About Polyphonica

Grace Barton graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire in 1998 with a First Class BMus Hons degree and went on to gain a Diploma in Professional Studies in recorder performance. In 2004 she graduated from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where she had studied recorder performance with Reine Marie Verhagen and Historical Performance Practice with Peter van Heyghen. Grace has performed as a soloist on various occasions in the UK performing concertos and other solo repertoire. Between 2004 and 2010, Grace taught recorder and gave performance practice workshops at the Birmingham Conservatoire. She has tutored at the Northern Recorder Course, Cheltenham Recorder Festival and North West Early Music Forum Summer School and gives Advanced Recorder Workshops and private music tuition in Birkenhead. Grace was director of the Heart of England Recorder Orchestra and currently directs the Wirral Recorder Orchestra. She is guest conductor at branches of the Society of Recorder Players. Grace teaches recorder to individuals on the Wirral. She also gives workshops to players of all levels, including her popular Advanced and Intermediate Recorder Workshop. Contact Grace for further information and costs.

Simone is a highly respected recorder player in demand as both a performer and teacher.

Simone studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire, Franz Liszt Hochshule in Weimar and the Guildhall School of music and Drama. She has taken lessons with such prestigious musicians as Ross Winters, Pamela Thorby, Annabel Knight, Myriam Eichberger and Anneke Boeke.

Simone has performed throughout the UK and in Europe. She has performed many times in Poland where she has performed concertos and given lectures alongside Dr. Anna Kucharska.

Simone has performed with Aurelia specialising in Baroque trio sonatas, Speranza on Baroque vocal repertoire and now most often with the Polyphonica Recorder Trio.

Simone teaches for the Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust where she was responsible for planning and delivering the initial first access recorder project. She also led a session at their annual conference about teaching the recorder in the primary school.

Simone teaches the recorder to all levels from beginner to diploma. She regularly conducts the Northampton Recorder group and tutors workshops with Polyphonica. Simone has tutored on the Knuston Hall recorder courses for the past 25 years.

Michael has a Diploma of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and a Master of Arts in Music from the University of Birmingham. He moved to London in 1991 where he studied recorder with Anneke Boeke at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as privately in Amsterdam.

From 1998-2001 Michael held the position of recorder teacher at Newcastle Conservatorium of Music in Australia. He has performed in the UK with Birmingham Baroque, and with various ensembles in the USA and Australia, and has recorded and broadcast with various radio programmes in Australia and the United States.

With Polyphonica, Michael has performed in the UK. the Netherlands, Germany and France, and he has performed independently as a soloist in the UK. France and Australia.

Michael teaches privately at his home in Wales and is a regular coach of small and large ensembles and he is one of the recorder tutors for the annual Higham Hall Renaissance Music course.