Brookspeare Music

It was founded in 2013 by sound engineer Richard Brooker and cellist Rachel Shakespeare, bringing together their two passions - string chamber music & high quality recordings.Richard has worked in the sound industry for over 30 years, specialising in sound design. Theatre credits include "Dreamgirls", "Funny Girl", "The Bodyguard" & "Bend It Like Beckham". Richard has also mixed numerous live music television productions including the BBC Proms & BBC Glastonbury Festival alongside engineering for live theatre and music shows.Rachel graduated with First-Class Honours from the Royal Northern College Of Music. She founded Leos Strings in 2008 and co-ordinates and performs in string ensembles for private events and international tours.Brookspeare Music's musicians are hand selected for their talent, sound, professionalism & sense of humour (they spend a lot of time together, it’s important they all get along!). The musicians are happy to discuss the music with each composer, giving advice or answering questions that may arise. Each instrument (x2 violins, x1 viola & x1 cello) is close mic’d with two microphones and there's also a stereo room pair set up.They perform without a conductor: Rachel directs from the cellist’s chair and plays from the string score on her iPad.Although all musicians are classically trained and graduates of the top UK Conservatoires, they’re also very experienced at performing contemporary styles of music. They're at ease performing with or without click tracks.