The Tailleferre Ensemble

Nicola Crowe - flute
Penelope Smith - oboe
Nicola Hands - oboe/cor anglais
Lana Bode - piano

Ethel Smyth Variations on Bonny Sweet Robin
Eldin Burton Flute Sonata
Rhian Samuel Little Duos
Errollyn Wallen Louis’ Loops
Ingrid Stölzel There Are Things to be Said
Madeleine Dring  Trio for flute, oboe and piano

The Tailleferre Ensemble is a chamber music collective dedicated to promoting women in music. They have a special interest in redressing the balance of works performed by male and female composers, and in shining a light on under-performed chamber music. A concert by the Tailleferre Ensemble will always promise variety, balance and something new.

The Tailleferre Ensemble is a UK-based chamber collective, founded in 2019 by Nicola Hands and Penelope Smith, whose aim is to promote women in music. The group is a chamber ensemble of flexible line-up and size, offering recitals of varied instrumentation and musical genre, including established, lesser-known and contemporary works. They have a special interest in redressing the balance of works performed by male and female composers, and in promoting new works.

The group perform regularly around the UK, and have recently played for the Nottingham Chamber Music Festival and at St. John's Smith Square. They have also played for Aylesbury Lunchtime Concerts, Music-at-Hill, Leatherhead Concert & Arts Society, at St. James Piccadilly, St. Martin’s Epsom, Chapel Royal Brighton and All Saints High Wycombe, and the group has also collaborated with Facade Ensemble and the South Florida Chamber Ensemble (SFCE) in London. In October 2019 they premiered work by Welsh composer Rhian Samuel, who has since dedicated new work to the ensemble.

In March 2020 they gave a special performance to mark International Women’s Day at Conway Hall, London, and in 2022 marked the day with a concert in Clerkenwell. They have plans to collaborate with Illuminate Women and SFCE in 2023, and their debut CD is set to be released later in 2022.

The Tailleferre Ensemble offers flexibility in programming and instrumentation, and their members are female musicians of very high calibre with impressive individual biographies. As a group, they have been praised for their fine performances and “extensive palette of timbres”.