LAURENCE PERKINS
Professional Bassoonist & Bassoon Instructor
Born in Lancashire in 1954, Laurence Perkins spent 43 years with Camerata where he performed in concerts throughout the UK (including the BBC Proms) and on overseas tours including France, Germany, Portugal, Norway, the Azores Islands, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia and Japan.
Laurence has given many solo concert performances throughout the UK and Europe, including recitals at the Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room in London, concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra (at St. John’s, Smith Square) and with Manchester Camerata. H has also performed in numerous overseas concerts including France, Portugal and Prague.
He studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester between 1970-76 with Charles Cracknell, principal bassoonist in the Hallé Orchestra.. He joined Manchester Camerata as their principal bassoonist in October 1974, finally leaving in June 2017 to pursue more chamber music and solo playing, alongside his on-going work promoting the bassoon.
Laurence’s has a solo CDs for the Hyperion label, which includes a disc of concertos with conductor Douglas Boyd, for which he received a five-star rating in the BBC Music Magazine, with the Mozart Concerto being a top selection in Building a Library on the BBC Radio 3 Record Review programme. A CD of shorter, lighter pieces “The Playful Pachyderm” with the New London Orchestra conducted by Ronald Corp received outstanding reviews in the national and international media. His latest recording is of music by Beethoven, Glinka and Richard Strauss, where he is joined by clarinetist Sarah Watts, pianist Martin Roscoe and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Sian Edwards, scheduled for release in Autumn 2018.
Laurence is currently a bassoon instructor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and at the York and Nottingham Universities. He has also been a regular bassoon and chamber music teacher at many summer schools throughout the UK and overseas, including Aberystwyth, Malvern, Sherborne, Dartington, Alston Hall in Lancashire, Kammermusik in Oxford, and Cubertou in the south of France.