French Connections
Curated by Jonathan Slade, this programme traces the rich musical dialogue between France and Germany, music that crossed borders, absorbed foreign influence, and emerged transformed. A compelling study in cultural exchange, performed on period instruments.
Programme
Telemann: Sonata in G minor from the "Paris" Quartets
Telemann: Fantasia in D major for solo flute
Telemann: Violin Sonata in A major from Essercizii Musici
Couperin: Selected movements from "L'impériale" from Les Nations
Performers
Anna Curzon, violin
Susanne Heinrich, viola da gamba
Jonathan Slade, flute
Christopher Bucknall, harpsichord
Tickets
Tickets available on the door
£20 adult, £10 student/disabled/UC, Free for under 18’s and wheelchair companions
Jonathan Slade expands on the programme:
“This programme explores the rich dialogue between French and German musical traditions in the Baroque era. Through Telemann's cosmopolitan fusion of styles and Couperin's evocative portrayal of European musical tastes, these works reveal a Europe connected as much by artistic curiosity as by national identity.
Georg Philipp Telemann was one of the great musical travellers of his age, absorbing influences from across the continent. His Paris Quartet Sonata in G minor reflects the elegance and refinement that captivated Parisian audiences, while the Fantasia in D major for solo flute "Alla francese" is almost a parody of a French Overture, concluding with a suitably raucous Presto dance movement. The A major Violin Sonata from Essercizii Musici combines Italian lyricism with French grace and German craftsmanship, demonstrating the stylistic versatility for which Telemann was renowned.
François Couperin admired the richness of German music and sought to unite it with the elegance of the French tradition. L'Impériale, from Les Nations, is part of a collection celebrating the musical character of Europe's great powers. Its sequence of contrasting dance movements—from the stately Sarabande to the exuberant Chaconne—captures the poise, wit and imagination of the French Baroque style.”
Biographies
Jonathan Slade
Motivated by a fierce advocacy of classical music and a firm belief in the power of live performance, Jonathan Slade is a uniquely versatile musician and educator, equally at home as a flautist, baroque flautist and composer.
Described by the Wall Street Journal as an "exceptional" baroque flautist, Jonathan has performed with The English Concert, Les Arts Florissants, Arcangelo at the BBC Proms, The London Handel Orchestra, and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. He is principal flautist of Instruments of Time & Truth and has appeared as both orchestral player and soloist. He also performed on the GRAMMY-winning recording of Telemann's Ino with the Boston Early Music Festival Ensemble and soprano Amanda Forsythe.
Jonathan's composition The Passage of Time won a National Flute Association composition award following its publication in 2020. His Sonata for Flute & Piano, published in 2025, was premiered by Michael Cox and Dominic Degavino and has since been recorded by London Symphony Orchestra musicians Gareth Davies and John Alley.
A dedicated teacher, Jonathan holds teaching positions at Oxford High School, The Abbey School and d'Overbroeck's, alongside a private teaching practice specialising in both modern and baroque flute.
Jonathan studied at the Royal Academy of Music, Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School, graduating from each with postgraduate qualifications.
Christopher Bucknall
Conductor and harpsichordist Christopher Bucknall, is at home both on the concert platform and in the opera house, sharing his passion for bringing music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries alive. He is also a highly experienced vocal coach, fervent in his mission to unlock the mysteries of interpreting baroque vocal music with singers at all stages of their development.
Conducting credits include Handel, Alcina (Den Norske Opera), Cavalli, La Calisto and Cesti, L’Orontea (Theater Aachen), Handel, Agrippina, Partenope, Jeptha (Iford Arts), Haydn, Il Mondo della Luna (ETO), Purcell, Dido and Aeneas (Queille Festival and IF Opera) and Monteverdi, L'Orfeo (Silent Opera). He has also worked throughout Europe as an assistant to Ivor Bolton, William Christie, Laurence
Cummings, Christian Curnyn and Ottavio Dantone. On the concert platform, Christopher has appeared directing The English Concert, B’Rock (Belgian Baroque Orchestra Ghent), Instruments of Time and Truth, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Real Filharmonie de Galicia and the Norwegian Wind Ensemble in varied repertoire ranging from Monteverdi through to Mozart. He also regularly collaborates with the UK’s finest vocal ensembles including performances of Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium with the BBC Singers, and highly praised preparation of the Glyndebourne and English National Opera choruses in works by Purcell and Rameau.
Christopher studied Music at Lincoln College, Oxford and harpsichord with conducting at the Royal Academy of Music. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of his work and is a visiting coach and lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Anna Curzon
Violinist Anna Curzon enjoys a varied career as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Anna is a member of The English Concert and freelances with period-instrument orchestras including The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, La Nuova Musica, Gabrielli Consort and Players and Instruments of Time and Truth. Anna is part of the chamber groups Music for a While and The Musical and Amicable Society. Recent concerts with the Amicables have included Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, and The Art of Fugue and Mozart’s String Quintets. Last year the group recorded ‘Fiddler’s Three - Music from Charles II’s Private Musick’ released on the Barn Cottage Records label.
Susanne Heinrich
Susanne Heinrich has lived in Oxford for over 30 years. She studied at the Meistersinger Conservatorium of Nuremberg, the Frankfurt State Academy of Music and the Royal Conservatory of Den Haag, and has performed and recorded with many leading period-instrument ensembles of Europe, touring worldwide for decades. Susanne briefly had a teaching position at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and has written for various specialist journals. Her solo recording of music by Carl Friedrich Abel received an Editor’s Choice Gramophone Award in 2008 and a Diapason d’Or, and her recording of music by Tobias Hume was selected for Gramophone Editor’s Choice in 2010. She made one further solo recording featuring Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo violin music transcribed for the bass viol. The revised New Grove dictionary refers to her as one of the ‘leading players’ of her generation.
Susanne combines her performing activities with part-time work at the University of Oxford and abstract art/craft making, with a focus on the ancient craft of wetfelting.
