NOTTURNO is an ensemble that seeks to recapture and refresh the expressive intimacy and colourful exoticism of the salon concerts and soirées of 19th century Vienna, Paris and Berlin. Offering an ever-changing and shifting world of sonority and playful lyricism, NOTTURNO reaches out to our audience of like-minded friends with style and sophistication.
Melissa Farrow - Flute
Melissa has been Principal flute of The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra since 2003 and plays regularly both as Principal flute and as concerto soloist with many other leading Australian ensembles including Australian Haydn Ensemble, the Orchestra of the Antipodes, ARCO, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Latitude, Ironwood and NZ Barok.
In 2019, Melissa co-formed two chamber music groups exploring the rich repertoire of the nineteenth century: Notturno, an ensemble of viola, flute and guitar and the period wind ensemble, Notos Wind Quintet.
Melissa came to Sydney from New Zealand to study undergraduate flute and recorder at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Here she additionally took Baroque flute lessons with Howard Oberg and developed a huge interest in historical performance. She then completed postgraduate studies and Tweede Fase at the Conservatorium of Amsterdam in flute, recorder and traverso. Since returning to Australia she chose to focus her attention on the area she loves most, early music, and she enjoys playing historical flutes from early French model Baroque flutes through to mid-Nineteenth century instruments.
Melissa enjoys teaching recorder, Baroque and Classical flute, giving workshops on aspects of Baroque style and performance and is casual lecturer in Baroque flute at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Karina Schmitz - Viola
American violist, Karina Schmitz, recently settled in Sydney and is thrilled to find herself immersed in the rich and vibrant musical scene in Australia. She is principal violist with Pinchgut Opera/Orchestra of the Antipodes and with the Australian Haydn Ensemble, and has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, Van Diemen’s Band, Salut! Baroque, and Ensemble Galante. In the United States, Karina was principal violist of Handel & Haydn Society in Boston, principal violist of Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland, principal violist of the Carmel Bach Festival in California, and founding violinist/violist with New York based 17th century ensemble ACRONYM.
Karina holds viola performance degrees from New England Conservatory of Music (Boston) and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her early music studies began as an undergraduate at Oberlin Conservatory with Marilyn McDonald, David Breitman, and Miho Hashizume, and she continued her training in the Apollo’s Fire Apprentice Program. A dedicated practitioner of Historically Informed Performance Practice, Karina finds a way to geek out over the expressive possibilities in every period of music she plays, and she is exceedingly grateful for the opportunities in which HIPP has greatly influenced and shaped her career.
Simon Martyn-Ellis - Guitar
Simon Martyn-Ellis began playing the lute after finding the classical guitar repertoire too restrictive for ensemble performance: continuo collaborations remain a mainstay of his activities.
Simon returned to Australia in August 2019 after 17 years abroad, having lived and worked in first Germany for a decade, and then the United States. Intensely grateful for his experiences, he looks immensely forward to working with past, present and future colleagues from home and around the globe. You can hear him working within Pinchgut Opera, Latitude 37, the Australian Haydn Ensemble, Van Diemen’s Band, ARCO, Salut! Baroque, Ensemble Galante, the Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Notturno and Duo Corbetta, along with other small but special collaborations.
His particular interests are in vocal works, either in opera or intimate recitals, baroque and romantic guitar repertoire, and finding the groove in Early Music. But really, he just has a great time making music with people, exploring the diversity and richness of the sounds of plucked strings from the 16th to the 19th Centuries.