Bronwen Pugh

Bronwen Pugh

baroque violin

Bronwen Pugh is a founding member of Restoration. She completed studies in philosophy, education and music in New Zealand, before three years’ study of the baroque violin with Sigiswald Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. During her time in Europe she became a member of several baroque orchestras and ensembles in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, and has returned most recently to participate in Kuijken’s masterclasses at Collevecchio in Italy. Bronwen founded and co-directed St Paul’s Baroque, an orchestra in residence at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, has worked with other local ensembles including Tudor Consort, Extempore Plus, and has been a core member of NZ Barok since 2006. Many years of work and research with colleagues into the connections between baroque music and dance led to her invitation by the world’s foremost authority Wendy Hilton to become music director at her annual workshop in Baroque Dance and its Music at Stanford University, USA, between 1990 and 2005. Bronwen’s work in this field was also recognized with a Fulbright Cultural Development award for travel and research into baroque music and dance.

  • “Bronwen Pugh makes a gorgeous sound, combining elegance with virtuosity”

    Pressing On, Radio New Zealand

  • “Bronwen Pugh played a charming, controlled and graceful solo full of delicacies such as a controlled mezza-voce tone and her extravagant runs, which added considerably to the quiet pleasures of the evening”

    Evening Post

  • “The most colourful moment … was when Bronwen Pugh really let herself go and treated us to some fiddle playing which would not have been out of place in an Irish pub: freshness indeed ”

    Music in New Zealand

  • “Bronwen Pugh is a very fine instrumentalist indeed. She understands the intricate questions of style and she produces a lovely rich open sound ”

    Dominion

  • “Spacious phrasing and savoured ornamentation by Bronwen Pugh”