Our Ensemble
The London Obbligato Collective is made up of a group of musicians who have worked in different combinations over the years within the period-instrument circle. Our repertoire determines the instrumentation for each project, and our core members are currently players of the violin, flute, cello and harpsichord.
Masumi Yamamoto
Harpsichordist, Founder
Masumi is the harpsichordist and founder of London Obbligato Collective. Based in London, she has appeared on the concert platform as continuo player for many period-instrument ensembles prior to embarking on the journey of establishing her own ensemble.
In her formative years as a harpsichordist, she was a prize winner at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges and became the first Japanese prize-winner in 25 years.
She is passionate about bringing the much-neglected repertoire of "chamber music with a written-out harpsichord part" to her audience, and looks forward to finding many opportunities for this through her work with this ensemble.
Masumi is a Continuo Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and a Teacher of Harpsichord at St. Paul’s Girls’ School and James Allen’s Girls’ School.
Away from the harpsichord, Masumi is a keen swimmer and a beginner diver, and she can be found swimming in one of the 50m swimming pools or London aiming to swim 160km per year, or trying to perfect a simple dive.
masumiyamamoto.com
Sara Deborah
Baroque Violin
German-born musician Sara Deborah is a versatile performer on the violin and viola covering solo, chamber and orchestra repertoire on both historical and modern instruments. An alumni of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and former string junior fellow at the Royal College of Music, she won a Making Music Award for Young Musicians and the Premio Bonporti for baroque violin in Italy 2017.
Praised by international press for her ‚singing elegance’ and ‚angelic instrumental voice’, Sara has performed as a soloist in venues including the Wiener Konzerthaus, Cadogan Hall and at the Lufthansa Baroque Festival, and as a chamber musician at the Wigmore Hall and King‘s Place. She has been a section principal for the European Union Baroque Orchestra, Dunedin Consort, and Florilegium, and further works with historical ensembles like the English Concert, OAE and the Sixteen in concert halls across the world. She was a founder member of the Chiaroscuro string quartet, and has collaborated on various CD recordings and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM.
As an experienced teacher, she has inspired several generations of musicians at the Menuhin School and Bedales. In her home county Hampshire she directs the string orchestra SouthDowns Camerata and has founded the yearly Spirit of Music Festival. An activist for compassion, humanity and the environment, she loves walking in nature and foraging, and with her musician husband raises their family of three children, a dog and two Guinea pigs.
Yu-Wei Hu
Baroque Flute
Born in Taipei, flautist Yu-Wei Hu discovered her passion for early music while studying at the National Taiwan Normal University, and it later brought her to the Royal College of Music in London. Supported by a Taiwanese Government Scholarship, Yu-Wei studied historical flute with Lisa Beznosiuk and Rachel Brown as well as modern flute with Susan Thomas and Daniel Pailthorpe at the RCM, where she was awarded the MMus in Performance with Distinction and an Artist Diploma degree.
As both recitalist and orchestral musician, Yu-Wei has performed modern and period flutes throughout the UK and Europe, including concerts at Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Palace of Versailles and MuTh - Konzertsaal der Wiener Sängerknaben. Festival appearances include BBC Proms, London Handel Festival, London Festival of Baroque Music, Radio France Festival in Montpellier, Bachwoche Festival in Vienna, and Carinthischer Sommer Festival in Austria. Her performances have been broadcasted on BBC Radio 3, Radio France and Austrian Radio Ö1. Currently the Principal Flute of Oxford Bach Soloists and Opera Warberg, Yu-Wei has also performed and recorded as part of many renowned period chamber ensembles and orchestras, including Arcangelo, the Academy of Ancient Music, Florilegium, Gabrieli Consort & Players, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Yu-Wei was a founding member of Flauguissimo; their recently albums 'A Salon Opera' and 'To the Northern Star' released under Resonus Classics have both received great critical acclaim.
In 2021 Yu-Wei was appointed Modern and Historical Flute Professor at London Performing Academy of Music. Additionally, as a regular historical flute teacher at Wermland Early Music Festival in Sweden, she is committed to teaching and inspiring the next generation of musicians. .
Carina Drury
Baroque Cello
Cellist Carina Drury’s playing has been described by BBC Radio 3 as ‘singing across the centuries’.
At 9 years of age Carina had her first cello lesson with Nora Gilleece in Dublin and ever since has been in love with the expressive sound of the cello! Her love of 18th century music took hold while she was a student of Jonathan Manson’s at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she twice won the Early Music Prize.
Carina toured as principal cello with the European Union Baroque Orchestra in 2010 and has since worked as guest principal with La Serenissima, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Gabrieli players and Camerata Ireland. As a soloist Carina has performed cello concertos at the National Concert Hall in Dublin and St.Martin in the Fields in London.
Carina released her first album ‘Irlandiani’ thanks to Arts Council of England funding in 2020. It has been played on BBC Radio 3, RTE Lyric FM and Deutschlandfunk Radio. She was awarded an Arts Council Ireland Emerging Artist Grant in 2021 and she has toured the programme in London, Dublin and Cork. Carina and her ensemble have just released a second album, Smock Alley, with First Hand Records, generously supported by the Continuo Foundation.
When not playing the cello, Carina can be found baking elaborate cakes which she brings to rehearsals to share!
Sarah Moffat
Baroque Violin
Sarah Moffatt was born in Dublin and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, specialising in Historical Performance. In her career as a freelance violinist she has performed, recorded and toured worldwide with all the major UK period instrument orchestras and ensembles, as well as ensembles in Ireland and Spain. Her longtime love of chamber music started with her debut with the Astra Quartet at the age of 6. She appears regularly in concerts with the Feinstein Ensemble in the Church of St. Martin in the Fields and is in demand as a performer, leader, coach in orchestral direction and teacher. She was awarded an ARAM in 2006 for services to the music profession.