Susie Napper plays the viola da gamba, one of the most popular instruments of the baroque era. Her interest in the gamba blossomed when she inherited a baroque bow from her father’s collection of musical instruments. She fell in love, first with the feel of the bow, then with the refined sound of the gamba. And when she next fell in love with Bruce Haynes, an oboist, recorder player and musicologist, Napper became firmly involved with the baroque movement.

They settled in Montreal. In 1985 Napper founded the gamba duo Les Voix Humaines with Margaret Little. The ensemble has recorded some 30 CDs, and in 2007 it was named Performer of the Year in Quebec.

Susie Napper has also founded the Montreal International Baroque Festival, which takes place every June.

Susie’s childhood is equally noteworthy. She took cello lessons with the legendary cellist Pablo Casals. Many great musicians – pianists Artur Rubinstein and Martha Argerich, the young cellist Jacqueline Du Pre and conductor/pianist Daniel Barenboim among them – visited her childhood home in London, England.

Susie Napper is the host of This is My Music this Saturday, Feb. 18 on CBC Radio 2, from 10:05 a.m. to noon ET,  11:05 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. AT.

posted by hele montagna on Feb 16, 2012