Originating from the East Midlands but relocating to London, Heidi Fardell has chosen this repertoire to shine a light on these previously unrecorded sonatas and Robert Valentine’s story, one of which resonates with her own personal experience of a recorder player from the midlands, relocating, leaving an entire extended family to carve out a career elsewhere.

Heidi Fardell is a freelance musician working as a performer, educator and writer. Over more than two decades, Heidi has performed with leading early and contemporary music ensembles including I Fagiolini, The City Musick, Sounds Historical and as a regular soloist with Fiori Musicali. Heidi has recorded on several occasions for BBC Radio 3 and the award winning BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Add to Playlist’ and she is also the co artistic director of the Banbury Early Music Festival.

Alongside her performance work, Heidi is a respected musician in education advocating for neuro-inclusive teaching, diversifying the musical canon and mental health in music. Heidi is a qualified British & International Federation of Festivals music adjudicator (BIFF), the chair of the European Recorder Teachers Association (ERTA UK), a tutor for the National Youth Recorder Orchestra (NRYO) and guest conductor for the Society of Recorder Players. Passionate about music education, Heidi is an experienced music teacher, in addition to delivering bespoke musical workshops for clients who have included Kensington Palace, the Royal Festival Hall, Tate Britain and the National Gallery. With several published magazine articles to her name, Heidi has written on The Emotional side of music making, Baroque Music & the profits of the transatlantic slave trade and Neuro inclusive music teaching.

Heidi gained her Bmus (Hons) and Mmus in performance at Goldsmiths University, a PgCert at Birmingham Conservatoire, and is currently undertaking her doctoral studies at the Royal Academy of Music.