Ibrahim Aziz's second album, Handel Works for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord with Masumi Yamamoto (First Hand Records FHR 91) was released worldwide on 17 April 2020. The album has since received favourable reviews from Gramophone, ClassiqueHD (France), The Strad, The Viol, and Planet Hugill.
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, most of Ibrahim Aziz's concert engagements have been put on hold until further notice. Do keep up with Ibrahim's activities on his official Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram. You can view Ibrahim's lockdown videos on his YouTube channel - click here: YouTube. Videos include J. S. Bach's two part inventions on viols, a beautiful new Elegy by Carlos Martínez Gil dedicated to the victims of Covid-19, and promotional material from other YouTube channels. The videos are free to share.
June 2020 - Risonanze, Ibrahim Aziz's first CD, is reviewed in The Consort: "Aziz performs with imagination and flair, and the music bridges a gap between the more usual repertoire of the instrument and something that will appeal to those who are not familiar with the viola da gamba."
31st May 2020 - Happy 364th birthday Marin Marais, with a lockdown Marais Prelude video by Ibrahim Aziz:
22 May 2020 - The Strad Magazine reviews Handel: “Ibrahim Aziz plays throughout this well-filled, warmly recorded CD with strong but malleable tone and an agile technique…. Both players achieve beautiful unanimity of phrasing in the three-part writing of the C major Sonata that concludes this recommendable recital.”
18 May 2020 - Chelys Consort of Viols awarded Arts Council England funding for their forthcoming projects, including one with composer Jill Jarman and percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.
17 May 2020 - Ibrahim Aziz's Bach is mentioned in Robert Hugill's "A Life On-Line: Veiled Prophets, Invisible Cities, Swiss Resistance and 'British exceptionalism'" -
3 May 2020 - ABC Classics (Australia) with Greta Bradman presented a track from Handel in their Weekend Brunch show.
1 May 2020 - Ibrahim Aziz featured twice on BBC Radio 3 Breakfast (with Petroc Trelawney), with The Rose Consort of Viols and G minor Handel sonata HWV 364b with Masumi Yamamoto.
May 2020 - Gramophone Music magazine reviews the Handel in this month's issue: "Ibrahim Aziz's playing is full of breath and mystery. The Prelude in D minor is utterly gorgeous."
25 April 2020 - ABC Classics (Australia) included a track from the Handel on the ANZAC day Weekend Breakfast show.
The eminent musicologist, Julie Anne Sadie, reviews the Handel CD in The Viol: "Every movement offers something to savour - antiphonal passages, exquisitely ornamented repeats, poetic sequences, to name but a few, and again as elsewhere, Aziz and Yamamoto deliver a memorable performance."
21 April 2020 - ClassiqueHD (France) released a review of the Handel: "Quelle dextérité dans le jeu d'Ibrahim, les phrasés sont superbes..l'harmonie entre la viole et le clavecin est divine, elle touche l'âme et procure de belles émotions"
22 April 2020 - Essential Classics (BBC Radio 3) with Ian Skelly played Handel's G minor sonata HWV 364b from the new album.
17 April 2020 - Handel Works for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord officially released worldwide. Available also on all digitial online platforms.
16 April 2020 - Planet Hugill reviews Handel CD. "Ibrahim Aziz plays with a lovely lyrical tone, easy grace and nice fluency in the more virtuoso passages" . Read the complete review here:
18 March 2020 - BBC Radio 3 played a track from Ibrahim Aziz's new CD on In Tune with Sean Rafferty (Kassel Sonata). Listeners were asked their opinion on who the likely composer might be as the attribution to Handel is doubtful.
