Join us for perhaps the most vibrant gig of the year at Halsway Manor. More pipes and gurdies than you can shake a stick at! Tutors of international reknown are coming to Halsway to lead the popular Pipes and Gurdies weekend. You can experience their magic at this concert performance.
Our International tutor team includes gurdy players Ariel Ninas, Clémence Oppin and Jon Loomes and pipers Isabelle Blô and David Falkner.
Ariel Ninas has been playing the hurdy-gurdy since 2001. In the last 20 years as part of different projects from the Oxford punk-rock-skiffle-acoustic band Inflatable Buddha to the free impro orchestra OMEGA (Galician Orchestra of Spontaneous Music); experimental electronic trio Ulobit (‘Vikingland 2016’, Audioatalia); or performing traditional repertoire in Tralo-Valo and Galician-Portuguese music with ‘Cantos de Cego de Galiza e Portugal’ (aCFolque, 2016) and ‘Do Natal aos Reis’ (aCFolque, 2019) and a solid solo career with different programs. His solo piece for contemporary dance work ’Habelas’ won a Injuve award for performing arts by the Spanish Culture Ministry.
In 2018 he wins a prize in the hurdy-gurdy international competition for bands “Maitrês Sonneurs” at Le Son Continu (La Châtre, France). In 2020, Music award ‘Cultura de Galicia’ with aCentral Folque by the most prestigious and official institution of the region. He teaches in Tordoia and Corunha and at the Conservatorio Superior de Galicia in Valga. He is the artistic director and producer of international festival Zona da Zanfona. Also hosts the online sessions ZdZ masterclasses.
Clémence Oppin began playing the hurdy-gurdy in 2001 and is passionate about traditional music from central France. She studied at the music conservatoire, where she experienced her first live performances. Clémence continued her training at La Sorbonne University—Paris IV to obtain a degree in music and musicology with a specialisation in ethnomusicology.
In 2013, she graduated as a music teacher. Since 2017, she has been teaching the hurdy-gurdy and in 2019 obtained her final State Diploma in Education. Specialised in music. Currently, she focuses her energy on three musical groups: Trad Libitum, Les archetieres and Duo Ligérien. A hurdy-gurdy teacher in schools and professional musician, she shares her passion for music as much with her students as with her audiences.
Jon Loomes is a singer and multi-instrumentalist with a passion for both English and European traditional music and song. Classically trained, he fell in love with folk music when he found out his local session had free beer for musicians. Known mainly as a guitarist, he’s been playing the hurdy gurdy since 1998, and played hundreds of shows alongside the late, great Philip G Martin, and learned hurdy gurdy on the job. A musical all rounder, Jon runs a specialist folk record label and studio, and a tiny workshop where he makes guitars, mandolins, and things of that nature. He leads a secret double life as a composer.
Isabelle Blô originally trained as a percussionist, and is a multi-instrumentalist, working with the French bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, diatonic accordion and chromatic accordion. Isabelle has led many music and dance masterclasses in France, Great Britain, Belgium and Switzerland. She has established a reputation as a great teacher all across Europe! More details about her workshops to follow.
https://isablocontact7.wixsite.com/isabelleblo
David Faulkner has been playing pipes for over 25 years with groups such as the Eel Grinders and Jon Swayne’s Zephyrus, and performs regularly as a duet with accordionist Steve Turner. He has toured in Europe, Canada and America and taught piping courses in the UK and abroad and has worked as a community musician for nearly 20 years.
