Merlin Harrison studied the recorder with Pamela Thorby and
Robert Ehrlich at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in
London and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig.
After a year of commencing his studies at conservatoire, Merlin
took up baroque oboe lessons with Gail Hennessy and now finds
himself in popular demand as a “doubling” musician. He has also
taken part in numerous masterclasses and summer courses led by
the likes of Philip Pickett, Dan Laurin, Gerd Lünenbürger,
Katharina Arfken and Alfredo Bernardini.
He has performed at some of the UK’s most prestigious concert
venues, including the Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, LSO St.
Luke’s, St. John’s Smith Square and Snape Maltings and for
several recognised period ensembles including the English
Concert, Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra and Ludus Baroque. He
has also worked with some of the world’s leading specialists in
early music; Sir Charles Mackerras, Richard Egarr, Harry Bicket
and Rachel Podger to name a few.
Merlin’s activities as a musician have taken him abroad on
numerous occasions, having performed at the Europaïsches
Musikfest Stuttgart and at the European Recorder Festival in
Feldkirch, Austria where he was also a junior adjudicator at the
competition for solo recorder. He has also played at several
prominent European festivals including the Aldeburgh Festival,
Edinburgh International Festival, Urbino Early Music Festival,
Ensemble-Akademie Freiburg and Les Chants de la Dore in the
Auvergne.
During the coming year, Merlin will join Theatre of the Ayre a
new period ensemble that will tour the UK with performances of
John Blow’s Venus and Adonis. You can also hear him on disc,
playing with David Daniels and the English Concert on a
recording of Bach arias for countertenor (2008 Virgin Classics).
