Hille Perl (born Hildegard Perl born 1965 in Bremen[1]) is a German virtuoso performer of the viola da gamba and lirone.

Biography

Her father Helmut Perl was an organist, musicologist and author who specialized in Mozart.[2][3] She decided to play the viola da gamba after attending a Wieland Kuijken concert when she was five years old.[4] She studied with Niklas Trüstedt (Berlin)[5] and Pere Ros and Ingrid Stampa (Hamburg).[6] Her daughter Marthe Perl (born 1983)[7] and niece Sarah Perl also play viol.[8]

She is considered to be one of the world's finest viola da gamba players,[9][10] specializing in solo and ensemble music of the 17th and 18th centuries. She has a particular interest in French Baroque repertoire for seven-string bass viola da gamba. She also performs Spanish, Italian, German, and modern repertoire for the instrument and has released many CDs.

Her long-time performing partner is Lee Santana, who plays the lute, theorbo, chitarrone, and baroque guitar. In addition to an original 18th-century gamba made by Matthais Alban in Tyrol, 1687, she plays a seven-string Tielke replica made by Ingo Muthesius and a six-string Italian gamba made by Claus Derenbach.

Her main instrument, the Alban gamba, was discovered in 1952 in an Austrian convent, and was restored by Ingo Muthesius. Muthesius replaced the neck, while retaining the original lion's head scroll and peg box. Claus Derenbach has made a new bridge and fingerboard. The body remains original. Unusually, no sister instrument has been found to date, though the top-wood corresponds with violins surviving from Alban's workshop in Bozen, where he worked with his two sons until 1712. The instrument was bequeathed to Perl in the previous owner's will.[11]

Perl lives with her family on a small farm in Lower Saxony and has been teaching since 2002 as a professor at the University of the Arts Bremen.[1] She has co-founded several ensembles, including the Sirius Viols and Los Otros.[12] She appeared in Michael Haneke's 2017 movie Happy End, playing gamba.

Discography

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Supporting

Perl was a member of The Harp Consort, directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, for a number of years; discography and other information are available there.

Perl has also played substantial parts on a number of other records for which she was not a principal, including the following.

1990s (supporting)

2000s (supporting)

2010s (supporting)

2020s (supporting)

ORLANDOviols

Starting in 2020, the ORLANDOviols viola da gamba ensemble, of which Perl is a member, began giving online concerts. The players are physically separated, but using the ovbox[14] device and software, can still play and perform together.

Several individual pieces are also available, including three composed by Lee Santana, and one by John Cage.

The ORLANDOviols ensemble: Hille Perl, Frauke Hess, Júlia Vető, Martha Perl, Claas Harders, and Giso Grimm.

References

  1. ^ a b "Prof. Hille Perl - Zur Person". Hochschule für Künste Bremen (in German). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  2. ^ "Sie verblüfft ihre Fans, erfindet sich immer wieder neu". www.kreiszeitung.de (in German). 2017-01-27. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  3. ^ "Helmut Perl". www.schott-music.com (in German). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  4. ^ Näher, Sabine (2017-02-02). "Interview Hille Perl - "Das Landleben ist ein herrliches Korrektiv"". concerti.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  5. ^ Aryeh Oron: Hille Perl (Viola da gamba), Bach Cantatas website
  6. ^ Paul Collins God's new man: the election of Benedict XVI and the legacy of John Paul II "(an instrument from the late medieval and Renaissance periods, and the forerunner of the modern cello) and a former professor at Hamburg's Musityiochschule and teacher of one of today's best known viola da gamba players, Hille Perl."
  7. ^ weser-kurier.de. ""Manche denken bei Viola da gamba an Shrimps"". weser-kurier-de (in German). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  8. ^ "Hille, Marte und Sarah Perl - Kulturfestspiele Schlösser und Gärten der Mark". KulturSchlagLicht (in German). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  9. ^ "Hille Perl Tanzmusik". www.schlossfestspiele.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  10. ^ "Hille Perl und die Königin der Streichinstrumente". MUSIK HEUTE (in German). 2014-08-30. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  11. ^ Paraphrased from the liner notes to the 2019 recording of the J.S. Bach flute sonatas, written by Perl.
  12. ^ Projects, Hille Perl website, http://www.hillenet.net/projects/
  13. ^ orlandoviols.de
  14. ^ ORLANDOviols consort box

External links

Authority control databases
Categories