Bravade

Bravade is a brilliant and active recorder quartet specializing in Renaissance recorders. Bravade commenced its activity as a recorder quartet in 2004. Its musicians have studied old music at the Sibelius Academy and Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia in Finland, academies of music and conservatories in the Netherlands and Germany, and they have also participated in several masters’ courses. In February of 2009, Bravade went to the Netherlands to get new ideas for their repertoire. The quartet studied privately in the specialized and inspiring guidance of Han Tol a member of the world-renowned Flanders Recorder Quartet.

Bravade’s goal is to present its audience with a broad spectrum of recorder music. In fact, the dynamic programs of the quartet feature music from the Middle Ages to the present, with works by composers, such as, Orlande di Lassus, J. S. Bach, Henry Purcell, Lotta Wennäkoski and Henrik Marstrander. Collaboration with modern composers and other musicians also plays an important part in Bravade’s activities. Bravade has performed together with the sopranist Pasi Hyökki and alto Teppo Lampela, the cembalist Petteri Pitko and the French Horn Quartet “The Golden Horns”. Bravade is also actively involved in children’s culture, giving performances of the compelling “Absent-Minded Composer and Friends” in schools throughout Finland.

Bravade has given concerts in many parts of Finland, for example, they have performed at the Korsholm Music Festival, the Vantaa Baroque, the Vanhassa Vara Parempi (Old is intuitively better) Music Festival at Imatra, the Katedraali soi! (The Cathedral Resounds) concert series in Turku, as well as, numerous church concerts around Finland. In addition to its native country, Finland, Bravade has played in Norway in 2006 and 2008, where it performed on Norwegian Radio, NRK, and at the Holmbergdagene Festival in Bergen, to name a few. In the autumn of 2009, the quartet performed in the Netherlands at the Oude Muziek Utrecht Festival.

This year, 2010, Bravade has been very active. There have been performances at the Presidential Palace at the Millennium Technology Prize banquet, the annual Formaatti-Finlandia Awards, the BarokkiKuopio Festival, Klasari klubi, the Café Barock concert series, as well as, the a joint concert with The Golden Horns quartet in the G18 Hall, in Helsinki. The high points of Bravade’s autumn season are the concert at the Musashino Cultural Center in Tokyo, in September, and the up-coming concert at Tampere Hall, in December.

Bravade has also received support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation for its artistic activity in addition to work in children’s culture.