Profile | Harpsichord: Neal Peres Da Costa

Neal Peres Da Costa specialises in performance on historical keyboard instruments of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. He lectures at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in the Musicology and Keyboard units and is Chair of the Early Music Unit. After graduating from the University of Sydney with first class honours B.Mus., Neal attained a Postgraduate Diploma in Early Music from the Guildhall School of Music and a Master in Music Performance from the City University in London. In 2002, he attained a PhD from the University of Leeds, where he researched performing practices in late 19th-century piano playing with particular reference to early recordings. Neal was co-founder of Florilegium, an internationally renowned period instrument ensemble with which he performed around the world and made many award-winning recordings. He has also performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Australis, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Pinchgut Opera, and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra.

Neal’s concerts

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Blog posts and interviews with Neal

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We asked Neal a few questions

• When you’re not rehearsing/performing/teaching, where are you most likely to be? Walking his dogs, Hilde & Gus (yes, Schnauzers – Hildegarde & Gustav..the composers)
• After you finish a concert, what is the first drink you want to have in your hand? Vodka tonic & a round of drinks for someone else to pack up the harpsichord-fortepiano-Erard-Streicher… hopefully!
• If there weren’t external factors involved, how long do you think a concert should go for? Between 50mins (without an interval) & 2hours (with an interval) – and preferably some food & wine nearby 😉
• When should we clap? Anywhere you feel you should – 18th & 19th century audiences also booed, whistled, ate, threw food, played cards, had sex, and drank during concerts. Bring back the opera-concert room mosh pits of early Sydney, Melbourne & Hobart we say – The Tap Room & Theatre Royal Concerts live on where the audience came back even rowdier after interval!!

A member of

• Ironwood Chamber Ensemble

Listen & buy their recordings on iTunes

Purcell Music for a while

Bach Album Diana Doherty Ironwood

Songs of the Shadowland

BAROQUE DUETS

Listen & buy their recordings on Amazon

Purcell Music for a while

Purcell Music for a while

Songs of the Shadowland

BAROQUE DUETS