ArtistInfo

Fires Of London

Band, GB
Classical

The Fires of London, originally known as the Pierrot Players, was a British chamber music ensemble which was active from 1965 to 1987.The Pierrot Players was originally founded by Harrison Birtwistle, Alan Ray Hacker, and Stephen Pruslin. From 1967 it was under the joint direction of Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies. The ensemble was originally formed to play Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and new works, often with a theatrical element, for that scoring (usually with the addition of percussion). The instrumentation proved to be too limited for Birtwistle and he left in 1970. Peter Maxwell Davies took over as sole director, renaming the group The Fires of London. It was disbanded after its 20th anniversary concert in 1987. Maxwell Davies subsequently endorsed a new group Psappha.

Members

	Mary Thomas voc 1932-1997 GB
	Gary Kettel perc, tam, cng GB
	Philippa Davies fl
	Timothy Walker g *1943 ZA
	Peter Maxwell Davies *1934 GB
	Alan Hacker cl 1938-2012 GB
	Elgar Howarth tr *1935 GB
	Mike Hext tb, ts, fl
	Harrison Birtwistle *1934 GB
	Judith Pearce fl
	Jennifer Ward Clarke vc 1935-2015 GB
	Stephen Pruslin p *1940 US
	Duncan Druce vl, vn GB
	Roger Brenner tb