MATTHEW FARRELL
Matthew graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in July 2020, where he studied the Viola da Gamba and Double Bass under Lucy Robinson (Viol) and David Stark (Double Bass). Matthew was awarded the Simon Clarkson Memorial Award, which is awarded for general musicianship to the best all-round musician in the College. During his time at RWCMD, Matthew’s love of early music has flourished, with performances of the Monteverdi Vespers, Bach Passions and other oratorios in various roles. In January 2020, Matthew successfully auditioned to be a member of Rosafresca, a Bristol-based ensemble that specialises in performing early music from the English and Spanish Courts.
Matthew is also a professional singer, currently singing as a Layclerk at Westminster Cathedral, and the choirs of Southwell Minster, Hereford Cathedral, Llandaff Cathedral and Leicester Cathedral in the past. During his five-year relationship with the Hereford Cathedral Choir (2015-16, 2017-18 and 2020-21), Matthew took part in the Three Choirs Festival, both in 2016, and 2018, which included notable highlights such as singing the Monteverdi Vespers with Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque. In June 2018, Matthew went to Rome with the Hereford Cathedral choir to take part in a week of singing in the Vatican, including a concert in the Sistine Chapel with the Choir of the Sistine Chapel.
In London, Matthew is aiming to keep up both his singing and playing to a high standard. He sings with groups all over the UK, both as a choir member and soloist. As a viol player, Matthew plays with Arculo, as well as other groups such as Bristol-based Rosafresca. Matthew’s viol playing has also led him to play continuo for Ensemble Pro Victoria, and involve the rest of the consort in their ‘Elizabethan Emblems’ programme.
As a member of Arculo, Matthew plays his own David Rubio 6 string consort bass after Chris Meares (1975), and his treble by Timothy Soar, after John Rose (2020). In Rosafresca, he plays a renaissance viol by Richard Jones, generously loaned to him by the group.
ROWAN BIDMEAD
Rowan has been playing the viol from the age of seven, regularly attending the bi-annual International Viola da Gamba Festival in Asfeld, France. Her love of Early Music continued throughout her course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she studied under Dr Lucy Robinson (viol) and Anna Menzies (‘cello). She graduated in 2019, gaining a BMus (Hons) degree in both instruments.
For six years, an important highlight for Rowan was playing at the Brecon Baroque Festival led by world renowned Baroque violinist Rachel Podger, both in the gathered orchestra and as viol player for the Tea Dance Ensemble. Alongside performing, she was employed as a Festival Assistant, where she discovered her love for arts management. Since graduating, Rowan has worked for a leading artist management agency, Askonas Holt, where she manages singers. Alongside this, she works as Ensemble Coordinator for Fretwork.
During her time at conservatoire, Rowan’s solo masterclasses included Hille Perl, Reiko Ichise, Richard Boothby and Sam Stadlen. She also performed each year at the Royal College of Music’s International Viol Festival, both as a soloist and in consort for Vittorio Ghielmi and Sarah Cunningham. Dartington International Festival became a highlight of her summer holidays, being tutored by lots of professional early musicians.
In Arculo, Rowan plays her own 7-string bass viol by Merion Attwood and tenor viol by Michael Heale, and is generously supported by the Denne Gilkes Memorial Fund.
CAI WAVERLEY-HUDSON
British Cellist and Gamba player Cai Waverley-Hudson is equally at home playing music from the Renaissance to the 21st century. During his time at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama he has had the opportunity to study baroque cello with Claudine Cassidy. Additional tuition in the early music field has come from the likes of Rachel Podger, Bojan Čičić, Jane Rodgers, Jeremy West, Simon Jones, Lucy Robinson and Andrew Wilson-Dickson. Cai has appeared with the Brecon Baroque Festival Orchestra, RWCMD Badinerie, Manaves Summer Baroque Orchestra alongside Maggie Faultless and has been a member of Arculo Consort of Viols since its inception in 2018. His passion for the Viola da Gamba has resulted in masterclasses with Richard Boothby and Sam Stadlen.
Cai studied modern cello with Nikki Thomas and has appeared numerous times with the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra at St John’s Smith Square providing him with a wealth of experience in symphonic repertoire. Other ensembles he has played with include the Studio Orchestra and the Royal Welsh college of Music and Drama Symphony Orchestra, with which he sat principal.
As a Music Educator Cai has enjoyed working at Wells Cathedral School as a Graduate Assistant and on the pastoral team for the National Youth String Orchestra. Outreach work has seen him take classical music into schools and nurseries to connect young people with live music making. Currently, Cai teaches for the Bucks Music Trust and the Chiltern Music Academy.
TIM EDWARDS
Tim Edwards is a graduate from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. His main study was on double bass under the tutelage of Mary Condliffe, and has enjoyed playing orchestral music with a range of orchestras from British Sinfonietta to the Strand Chamber Orchestra. He also plays a variety of other genres of music, most notably with the Welsh Musical Theatre Orchestra, which he has toured to Malta with, and Fred’s Folks, a long standing ceilidh band of which he is a current member. Tim has also performed alongside Rachel Podger at Brecon Baroque Festival in the gathered orchestra in 2018.
Tim’s second study instrument is the viola da gamba and is taught by Dr Lucy Robinson. He enjoys playing a range of early and contemporary music with Arculo, of which he had been playing with since they formed, and has also played with the Welsh Camerata. Tim is also a competent bass guitarist and has broadened his experience of more modern music with a number of concerts including SHOUT! the musical, and ABBA. He works regularly with the organisation Music for Everyone who provide ensembles and short music courses for both adult and younger amateurs in and around the East Midlands, where he also teaches music to children in primary schools through the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Multi Academy Trust.
