Bellatrix
Bellatrix Recorder Quartet is currently undergoing a change of pace and face, with original members Alana Blackburn, Laura Bell and Alicia Crossley being joined by a number of guest artists in 2008. Each member of the quartet draws from her professional experience with other ensembles such as Salut! Baroque, The Sydney Consort, The Bell Shakespeare Company and Pastance as well as lessons and master classes both individually and as an ensemble from renowned international teachers and performers. Bellatrix performs repertoire from many genres including traditional renaissance and baroque pieces right through to jazz and contemporary compositions. They are also strong advocates of Contemporary Australian music, and have numerous projects with Sydney composers, currently underway.
Over the years, Bellatrix has appreciated a heavy concert schedule with performances at prominent music clubs such as Mosman Music Club, Lane Cove Music Club, McArthur Music Club and Robertson Music Club. They have toured to Canberra as special guests for a performance of J.S Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Wayfarers Australia and the Variables directed by Judith Clingan AM., and have toured to Queensland to perform in concerts and present in schools, sponsored by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Yamaha Music Australia.
In 2006, the ensemble won the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Wal Hardwick Memorial Award for the Promotion of Excellence in Chamber Music and were finalists in the Musica Viva Award for Chamber Music in the McDonalds Performing Arts Challenge.
Bellatrix is particularly passionate about promoting the recorder in the school environment and has organised performance demonstrations for various primary and high schools throughout QLD, ACT and NSW including Cranbrook School, St Catherine’s School, Ferncourt Primary School, MLC Burwood, St Andrew’s Cathedral School, Macquarie College, Avondale Primary School, Yeo Park Infants School and St Peters Lutheran College. These performances are designed to to educate students about the recorder family, its history and its musical diversity as a solo and ensemble instrument both in school and professional settings. This year Bellatrix also presented at the Orff Schulwerk teacher’s conference held in Sydney.
Bellatrix would like to thank Yamaha Music Australia for their continued support.
If you would like to contact Bellatrix for a concert, school performance demonstration or function please contact them on bellatrixmail@hotmail.com or email Laura: laura@laurabell.org
Photography: Gerrit Fokkema