Republic of Viols

Who we are

The UK's finest young viola da gamba players, brought together.

Launching in 2026, Republic of Viols brings together the UK's finest young viola da gamba players. Each a soloist in their own right, we share a passion for bringing a dynamic and fresh energy to the repertoire, grounded in a deep understanding of historical performance practice. This group of friends champions the consort music of England's musical golden age with a vivid sense of discovery, inviting new listeners into its enduring beauty.

Grateful recipients of funding awarded by Continuo Foundation for our 2026 Dowland Tour.

“The violls bore all an equall share in the consort, and carrying the same aire, there was no reason to choose one part before another. But of late that republica among the consortiers is dissolved, and there is always some violin spark, that thinks himself above all the rest, and above the musick itself also…”
Roger North, Writings on Music, c.1728

Meet the musicians

Five soloists who play as one consort.

Jacob Garside

Jacob is a cellist and viola da gamba player based in London. He studied at the RAM and the RCM with Jonathan Manson, Richard Boothby and Reiko Ichise, supported by the Enlightenment and Hill Scholarships, and most recently completed the Konzertexamen at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Robert Smith. He has played orchestrally for St James Baroque, LNM, AAM, ITT, Oxford Bach Soloists, Gabrieli Consort, Royal Northern Sinfonia and LPO, and is a regular player for ETO, The OAE Education Orchestra and Det Norske Blåseensemble. As a chamber musician he has played for Rachel Podger's Brecon Baroque, Spiritato, Opera Settecento, Endelienta Baroque and the viol consorts Fretwork, Newes Vialles and London Viols. In 2020 Jacob was a founding member of The Hampstead Collective, now in the midst of its fourth concert season, and he currently appears in Manchester International Festival's opera The Faggots and Their Friends: Between Revolutions on its worldwide tour, including Aix-en-Provence, Germany, New York, Paris, Bregenz and Amsterdam.

Lucine Musaelian

Lucine holds a BA in Music from Yale University and an MA in Viol and Voice from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, studying with Paolo Pandolfo and Rosa Dominguez. In 2023 she completed her Professional Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music with Jonathan Manson, and co-founded the duo Intesa with Nathan Giorgetti, awarded the Academy's Chamber Music Fellowship in 2023/24. Since moving to London she has performed with La Nuova Musica, Phantasm, the Dunedin Consort and the BBC Philharmonic. Intesa performs regularly across the UK and internationally, including at the York Early Music Festival, the Two Moors Festival, the Resonanzen Festival in Vienna, the Utrecht Early Music Festival and the Residenz Woche festival in Munich. Lucine is a member of the Bellot Ensemble, selected as New Generation Baroque Ensemble 2025–27, and was named a Britten Pears Young Artist 2025–26. She is also a singer and vielle player with the Idrisi Ensemble, with whom she appeared as a soloist at KOKO in Camden.

Nathan Giorgetti

Nathan completed his Master's degree at the Royal Academy of Music in 2023 as a Christopher Hogwood Scholar, studying viola da gamba and baroque cello with Jonathan Manson. While there he co-founded Intesa, a duo for viol and voice exploring music from the Renaissance to the present day, continuing as a Chamber Music Fellow in 2023–24. Since graduating, Nathan has performed with leading period ensembles including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Hanover Band, Early Opera Company, and the Salomon String Quartet, with whom he recently gave Haydn concerts at Esterházy Castle in Hungary. He is a core member of the Bellot Ensemble, BBC Radio 3's New Generation Baroque Ensemble 2025–27, whose debut album Cupid's Ground Bass was released in November 2025. Nathan also founded the Vilalte Festival in southern France, now in its eighth year and featuring over 35 concerts to date.

Samuel Ng

Samuel Ng is a London-based cellist and viol player who has studied with Sarah McMahon, Reiko Ichise, Jonathan Rees, Raphael Wallfisch and Hélène Dautry. He works regularly with leading period ensembles including The English Concert, Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort and Players, La Serenissima, Orchestra of The Sixteen, Dunedin Consort, Irish Baroque Orchestra and The Hanover Band, and has appeared at the Vienna Philharmonic Ball and the BBC Proms. His chamber career has taken him across most of Europe, performing and broadcasting on radio, sharing the stage with Zakhar Bron, Andrea Lieberknecht and Dag Jensen. Since 2021 Samuel has been a member of Liturina, part of the Philip and Dorothy Green Artists scheme, whose performance at the finals of the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition was praised as particularly finely played. Samuel currently teaches at the Royal College of Music Junior Department.

Gavin Kibble

Cellist and viola da gamba player Gavin Kibble studied Music at the University of Oxford before going on to the Royal Academy of Music. Alongside a wide range of styles, he has developed a particular specialism in early music, and is a member of the London Handel Players, the English Baroque Soloists, Istante Collective and Solomon's Knot. A frequent guest principal of the Academy of Ancient Music and the Instruments of Time and Truth, Gavin also appears with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Gabrieli Consort, the Sixteen, La Nuova Musica, the Dunedin Consort, I Fagiolini, Arcangelo, the Mozartists, La Serenissima, the English Concert and the Early Opera Company. He features on numerous recordings, most recently Telemann's Quadri with the London Handel Players, released on SOMM in March 2025.

Proposed programme

Dowland's Lachrimae and Dances

Marking the 400th anniversary of Dowland's death, this programme presents his monument of renaissance music, the Lachrimae, alongside the dances that surrounded it in his 1604 publication — and, in one option, his lute songs arranged for consort. Four configurations are available, scaled to your venue and budget.

Five viols

The Lachrimae with a selection of Dowland's pavans, galliards and allemands from the 1604 publication, for viol consort alone.

£1,350 + travel£250 per player · £100 management fee

Five viols & lute

As Option A, with lute joining the consort for a fuller realisation of the 1604 texture.

£1,600 + travel£250 per player · £100 management fee

Five viols & singer

Well-loved and rarely-heard lute songs, arranged for viol consort accompaniment, alongside consort songs by Dowland's contemporaries.

£1,750 + travel£250 per player · £100 management · up to £400 singer fee (or by negotiation)

Five viols, singer & lute

A showcase of the whole repertoire — the Lachrimae, dances, and songs, drawing on the full forces of the consort.

£2,000 + travel£250 per player · £100 management · up to £400 singer fee