Ashley Solomon
As Director of Florilegium much of Ashley’s time is spent working and performing with Florilegium, the ensemble he co-founded in 1991. They have a busy touring schedule and each year perform at major international festivals and concert series throughout Europe as well as the Americas. Florilegium have been recording with Channel Classics since 1993 and have to date made 30 recordings, many of which have garnered international awards. They have given over 1000 performances over the years, 70 of these have been at London’s Wigmore Hall.

As a soloist, he has performed worldwide, including concertos in the Sydney Opera House, Esplanade (Singapore), Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Konzerthaus (Vienna), Beethoven-Haus (Bonn), Handel-Haus (Halle) and Frick Collection (New York). He also records as a solo artist with Channel Classics and his recording of the complete Bach’s Flute Sonatas was recently voted the best overall version of these works on either modern or period flute by Gramophone Magazine (February 2017):

Solomon’s luminous tone and unfussy command of the complicated melodies conflate into something utterly beautiful. Slow movements are soulful in their infinite variety, fast ones are clever and with a wealth of invention behind them.

Combining a successful career across both theory and practice, Ashley is Chair and Head of Historical Performance at London’s Royal College of Music, having been appointed a professor there in 1994. In 2000 he was awarded an Honorary Membership of the Royal College of Music (HonRCM) and in July 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM), for outstanding services to music which was conferred on him by HRH Duchess of Gloucester.

He has given masterclasses and lectures worldwide, including The Juilliard School, Yale University, Case Western Reserve University, Sydney Conservatorium, Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Oslo and Bergen Conservatories, Frankfurt Hochschule and Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 2002 Florilegium became involved with Bolivian Baroque and since 2003 Ashley has been training vocalists and instrumentalists there. Initially solo singers, he formed Arakaendar Bolivia Choir in 2005. He has directed them in concerts in Bolivia, North America and Europe, including two major tours of UK and their three cds. In 2008 Ashley was the first European to receive the prestigious Bolivian Hans Roth Prize, given to him in recognition of the enormous assistance he has given to the Bolivian native Indians, their presence on the international stage and the promotion and preservation of this music.

Florilegium
Outstanding period instrument ensemble Florilegium celebrates its 25th anniversary and eight years as Ensemble in Association at the Royal College of Music.

Head of Historical Performance at the RCM, Professor Ashley Solomon, co-founded Florilegium in 1991 and now directs the ensemble. Together they have made 27 recordings for the Dutch Channel Classics Label and given more than 1,000 concerts. To celebrate the group’s landmark anniversary they return to the Wigmore Hall with a performance of Bach’s complete Brandenburg concertos on 3 June.

Six regular players in Florilegium are professors within the RCM’s Historical Performance Faculty. The ensemble also gives five classes each term on baroque chamber music for modern and period instrument specialists, covering repertoire from Monteverdi to Beethoven. In addition three major projects take place each year, which represent significant collaborative opportunities for historical performance students. Previous projects have included a semi-staged version of Purcell’s Dioclesian with baroque dancers and the same composer’s seminal Dido and Aeneas at the Bath International Festival in 2013.

Florilegium’s most recent CD of the Brandenburg concertos (one of Gramophone magazine’s favourite recordings of 2015) features three RCM alumni: violinist Colin Scobie, recorder player Elspeth Robertson and double bassist Carina Cosgrave. The Wigmore Hall celebration in June features current Junior Fellow Magda Loth Hill – recent recipient of a Mills Williams Medal. On 20 March, 16 alumni joined Florilegium's expanded ranks to form a 55-strong orchestra for the annual performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall.

Professor Ashley Solomon says ‘our mission has always been to work with period players but also to engage and inspire modern instrumentalists who show a curiosity for this period of music. I am delighted that each year more than 100 students on all instruments engage with the RCM’s Historical Performance Faculty. Long may the relationship flourish.’