Biographies

Frances Cooper began her singing studies at North East of Scotland Music School with Raimund Herincx, continuing with Johanna Peters in London. Since moving to Edinburgh in 1996 she has sung regularly with ensembles such as Cappella Nova and the Dunedin Consort. Solo performances have taken her to venues as far apart as Orkney and Jerusalem as well as regular recitals at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and she also performs with the trio Triplicity. As an oratorio soloist she has sung with numerous choral societies around the country and has also been a soloist at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. She combines her busy singing schedule with teaching in and around the Edinburgh area.

Gordon Ferries studied classical guitar at Napier University, and then went on to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama. Here he became interested in the lute and related period instruments, and he has now established himself as one of Scotland’s foremost lutenists and early guitarists. Apart from his work with Fires Of Love, he has been extensively involved with other ensembles and was a member of the former Scottish Early Music Consort. As an accompanist Gordon has worked with Lorna Anderson and Judith Plint, and is much in demand as a continuo player, having attended classes with Paula Chateauneuf and Peter Holman. He has an extensive concert schedule, and has released three solo recordings for the Delphian Records label.  Read more information about his solo work here.

Marcus Claridge follows a family tradition of drumming but, in a departure from his Big Band forebears, he honed his skills on the folk music circuit. As drummer to Clan Ranald he has made television and film appearances. His interest in Early Music percussion was born in a jamming session with lutenist Gordon Ferries.

Jo Hugh-Jones began singing with the choir of Caius College, Cambridge, and then with Schola Cantorum of Oxford, under James Woods. He lived for a number of years in tropical countries, studying music in West Java and learning to play kacapi zithers. He also made collections of recorded music in Java, Nicaragua and Burma, which are now in the National Sound Archive in London. He came to Edinburgh in 1991 and studied singing with Peter Thompson. This led to opera and oratorio roles, and, in 1998, to the founding of Fires of Love, to which he contributes voice, a second lute and woodwind. He is also an award-winning author of drama and books and, with Gordon Murch, wrote ‘River of Dreams’, a musical for Perthshire schoolchildren, which was performed at the Millennium Dome in London.