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Welcome to the website of Caroline Ritchie, viola da gamba player (amongst other things).

I mostly play baroque and renaissance viols of all sizes, with some baroque cello and bass violin, and also medieval fiddle and lirone. My work is a mixture of solo, small ensemble and continuo, with a focus on consort playing and on English music of the 16th and 17th centuries. I live near Basel, where I play with a wide variety of ensembles and manage Ensemble Combassal, but I also return to the UK regularly to play with Newe Vialles.

For official CV/biog in English and German, and some photos, please see here.

You can find out about my current projects and CD recordings, or hear me playing here.

There are some links to past research and editing projects here.

I taught consort playing for 12 years at the Royal Academy of Music in London and am an experienced viol teacher and ensemble coach. I have over 20 years experience organising ensembles and managing projects, and am open to taking on organisation work on a freelance basis. If you would like to discuss a potential project, I would love to hear from you! You can reach me via the contact page. I speak English and German.