Album Notes

Lisa Nelsen was born and raised on a pig farm in Western Canada
and enjoys an international career as a flute soloist, chamber musician
and educator.

A past member of the Britten Pears Orchestra and
the National Youth orchestras of Holland and Canada, she began
her professional career playing in the flute sections of the Rotterdam
Philharmonic and the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra.
Her recitals with piano have taken her to concert halls in Norway,
Finland, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Holland, Ireland, Kuwait and the
United Arab Emirates, as well as throughout Canada and the
United States. She frequently appears at festivals and concert series
in Britain, and gave her London début recital at the South Bank.

She is solo flute of the contemporary music group Continuum
Ensemble in London, England, performs with harpist Eleanor Turner in their
Aquilae Duo (www.eleanorturner.com) and is a founding member of the
New London Chamber Ensemble (www.newlondonchamberensemble.co.uk).
She has given a one-woman
recital at the Swaledale Festival, North Yorkshire and was also a
special guest artist at the first International Flute Festival in Örebro,
Sweden. She has had several pieces written for her by composers
such as Kenneth Hesketh, Roderick Watkins and Paul Max Edlin,
recording them for BBC Radio. In February 2006 Lisa toured
across the Canadian Prairies as a Powell/Sonare Flutes’ Artist.
Lisa was appointed specialist flute teacher for Wells Cathedral
School in 2001 and is a visiting instructor at several colleges in
Britain. She coaches the wind players at the National Youth Chamber
Orchestra and the main orchestra of the National Children’s Orchestra.

From the summer of 2002 until 2007, Lisa was an Artistic Director
of the Harrogate International Flute Summer School. From
1997-2001 Lisa was a member of theBritish Flute Society council.
She worked with Liz Goodwin on the highly successful
“Flutewise-LIVE” bringing a variety of flute workshops to young and
old at the Barbican in London in May 2009.

While working as a consultant for Boosey
and Hawkes for 3 years Lisa gave masterclasses all over Europe,
including the Norwegian State Conservatoire in Oslo, the Bruckner
Academy in Linz, Austria, and the Dublin Conservatoire.
She has given a recital andmasterclass at the Royal Northern
College of Music in Manchester, England, and classes at the Boston
Conservatory and Boston University in the United States.Several of
her upcoming appearances are made possible with the support of
Verne Q Powell and Sonare Flutes.

One of the highlights of 2005 was playing solo at a private event
at the Canadian High Commission in London in the presence of
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. The biggest
highlight of 2006 was giving birth to her daughter, Mathilda.

Lisa is performing on an Aurumite Powell Flute.



John Alley is the principal keyboard of the London Symphony
orchestra. Born in London, he began his musical training as a
chorister of Westminster Abbey, thereafter studying piano at the
Guildhall School of Music with James Gibb.

Starting out as an accompanist and chamber musician, it wasn’t
until some time passed that he found himself working as an
orchestral pianist. In this role he has played with most of the British
orchestras along with many of the top chamber ensembles, notably
the London Sinfonietta and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
He has played in over 100 BBC Proms over the last quarter century
and has been privileged to work with many of the twentieth century’s
major composer/conductors including Boulez, Berio, Benjamin,
Henze, Lutoswaski and Oliver Knussen. He has played Stravinsky’s
Petroushka 4 times, Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta 3
times, Les Noces on the night of the Royal Wedding in 1981 and just
about every other piece with an orchestral piano part, at least ONCE!
A minor sensation occurred in the performance of ‘Suite for the
HypotheticallyMurdered’ in 1992 when he drank a pint of beer in the
middle of a cadenza!

John Alley has recorded extensively for television, radio and disc.





This CD is the result of a happy collaboration between Lisa, John and
Nigel. After spending what seemed AGES looking for mutually agreed
times to get together, they finally found a few days in late autumn
2007 to record in Nigel’s studio. The programme was chosen from a
few recitals that John and Lisa gave together since 2004, keeping the
format of a recital for the listeners’ enjoyment. They decided to keep it
as “live” as a recording in a studio could be. Edits have been minimal
because the artists wanted to “perform” rather than “perfect”.

Lisa would like to thank John and Nigel for their artistry, patience
and unending humour; Alex for his love and support as always;
Granny Gibson for her financial support for the project; her family
for their constant reminder to be fearless; to her friends for their
excitement about the project; and Laura Gibson for the wonderful
artwork on the cover.

This CD is dedicated to my daughter, Mathilda.