Erin Headley Explained

Erin Headley is an American lirone player, teacher, and director of several early music groups.^[1] She teaches at the University of Southampton in England.^[2]

With lutenist Stephen Stubbs and Andrew Lawrence-King she was part of the ensemble Tragicomedia, then founded the ensemble Tirami Su.^[3] She has also performed regularly with flautist Nancy Hadden's ensemble Circa 1500. In 2007 she founded the ensemble Atalante, named after Atalante Migliorotti, a musician and lutenist who was commissioned by Isabella d'Este to make the first lirone in 1505.

Selected discography

with Les Arts Florissants

• 1982 : Luigi Rossi oratorios Il pecator pentito. O Cecità del misero mortale (lirone). William Christie
• 1983 : Monteverdi Il ballo delle ingrate and La Sestina (lira)
• 1987 : Monteverdi Selva morale e spirituale (lira)
• 1989 : Rossi Oratorio per la Settimana Santa
• 1991 : Rossi opera Orfeo (lirone)

with other ensembles

• Biber: Mystery Sonatas. John Holloway, Davitt Moroney, Tragicomedia. Virgin Classics, 1989. (lirone, viola da gamba)
• Rossi: Le canterine romane Tragicomedia. Teldec
• Rossi: Vanitas Vanitatum - Roma 1650 Tragicomedia. Teldec
• Che Soave Armonia works by Monteverdi, Legrenzi. Erin Headley, Ensemble Tirami Su, 1999
• Awake, O North Wind German baroque. Dietrich Buxtehude, Samuel Scheidt, Schmelzer, Heinrich Schütz, Melchior Franck, Franz Tunder, Samuel Capricornus, Matthias Weckmann, Johann Rudolf Ahle. Singers: Laurie Reviol, Anna Eriksson, Suzanne Persson, Nora Roll, Harry van der Kamp. Ensemble Tirami Su. dir. Erin Headley, Challenge Classics.
• Reliquie di Roma I : Lamentarium. - Marco Marazzoli Lament of Helen of Troy. Lament of Artemisia. Luigi Rossi Lament of Mary Magdelene. Lament of the Blessed Virgin, Marc'Antonio Pasqualini. Domenico Mazzochi. Nadine Balbeisi, soprano; Theodora Baka, mezzo-soprano. Erin Headley, Atalante. Destino Classics / Nimbus Alliance NI 6152 July 2011^[4]
• Reliquie di Roma II : Caro Sposo - Marco Marazzoli. Oratorio di Santa Catarina. Pasquini. excerpt Lamento di Cain from oratorio Cain e Abel. Nimbus Alliance NI 6185 June 2012. Katherine Watson, Nadine Balbeisi, Emily Van Evera, Steve Dugardin, Juan Sancho. Erin Headley, Atalante. Destino Classics.

Notes and References

1. The Independent Album: Atalante, Erin Headley, Lamentarium (Destino Classics/Nimbus Alliance) 12 2011 "Erin Headley is the leading performer - probably the sole performer, in fact - on the lirone, a 17th-century precursor of the cello with between 9 and 14 strings, whose sound was said to move the emotions uncontrollably."
2. Web site: Erin Headley . 2012-07-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131204035011/http://www.southampton.ac.uk/music/about/staff/eh18v07.page . 2013-12-04 . dead .
3. VdGSA news: Volumes 38-39 Viola da Gamba Society of America - 2001 "In November, Erin Headley and her group Tirami Su wowed audiences here with their gypsy-influenced playing."
4. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2011/0819/1224302655153.html Irish Times