Barocco napoletano

Lore Binon played the violin from the early age of five. A laureate of several competitions, she obtained a master’s degree from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where she studied with Yuzuku Horigome. Whilst studying the violin, she discovered a new passion for singing and began vocal training with Beatrijs Devos at the same institution. She later studied at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona, with Margarida de Natividade and in 2011 she received a master’s degree from the Conservatory of Amsterdam where she studied at the class of Valérie Guillorit. She currently receives coaching from Margreet Honig.

With her versatile and sensitive musicality, Lore is a sought-after soloist. She has maintained regular collaborations with ensembles such as Ictus Ensemble, Oxalys, Flemish Radio Choir, the Brussels Philharmonic, Spectra Ensemble, Freiburger Barockorchester, Flemish Radio Choir and Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, performing in works such as Haydn’s Die sieben letzte Worten unseres Erlösers, Bach’s Magnificat, Dixit Dominus by Handel, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and Brahms’s Ein Deutches Requiem. She has collaborated with conductors such as René Jacobs, Hervé Niquet and Jos van Veldhoven and performed in venues such as Bozar in Brussels, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Opéra de Lyon, De doelen centre in Rotterdam and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.

In the current season Lore Binon sings the role of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart at the Flemish Opera. She is artist in residence at the Festival of Flanders in Mechelen and will sing the solo soprano part in Mahler’s Fourth Symfony with the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse under the baton of Loethar Koenigs. In November 2017, a CD with melodies by Debussy, Hahn and others was released by Outhere Music.

Sarah Louise Ridy gained her bachelor degree in modern harp at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, before going on to obtain both bachelor and master degrees in baroque harp performance. She was the first student to be awarded a master’s degree in baroque harp at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, the Netherlands.

As her primary instrument she plays on the “Cellini” model of an Italian triple harp by harp maker Rainer Thurau from Wiesbaden in Germany, an instrument that she fell in love with during the World Harp Congress in Geneva. However, she has recently added to her little harp family a beautiful wire-strung Gaelic harp by Violaine Alfaric and hopes to be able to offer this little gem in performances in the not too distant future along with her new gothic 25-string instrument, made by Franz Reschenhofer.

Sarah performs solo recitals and collaborates with numerous ensembles throughout the world. She plays in a variety of styles, many of which are rooted in ancient music, and is always excited by the prospect of exploring new repertoire and the opportunity of increasing the awareness of the baroque harp. Sarah enjoys travelling widely as part of her career, and has performed as far afield as Israel, Greece, Colombia, Croatia and the USA. She is currently the principal tutor of baroque harp at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague.