"known as much for vigour and risk-taking as for historical authenticity and intelligent programming"
The Financial Times
"a serious kick up the baroque backside"
365 Bristol
The Financial Times
"a serious kick up the baroque backside"
365 Bristol
The collective Solomon’s Knot was founded in London in 2008 and is led by joint artistic directors James Halliday and Jonathan Sells.
Our aim is to communicate the full power of music, especially that written before 1800, as directly as possible – we perform without conductor, and often from memory, creating what the Observer called “organic music-making at its most sophisticated”. To explore new possibilities, we also collaborate with directors, composers, choreographers, sound and lighting designers, visual artists, and other ensembles. These have included Spira mirabilis, Sven Werner, James Hurley, Tim Carroll, Federay Holmes, Mira Calix, and Les Passions de l’Ame.
Our flexible approach enables us to explore a wide range of repertoire, from the madrigals of Gesualdo set within a freshly-composed ‘sound sculpture garden’, to J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor with 10 singers and 20 players. We are fascinated by the relationship of this ‘ancient’ music to our ‘modern’ eyes, ears, and minds.
We are very grateful to Sir John Eliot Gardiner for his invitations both to the Bachfest Leipzig in 2016 (“the discovery of the festival” Leipziger Internet Zeitung) and his Barbican Bach Weekend in 2018 (“a dazzling performance” The Times *****). We, Solomon’s Knot, have also appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival (‘The Discovery of Bomarzo’), Händel-Festspiele Halle (Messiah), Newbury Spring Festival, Thüringer Bachwochen (Bach Johannes-Passion), Regensburger Tage Alter Musik (Linley Shakespeare Ode, Handel Messiah), Spitalfields Music Winter Festival (Bach Christmas Oratorio and Mass in B minor), London Handel Festival (Telemann Die Tageszeiten), and St John’s Smith Square Christmas Festival (Magnificats by Kuhnau and Bach, Bach Mass in B minor).
Our first opera, the anonymous 'l'Ospedale' (ca. 1650) at Wilton's Music Hall, London, was hailed as an "artistic triumph" (Classical Source) and will soon be released on DVD.
We perform regularly on BBC Radio 3’s “In Tune”, and our concerts have been broadcast by Deutschlandradio Kultur.
As inaugural members of Aldeburgh Music’s Open Space residency scheme 2013-2017, we had the chance develop our artistic vision and collaborations with great freedom. Future plans include the revival and live recording of our project ‘Christmas in Leipzig’ in Nottingham and London’s Milton Court in December 2018, our Wigmore Hall debut, and a return to the Bachfest Leipzig in 2019 with the 1725 version of J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion.
Our aim is to communicate the full power of music, especially that written before 1800, as directly as possible – we perform without conductor, and often from memory, creating what the Observer called “organic music-making at its most sophisticated”. To explore new possibilities, we also collaborate with directors, composers, choreographers, sound and lighting designers, visual artists, and other ensembles. These have included Spira mirabilis, Sven Werner, James Hurley, Tim Carroll, Federay Holmes, Mira Calix, and Les Passions de l’Ame.
Our flexible approach enables us to explore a wide range of repertoire, from the madrigals of Gesualdo set within a freshly-composed ‘sound sculpture garden’, to J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor with 10 singers and 20 players. We are fascinated by the relationship of this ‘ancient’ music to our ‘modern’ eyes, ears, and minds.
We are very grateful to Sir John Eliot Gardiner for his invitations both to the Bachfest Leipzig in 2016 (“the discovery of the festival” Leipziger Internet Zeitung) and his Barbican Bach Weekend in 2018 (“a dazzling performance” The Times *****). We, Solomon’s Knot, have also appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival (‘The Discovery of Bomarzo’), Händel-Festspiele Halle (Messiah), Newbury Spring Festival, Thüringer Bachwochen (Bach Johannes-Passion), Regensburger Tage Alter Musik (Linley Shakespeare Ode, Handel Messiah), Spitalfields Music Winter Festival (Bach Christmas Oratorio and Mass in B minor), London Handel Festival (Telemann Die Tageszeiten), and St John’s Smith Square Christmas Festival (Magnificats by Kuhnau and Bach, Bach Mass in B minor).
Our first opera, the anonymous 'l'Ospedale' (ca. 1650) at Wilton's Music Hall, London, was hailed as an "artistic triumph" (Classical Source) and will soon be released on DVD.
We perform regularly on BBC Radio 3’s “In Tune”, and our concerts have been broadcast by Deutschlandradio Kultur.
As inaugural members of Aldeburgh Music’s Open Space residency scheme 2013-2017, we had the chance develop our artistic vision and collaborations with great freedom. Future plans include the revival and live recording of our project ‘Christmas in Leipzig’ in Nottingham and London’s Milton Court in December 2018, our Wigmore Hall debut, and a return to the Bachfest Leipzig in 2019 with the 1725 version of J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion.
The Collective concept
Most musical groups operate a traditional top-down structure with a single artistic director determining programming and identity. Our collective works in the round. The inspiration for a project may come from any one of us, and artistic leadership in-concert isn't fixed either. Operationally, this helps us to overcome our widespread geographical base - from East London to Berne - and artistically it ensures that the group's definition emerges through collaboration and teamwork.
Why "Solomon's Knot"?
Solomon's Knot was initially the 'Solomon Choir and Orchestra', which took its name from Handel's eponymous oratorio. This had long been one of Jonny's favourite pieces and was the one he founded the group to perform (though we had to get into the swing of things with a Messiah or two first). Hunting for a logo, we discovered Solomon's famous knot, which we thought provided a neat representation of the bond between choir and orchestra. When we reformed ourselves as a collective, we realised that the knot - which is actually nothing of the kind but rather two interweaving loops - perfectly reflected our new structure, so we tied everything together and adopted it as our name.
Like the singers and the instrumentalists, the interweaving loops of Solomon's Knot are inextricably linked, just as our players work very hard on the 'text' of their individual lines, and the singers on communicating as if part of a string quartet. Together we work on a unity of articulation and expression, matching colour, and of course making the interdependence (bordering on telepathy!) work, without which performances such as the chamber Messiah simply would not be possible.
Like the singers and the instrumentalists, the interweaving loops of Solomon's Knot are inextricably linked, just as our players work very hard on the 'text' of their individual lines, and the singers on communicating as if part of a string quartet. Together we work on a unity of articulation and expression, matching colour, and of course making the interdependence (bordering on telepathy!) work, without which performances such as the chamber Messiah simply would not be possible.
Solomon's Knot's joint artistic directors
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JamesI devote much of my time to 17th- and 18th-century music, working as an assistant conductor or researcher for conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner, Emmanuelle Haïm and Christophe Rousset. I have conducted staged productions of operas by Rameau and Monteverdi, worked with baroque and Arabic traditional musicians in Syria, created musical editions for the Berlin Philharmonic and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, led education workshops on baroque music, and I retain a passion for contemporary music, having studied composition with Michael Finnissy and Robin Holloway. I have acted as musical director of the experimental opera company Erratica, preparing performances at The Print Room and Wilton’s Music Hall in London, and a musical installation piece for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I have also worked as a coach for the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House and in conjunction with the International Rameau Ensemble. My work with Solomon’s Knot reflects in particular my passion for French and Italian Baroque music.
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