CELIA IRELAND – RECORDERS

 

Celia graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2003 and is now well-respected as a performer and educator. As a member of the UK’s leading recorder ensemble, The Flautadors, she has performed at the Greenwich International Early Music Festival, Cork Early Music Festival, the Purcell Room and the Wigmore Hall, London. The Flautadors have released five albums, gaining a particular reputation for their research and programming of British music across the ages. Their recordings are frequently broadcast on radio and they have appeared as guest artists on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ and the Radio 2 ‘Breakfast Show’. The Flautadors have a passion for expanding the recorder’s repertoire. Bavardage (FHR, 2017) includes eight original compositions / arrangements and was described as ‘a recorder album in a class of its own, well thought-through and brilliantly played’ (WDR). In 2021, the Flautadors premiered Cheryl Frances Hoad’s Pieces of Light, composed in celebration of their 20th anniversary. Celia has also enjoyed other diverse collaborations including: performing as Brandenburg soloist with the Adderbury Ensemble, recording on The Awakening film score at Abbey Road Studios, playing alongside tabla and tanpura for the video premiere of Raga Pahadi by Jonathan Mayer (2021), and exploring and recording new repertoire for recorder and ukulele with Donald Bousted.

Celia is passionate about recorder education. In addition to private coaching and workshops, she holds teaching positions at Kingshott Preparatory School, Oundle School and the Peterborough Centre for Young Musicians. Celia has been a specialist recorder adjudicator for the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival in 2008, 2013 and 2017. She also regularly visits the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as an external recorder assessor. Celia’s ongoing commitment to learning saw her return to the GSMD herself, to study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Performance Teaching, graduating with a distinction in 2021