New Zealand born Mark Hardy is a classical clarinetist, living in England, who studied in both London and Berlin. Since the early 90's he has written for film, theatre and has been performing and teaching throughout Europe. A leading member of the new music group Foundry, he has recently been engaged in a number of `cutting edge' projects involving opera and dance including many collaborative classical and jazz ventures.

The Hardy Ensemble was formed in 1998 to perform Mark's chamber opera "Wipe", represented by this recording. The Ensemble is an octet of musicians from extremely different musical backgrounds - ranging through contemporary classical, jazz and free-music.

Wipe is a mixture of tightly written and subtly improvised segments. The piece, born out of the destruction of a difficult relationship, features a classical female soprano voice and a male `lounge' singer.

Personnel:
Music: Mark Hardy. Libretto: Mark Hardy, Mark Tilton, Catherine Pierard.


Mark Hardy - (clarinet, bass clarinet), Mark Thomas - (French horn), Dean Brodrick - (keyboards), Simon King - (guitar), Dudley Phillips - (bass), Tony Marsh - (drums),
Catherine Pierard - (soprano), Greg Wain - (male voice)