The quartet - Please click here for audio files

(Info in German)

Two established duos from differing backgrounds have joined forces to create a unique combination of personalities and repertoires. The performers include the American singer Derek Lee Ragin, one of the outstanding voices of our time, who lent his voice to the award winning film 'Farinelli'; Maya Homburger, a Swiss baroque violinist who has established herself as a brilliant soloist and leader of major ensembles; the innovative British double bass virtuoso and composer Barry Guy, who is at the forefront of the contemporary jazz and classical scenes; and the Swiss-American Peter Croton, not only one of the leading lutenists of his generation and teacher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, but also a well-known and inventive lute song composer.

Their repertoire includes 17th century music by composers such as H.I.F. Biber and Girolamo Frescobaldi, as well as new music by Arvo Pärt, Barry Guy and Peter Croton. The quartet is involved not only with historical informed performance and contemporary music, but also performs music composed by Barry Guy based on fragments by Biber, and new settings by Peter Croton of texts by William Shakespeare and John Dowland for lute and voice. In February 2009 they gave the world premiere performance of Arvo Pärt’s new work “Sei gelobt du Baum”.

Press Review                                                                                 

“A top-class ensemble created great excitement on Friday evening. The concert promoters in Willisau organized an exclusive event: four famous musicians performed a world premiere of a new piece by eminent composer Arvo Pärt. The drawing power of these big names had it’s effect… every seat in the church was filled as the American countertenor Derek Lee Ragin opened the evening with an 8th century hymn… The four musicians created a multi-faceted program with early and modern music… Barry Guy’s “Hommage to Max Bill” was a highpoint of the concert. The audience was hypnotized as Barry Guy and Maya Homburger drummed steadfastly on the strings of their instruments. When Derek Lee Ragin stepped into the spotlight, a more conventional song form prevailed. In “Come heavy sleep” and “Can she excuse” by John Dowland, even the highest passages were filled with warmth and richness. Peter Croton’s lute... provided the framework that held the entire performance together. In the tranquil pieces with Derek Ragin, his lute playing provided the calm counterpole to Ragin’s impassioned vocals.                                                         

Willisau Bote, March 3rd 2009

The individual artists

Regarded as one of the foremost vocal artists of our day, Derek Lee Ragin has achieved special renown for his pioneering efforts in establishing countertenor singing as an art form in his native United States. The subtlety of style, purity of tone, and emotional impact of his singing have brought new dimensions of expression to the countertenor's art. The beauty of Ragin's voice came to the attention of a wider international audience when he was heard on the soundtrack to "Farinelli," the acclaimed Sony Pictures Classics feature film based on the life of the great 18th-century castrato. In great demand as a master of Baroque vocal style, he is also an inspired interpreter of contemporary music. His performances of such diverse repertoire are characterized by an unusual warmth and expressivity, and he has received unanimous accolades from critics and audiences throughout the world.

In recent seasons Mr. Ragin sang the 1739 (first performance) version of Handel's Israel in Egypt in Budapest, debuted Der Name der Roseby Munich composer Enjott Schneider (a composition for countertenor and organ written especially for him), and with the London-based group Florilegium, returned to the Budapest Early Music Festival and the Handel Festival in Halle, Germany. Mr. Ragin appeared in the Munich Opera's production of Rinaldo, and toured Austria and Germany with the Vienna Konzertverein. He sang Handel's Messiahin Cleveland with Apollo's Fire, collaborated with the Aulos Ensemble in a Christmas program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and appeared in San Francisco with the American Bach Soloists. He also returned to Australia for performances in Sydney and Melbourne with the Brandenburg Orchestra. Last season he sang Belize and several other roles in the world premiere of Peter Eötvös' Angels in America at the Châtelet in Paris, appears in the world premiere of Jonathan Dawe's Prometheus at the Guggenheim, and will tour throughout the US with the baroque ensemble Rebel.

Other highlights include the New York Philharmonic world premiere of Kancheli's "And Farewell Goes Out Sighing"; performances of Bach's St. John Passion with the London Philharmonic; Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice in Vienna and at the Rheingau Music Festival; and Kancheli's Diplipito with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra at the Lucerne Festival and again in Stuttgart when the work was recorded for ECM. He performed Handel's Alexander Balus in St. Paul, Minnesota; concerts with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra in Cologne and Munich; and Bach cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra in Milan and London which were recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Other engagements include performances of The Messiah with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Louisville Bach Society; and the role of Anfinomus in Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria with the Netherlands Opera in Sydney.

In the summer of 1998, Mr. Ragin sang in Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms at Tanglewood with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony. He has appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and at Salzburg, most recently in Gyorgi Ligeti's re-written opera Le Grand Macabre, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and directed by Peter Sellars. The production was also presented in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet. He appeared in recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; sang the role of Arsamenes in Handel's Xerxes at the Seattle Opera, and in a return engagement at the Metropolitan Opera, sang the role of Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Derek Lee Ragin was born in West Point, New York and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He first studied the piano, and went on to begin his formal vocal training at the Newark Boys Chorus School. He later attended the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, where he majored in piano and music education. With a swiftly moving career, he made a series of highly acclaimed debuts, notably at the Metropolitan Opera in Handel's Giulio Cesare ; in recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1991, and at the Salzburg Festival in Gluck's Orfeo with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra in 1990. He made his London recital debut at Wigmore Hall in 1984, and was immediately re-engaged for the following year.

Mr. Ragin's discography includes Italian lute songs with Peter Croton, Handel cantatas, and a disc of spirituals entitled Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit, all for Channel Classics. He recorded the role of Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice for Philips Classical, the title roles in Handel's Tamerlano and Teseo for Erato, and the role of Poro in the world premiere recording of Johan Adolf Hasse's Cleofide on the Capriccio label. With the Atlanta Symphony and Robert Shaw, Mr. Ragin performed and recorded Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and the world premiere of the composer's Missa Brevis. The recording subsequently won a 1995 Grammy Award, and his recording of Giulio Cesare with Concerto Koeln received a Gramophone Award in 1992.

Among Mr. Ragin's other awards are first place winner in the Purcell-Britten Prize for Concert Singers in England, and First Prize at the 35th International Music Competition in Munich. He also lent his voice to Farinelli, a film about the famed 18th century castrato which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film in 1995. The soundtrack won the Golden Record award the following year in Cannes.

Born and educated in Zurich, Switzerland, Maya Homburger moved to England in 1986 to join John Eliot Gardiner's English Baroque Soloists, Trevor Pinnock's The English Concert and other period instrument groups. Ever since meeting the composer and solo bassist Barry Guy – on the occasion of an extended concert tour with Christopher Hogwood's Academy of Ancient Music – she has devoted her time between managing his London Jazz Composers Orchestra, running their CD label MAYA Recordings and developing her own personal style on the baroque violin, specialising more and more in chamber music and solo performance.

She is leader of the groups The Chandos Baroque Players and Trio Virtuoso. In 1993 she recorded the twelve fantasies for solo violin by G.Ph.Telemann and in 1995 the six sonatas for violin and harpsichord by J.S. Bach together with Malcolm Proud. Having been invited to play Telemann for the Jazz Festival in Rive de Gier (France) she shared the concert with Barry Guy combining baroque and new compositions and improvisations. For this occasion they commissioned Buxton Orr and Giles Swayne to write pieces for baroque violin and double bass.

Other new works in her repertoire include Barry Guy's compositions Celebration for solo violin, Ceremony for violin and tape and the duo Slow right arm by Roger Marsh for baroque violin and double bass. In 1996 Barry Guy and Maya Homburger moved to Ireland where they hope to contribute both to the early as well as the contemporary music scene.

Since then, they have continued to give concerts in many major Jazz, New Music and Baroque Music Festivals all over Europe. In 1999 Maya Homburger organised her own music Series in Dublin called "Now and Then". In 2000 she was one of the leaders and soloists for J.E. Gardiner's Bach pilgrimage which took her to many of the most beautiful cathedrals and churches all over Europe where she performed 52 of Bach's Cantatas.The German label ECM has recently released the first CD of the Duo Homburger/Guy called "Ceremony" with works by Barry Guy and H.I.F.Biber for baroque violin and double bass.

Her instrument is an Italian baroque violin, made by Antonio dalla Costa, Treviso in 1740 which is in its original baroque condition.

Barry Guy is an innovative double bass player and composer whose creative diversity in the fields of Jazz improvisation, solo recitals, chamber and orchestral performance is the outcome both of an unusually varied training and a zest for experimentation, underpinned by a dedication to the double bass and the ideal of musical communication.

Between the early Seventies and mid Nineties Barry Guy held principal bass position in various orchestras including The Orchestra of St.John’s Smith Square, City of London Sinfonia, Monteverdi Orchestra, The Academy of Ancient Music, Kent Opera and The London Classical Players. During these years he was also active in the European Improvised Scene.

He is founder and Artistic Director of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra for which he has written several extended works with recordings of the following: Ode (Incus 1972 and re-released on Intakt 1996), Stringer (FMP 1980), Polyhymnia on ZURICH CONCERTS (Intakt 1988), Harmos (Intakt 1989), Double Trouble (Intakt 1990), Theoria (Intakt 1992) with the Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer as soloist, Portraits (Intakt 1994) and Three Pieces for Orchestra (Intakt 1997).

His concert works have been widely performed and his skilful and inventive writing has resulted in an exceptional series of compositions: Flagwalk (1983), The Eye of Silence (1988), Look Up! (1990), After the Rain (1992), Bird Gong Game (1992), Fallingwater (1996), Redshift (1998), Remembered Earth (1999), Nasca Lines (2001), Inachis (2002), Folio (2002) and  Anaklasis (2003).

Look Up! was honoured with the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Chamber-Scale Composition 1991–1992. Guy's compositions usually reflect a personal liaison with musicians and ensembles he writes for. As such, the commissions arrive from chamber orchestras, chamber groups and soloists interested in contemporary musical performance with a special commitment to communicate with the audience. Guy's works therefore have a sense of freshness without recourse to ideological excesses or scores that baffle players to the extent that performing becomes a trial.

The scores however are virtuosic and often present innovative sonorities and extended instrumental techniques and as a performer himself he is ideally placed to assess these possibilities.

Barry Guy continues to give solo recitals throughout Europe as well as continuing associations with colleagues involved in improvised, baroque and contemporary music. His current regular ensembles are the Homburger/Guy duo, the Parker/Guy duo, piano trios with Marilyn Crispell and Paul Lytton, Jaques Demierre and Lucas Niggli and a recently formed trio with Agusti Fernandez and Ramon Lopez. He continues the longstanding trio with Evan Parker and Paul Lytton as well as projects with Mats Gustafsson.

The Barry Guy New Orchestra (BGNO), formed in 2000, features in festivals as a project ensemble, and Barry Guy as a director/composer is  often invited to work with large ensembles using his own extensive library of composed works or to give lectures and workshops on his various graphic scores.  BGNO’s first album Inscape-Tableaux was a recipient of the 2001 Choc de l’Année award in France.

Late 2005 sees him working with the ICI Munich orchestra and the Glasgow Improviser’s orchestra.

Peter Croton grew up in the USA and presently lives in Switzerland. He is an active performer in Europe and the USA as soloist and chamber musician, in styles ranging from Renaissance to folk music. His original music ranges from modern lute songs to songs in a folk/pop/jazz style. He teaches lute, guitar continuo & historical performance practice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and at the Conservatories of Music in Basel and Bern, Switzerland.

As a child of six he began performing as a folk guitarist and singer. Peter’s musical roots in folk and jazz music were supplemented by formal studies of lute and classical guitar with Dr. Loris Chobanian at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (USA), and with Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. His expressive guitar and lute playing, as well as his original compositions reflect these multifaceted influences. 

In 1984 he won first prize at the "Erwin Bodky" competition for Early Music in Boston, and has also won prizes at the international lute competition "Guitar '84" in Toronto and at the international competition "Concert Artists' Guild" in New York City. Since 1984 he has been involved in numerous CD, television and radio productions as soloist and chamber musician (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Virgin, Channel Classics, Guild, Musicaphon, Balance and Proprius). 

He has performed and recorded with Theresia Bothe (www.bothecrotonduo.com), Derek Lee Ragin, Susanne Rydén, René Jacobs, Andreas Scholl, Guillemette Laurens, and Nigel Rogers, among others. He has appeared at international festivals including: Rheingau Musik Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Festspiele Europäische Wochen Passau, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Staufener Musikwoche, Innsbrucker Festwochen der alten Musik, Niedersächsische Musiktage, Mosel Festwochen, Kultursommer Nordhessen, Les Arts Jaillissants – Savoie, Festival des Cordes Sensibles, Early Music Vancouver and Early Music Guild Seattle.

In 2001 six of his compositions were published by the German Lute Society, and his tutor "Figured Bass on the Classical Guitar" was published in 2005 by Amadeus. He has also performed and recorded new works written for the lute by Loris Chobanian and Gwyneth Walker. His newest CD "Bach on the Italian Lute" has recently been released by Guild and four of his settings of texts by William Shakespeare have just been published by Tree Edition.