purcell’s Fairy Queen with HGO.