‘Enlightened France’ – Annien Shaw (baroque violin), Sarah Cunningham (viola da gamba), and Leon Schelhase (harpsichord)

Enlightened France highlights the grace and brilliance of 18^th-century French chamber music. The Enlightenment era birthed some of the most expressive and innovative compositions for the harpsichord, violin, and viola da gamba. Join us for an evening of exquisite performances featuring works by Rameau, Couperin, Marais, and Forqueray. Click here to see the full programme.

With: Annien Shaw (baroque violin), Sarah Cunningham (viola da gamba), and Leon Schelhase (harpsichord).

Please join us for a complimentary glass of wine after the concert.

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About the players:

Leon Schelhase

A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Leon Schelhase, found himself resonating with Baroque music from an early age. He moved to the United States in 2006 to undertake advanced musical studies and since graduating from Boston University with a Master in Music, he has been sought after as soloist and chamber musician.

Early Music America Magazine has praised Leon’s solo performances as “exquisite… and filled with virtuosity,” and as well as being a recipient of the American Bach Soloists’ prestigious Goldberg Prize he was a finalist in the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition. He has played in countries across the globe including Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia. With a repertoire spanning the gamut from the sixteenth-century virginalists to contemporary harpsichord music, he has been a featured artist on the international harpsichord-focused series, Clavecin en Concert in Montreal, Harpsichord Heaven at the Flint collection in Delaware, Emmanuel Music in Boston, and touring concerts with New York State Baroque. His first solo album, Phantasticus, represents his versatility in a program of music in the stylus fantasticus by diverse composers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Mr Schelhase has established a distinctive reputation for his compelling interpretations of Bach’s keyboard music.

Highly in demand as collaborative musician, Leon has performed and recorded with notable leaders in the Early Music field. He can be heard on the Nimbus label with violinist Libby Walfisch, a collaboration that resulted in an invitation to perform at King’s Place in London (UK). In 2009, Mr Schelhase toured Japan with famed conductor Joshua Rifkin in performances of Bach’s St Matthew Passion that were described as “epoch-making” in the Japanese press. He has also recorded on the Centaur label with Julianne Baird, and his most recent release on Acis Records is with the virtuoso wind ensemble Kleine Kammermusik, of which he is a founding member. As freelance continuo artist, he has played with both major orchestras and opera companies including the Phoenix Symphony, Chicago Opera Theatre, American Bach Soloists, and Tempesta di Mare, and with chamber ensembles House of Time (New York), Pegasus Early Music (Rochester, NY), Chatham Baroque (Pittsburgh), the Boston-based conductorless string orchestra A Far Cry, and The Philadelphia Bach Festival Orchestra. He has taught masterclasses at George Mason University (VA) and for Aberfoyle Baroque (DC), and has served as faculty at the Amherst Early Music Festival and accompaniment fellow at the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin College.

Leon holds a BMus (Hons) from the University of Cape Town, and a Master’s Degree in Historical Performance from Boston University where he studied with Peter Sykes. In 2012, Leon joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music as harpsichord instructor.

Sarah Cunningham

Sarah Cunningham began her viola da gamba studies in Boston, where viol player Gian Lyman Silbiger, as well as legendary teacher and director Marleen Montgomery, were formative influences, as were further studies with Wieland Kuijken in the Netherlands. After her move to London in 1981, she co-founded the ensemble Sonnerie with Monica Huggett and recorded and toured around the world with ensembles including Fretwork, Phantasm, Sequentia, Les Arts Florissant, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She has performed as a soloist under Simon Rattle, John Elliott Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock, and Gustav Leonhart, and has recorded on ASV, Virgin/EMI, Harmonia Mundi, Erato, and Decca. A former faculty member at Hochschule fuer Kuenst in Germany, the Guildhall School in London, and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Cunningham has presented workshops and master classes throughout the world. She was founder and first artistic director of the East Cork Early Music in Ireland and is a founding member of Les Filles de Sainte Colombe. Cunningham has been on the faculty at Juilliard since 2011.

Annien Shaw

Dr. Annien Shaw is a soloist, chamber musician, baroque violinist and teacher based in Cape Town. She holds a PhD in Performance Practice from the University of Cape Town, a PGDip and FRSM in solo performance from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester UK, a Masters in Chamber Music from the University of Stellenbosch, and an Honours degree in Psychology from the University of South Africa.

Annien is a founding member of the Juliet String Quartet. This quartet actively promotes new South African compositions. In 2023 the Juliet String Quartet released their debut album, Maike, consisting of South African compositions, which was nominated for a SAMA award. Annien is also the founding member of The Flat Mountain Project and as a student of performance practice, she has a keen interest in artistic research. In 2012 she was awarded a FRSM Diploma from the ABRSM for demonstrating the different uses of neo-classicism in the compositions of Stravinsky and Prokovief. Her PhD research into the fingerings principles of Louis Spohr is intended as a guideline for performance practice.

She has been actively involved in the developing Baroque scene in Cape Town as a member of the Cape Consort and a Guest Concert Master and soloist of Cape Town Baroque (CTB). Her interest in baroque violin was sparked by Darragh Morgan and his involvement with the Baroque 2000 group based in KwaZulu Natal in Durban of which she was a member from 2004 to 2009. During her studies at RNCM, she took baroque violin lessons with Pauline Nobes and upon her return to Cape Town has had many masterclasses with Antoinette Lohmann. Annien is a regular attendant of the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute where she receives classes from Julia Wedman.