Hyperion Records

Resident Chamber Ensemble at London’s Wigmore Hall and acclaimed by The Independent as a ‘chamber music group beyond compare’, The Nash Ensemble has built up a remarkable reputation as one of Britain’s finest ensembles, and through the dedication of its founder and artistic director Amelia Freedman and the calibre of its players, has gained a similar reputation all over the world. The repertoire is vast and the imaginative, innovative and unusual programmes are as finely architectured as the beautiful Nash terraces in London from which the group takes its name. Not that The Nash Ensemble is classically restricted; it performs with equal sensitivity and musicality works from Mozart to the avant-garde. Indeed, it is one of the major contributors towards the recognition and promotion of many leading composers through first performances to date of over 275 new works, including 175 commissions of pieces especially written for the ensemble, providing a legacy for generations to come.

An impressive collection of recordings illustrates the same varied and colourful combination of classical masterpieces, little-known neglected gems and important contemporary works. Recordings for Hyperion include Walton’s Façade with Eleanor Bron and Richard Stilgoe, and a Vaughan Williams vocal disc with John Mark Ainsley and a Bax chamber music disc, both nominated for Gramophone Awards.

The Nash makes many foreign tours; concerts have been given throughout Europe, the USA and Canada. The group is a regular visitor to many European and British music festivals and can be heard on radio, television, at the Southbank Centre and the BBC Proms, and at music clubs throughout the country. It presents a celebrated series every season at Wigmore Hall exploring the many facets of the chamber music repertoire.

The ensemble has won The Edinburgh Festival Critics’ music award ‘for general artistic excellence’, and in 1989 and 2002 The Royal Philharmonic Society’s small ensemble award ‘for the breadth of its taste and its immaculate performance of a wide range of music’.