Debbie
Diamond is a professional violinist, specialising
in Baroque historical performance. She is also
adept at virtually all styles of music, ranging
from klezmer and Irish fiddle playing right
through to Classical and Romantic repertoire, and
her own original compositions. Debbie was born in
Toronto, Canada, but made several cross-Atlantic
journeys. Her first crossing was to Israel to
study at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, after
which she returned to Toronto to finish her
undergraduate studies at the University of
Toronto. Upon completing a Masters Degree in
Historical Performance (also in Toronto), she
journeyed south to Indiana University in
Bloomington, Indiana, for two years of Doctoral
Studies in Early Music Performance at their Early
Music Institute. The ocean beckoned yet again, and
Debbie moved to Israel to lead the Jerusalem
Baroque Orchestra and to join the Jerusalem
Consort. Once there, she also joined Black Velvet,
an Israeli Irish band, and performed with Black
Velvet up and down the country, discovering the
merits of pub performances and folk festivals.She was also founder, leader and
artistic director of the chamber group Ensemble
Nuance as well as Barock ‘n’ Roll,
a chamber group specialising in the fusion of
baroque and rock music.
After
several years, Debbie decided to settle with
crossing the Mediterranean and English Channel
(but not the Atlantic) and settled in London. Debbie has been a regular member of
the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment since
1999, and has worked for eminent conductors
including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Charles
Mackerras, Sir Mark Elder, Vladimir Jurowski,
Ivan Fischer, Sir Roger Norrington, Franz
Bruggen and Masaaki Suzuki. She has performed regularly with
the English Baroque Soloists, L’Orchestre
Romantique et Revolutionnaire (both
conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner),
Gabrieli Consort, Florilegium, and The Sixteen.
Debbie has appeared as soloist with Fiori
Musicali, EnsembleSonnerie, and theSweelinck
Ensemble. She has performed as
guest violinist with the chamber group Red
Priest. Her playing has been described as
“...intense...graceful...”, “...passionate and
full of energy”, “one who has the ability to
rise to the occasion in a public performance in
a special and dramatically persuasive way...”.
As a soloist, she has given recitals in Canada,
the United States, Israel, Germany, Ireland and
the United Kingdom.
In
addition to concertising, Debbie has always made
teaching a priority. Currently Debbie teaches at the
Junior Academy (Royal Academy of Music) where she
leads and coaches the Classical Orchestra, coaches
Baroque chamber music, and teaches individual
lessons. In addition, she is a music consultant for
MiSST (Music in Secondary Schools Trust), a program
that provides whole class instrumental tuition, and
individual and paired lessons privately at primary
school level. Debbie also teaches individual and
group lessons in schools and privately, and is a
director and conductor for school orchestras. As she
is extremely knowledgeable about performance
practice (Baroque and Classical performance), Debbie
also gives masterclasses and lectures, and has run a
course titled 'Baroque Music on Modern Instruments'
at City Lit, Covent Garden.