La Rosa dei Venti
'Compass of the winds'
Italian music for recorder, organ & harpsichord
Music by Castello, Uccellini, Mancini, Corelli and others
Naomi Okuda studied modern flute at the Osaka College of Music in Japan. After graduation she became interested in early music and studied recorder under Pamela Thorby at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (the postgraduate early music course) in London. She also studied recorder with Piers Adams, and baroque flute and baroque studies with Stephen Preston. After graduation from the GSMD, she returned to Japan and has performed widely as a baroque music specialist ever since; giving recitals, playing with orchestras such as Bach Collegium Japan, and recording for NHK. She was one of the recommendation artist of Osaka City in 2003.
In 2010, Naomi moved permanently to the UK where she continues to develop her performing career and teaches recorder at the Wellington College and privately. She has taught the Advanced Baroque Recorder Course at Benslow Music Trust, Morley College and Blackheath Conservatoire. Naomi has given solo recitals, recordings and teaches actively in both UK and Japan. She has made a number of recordings and her solo CD ‘Airs Anglois’ was released to considerable critical acclaim in the Japanese and English musical press. And also a CD ‘Shakespeare’s Music’ from the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments (Japan), on which Naomi is one of the principal players has received the highest critical acclaim in 'The Record Geijutsu', the principal Japanese music journal.
Steven Devine enjoys a busy career as a music director and keyboard player working with some of the finest musicians.
Since 2007 Steven has been the harpsichordist with London Baroque in addition to his position as Co-Principal keyboard player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He is also the principal keyboard player for The Gonzaga Band, Apollo and Pan, The Classical Opera Company and performs regularly with many other groups around Europe. He has recorded over thirty discs with other artists and ensembles and made six solo recordings. His recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations (Chandos Records) has been received critical acclaim - including Gramophone magazine describing it as "among the best". Volumes 1 and 2 of the complete harpsichord works of Rameau (Resonus) have both received five-star reviews from BBC Music Magazine and Steven's new recording of Bach's Italian Concerto has been voted Classic FM's Connoisseur's choice.
He made his London conducting debut in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall and is now a regular performer there – including making his Proms directing debut in August 2007 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He has conducted the Mozart Festival Orchestra in every major concert hall in the UK and also across Switzerland. Steven is Music Director for New Chamber Opera in Oxford and with them has performed repertoire from Cavalli to Rossini. For the Dartington Festival Opera he has conducted Handel’s Orlando and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. He is currently conductor and Artistic Advisor for the English Haydn Festival in Bridgnorth.