Il Capo
Baroque Ensemble
A seasoned baroque ensemble of accomplished and virtuosic musicians, blending years of expertise with the refined elegance of mature artistry. Their performances are characterized by a deep understanding of historical styles, emotional depth, and a masterful command of their instruments, delivering interpretations that resonate with authenticity and sophistication.
Our inauguration concert was UK modern premiere of Music by Diogenio Bigaglia (1687 -1745).
Our Forthcoming Project
"Baroque Encounter"
Saturday 30 May 2026 "Double Bach, Two Harpsichords!"
Sunday 26 July 2026 "Feast of Italian Baroque"
Sunday 25 October 2026 "Farther & Son"
Our videos from
Inauguration concert "Caelum in Venetiis"
Music by Bigaglia and Scarlatti
Date : Sunday 7 September 2025
Venue : St Saviour Church Chalk Farm, London
Isabelle Haile soprano
A winner of the Audience Prize at the London Handel Singing Competition 2024
Il Capo - who we are,,
Asako Ogawa director, harpsichord
Asako Ogawa is one of the today’s most versatile performers on the keyboard, from virginals, harpsichord, fortepiano to modern piano. She is originally from Japan and based in London. As a harpsichordist, Asako performs both as a soloist, and as a continuo player in UK, Europe and Japan. She was also a baroque repertoire coach at Guildhall School of Music & Drama (2009-2023).
Recently she issued Handel’s 8 Great Suite album with the First Hand Records label (FHR142), which was critically acclaimed. The BBC Music Magazine awarded 5 stars and the critic Nicholas Anderson said “Asako Ogawa explores the rich variety of styles with rhythmic suppleness and a lively feeling for characterisation..” In the Gramophone Magazine, Jed Distler, wrote “In all, her Handel Suites count among the best recorded versions”. American magazine Fanfare said “ -do yourself a favour and take a listen to this release. You may hear qualities that you’ve never been aware before. And you may be surprised at just how dynamic the instrument can be in the right hands”. Her previous album, J.S Bach’s 6 Partitas album (FHR92), was also critically acclaimed and received four-star reviews in The Independent and The BBC Music Magazine.
Asako has been performing regularly in the London Handel Festival, Handel & Hendrix Museum, London and Händel-festspiele, Hallean der Saale, German . Her other main appearances include: Handel's Alcina and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice with Opera North, Handel's Messiah with ENO (broadcast on BBC2), Brighton Early Music Festival, BBC Radio 3, British Harpsichord Society recital, and the Georgian Concert Society, Edinburgh.
Eva Caballero Flute
Eva Caballero has a busy and varied musical career, performing with period instrument orchestras and ensembles in the UK and abroad. Playing on originals and reproductions of old flutes, she is confident performing repertoires from the Baroque period to the modern day.
Originally from Barcelona, Spain, Eva was awarded a scholarship to study at Trinity College of Music, London, with Daniel Pailthorpe. Towards the end of her BMus (Hons) degree, she discovered the Baroque flute with Stephen Preston and continued her studies on historical flutes with Lisa Beznosiuk at the Royal Academy of Music.
Her work involves performing in London-based ensembles and a variety of orchestras, including Solomon’s Knot, The Mozartists, The Sixteen, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Istante Collective and Armonico Consort among others. She has also given recitals at venues including the Handel Hendrix House, Raynham Hall, the Wallace Collection and St Martin-in-the-Fields. Eva has won numerous awards as a chamber music performer in the UK and Spain, including the XIII Paper de Música de Capellades, Premi Ciutat Manresa, IX Pòdiums de St Joan de Vilatorrada and the Anglo-Czech Trust Competition.
Eva is an enthusiastic educator and works as a flute teacher in North London primary and secondary schools as well as at the North London Conservatoire.
Matthew Millkey baroque violin
British-American historical violinist, Matthew Millkey, enjoys an active career as an orchestral and chamber musician in and around London. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Matthew is currently pursuing a PhD in historical musicology at the Royal College of Music. His research investigates violin technique in the period from 1630-1700, with particular emphasis on the practice of holding the violin against the chest. As a performer, Matthew has played with numerous Early Music ensembles around England, including the Academy of Ancient Music, Florilegium, the BBC Singers, the Hanover Band, and Armonico Consort. He has appeared in music festivals throughout the United States and Europe, including the BBC Proms, the Boston Early Music Festival, Prangins Baroque, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Tilford Bach Festival, and the Chigiana festival. Matthew plays on a Baroque violin by Hugh Saville, kindly on loan to him from the Royal College of Music.
Nikolay Ginov baroque cello, viola da gamba, bass violin
Nikolay Ginov is a versatile Bulgarian-British cellist , born in Plovdiv and lives in UK. He performs on Modern, Classical and Baroque cello, Viola da gamba and Bass violin. His wide ranging repertoire includes masterpieces from 17th to 21st Centuries.
Nikolay was a member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and performed under the baton of Sir Roger Norlington, Sir Simon Rattle in several concert tours and BBC PROMS.
As a chamber musician, Nikolay took part in several international festivals such as “Musica-Nova”Sofia, “ March Music Days” Rousse, in Bulgaria, “Oberstdorf Summer Music festival” Germany and “Banff Summer Music festival” Canada. Internationally acclaimed groups and artists he has worked with include the Freude Piano Trio, the Sonore String Quartet, London Schubert Players, Trevor Pinnock and Laurence Cummings to name a few.
Prior coming to UK, Nikolay was the soloist of “Dobrin Petkov” Symphony Orchestra in Plovdiv and “Pancho Vladigerov” Symphony Orchestra in Sofia. He made records for Plovdiv Radio, Bulgarian National Radio and Television.After moving to UK in 2001, Nikolay performed in major concert venues such as Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell Room with various chamber ensembles.
He has completed his MMus and Fellowship as a modern cellist under Stefan Popov at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and completed his PG Diploma as a baroque cellist with distinction under the late Jennifer Ward Clarke at the Royal Academy of Music. He was awarded a Dip RAM and the John McAslan Prize for his outstanding final recital. Nikolay is a founding member of various chamber music ensembles, including 'Scholars and Gentlemen' with whom he performed at the Valletta International Baroque Festival.
Sophia Mücke baroque violin
is a Swiss baroque violinist and graduate from the renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (CH). Her love for adventure and her wanderlust eventually led her to London where she is currently pursuing a MMus at the Royal Academy of Music with Pavlo Beznosiuk and Nicolette Moonen. Her musical passion lies in 17th-century North German and Italian music. Besides performing all over Europe as a violinist with different ensembles and orchestras, Sophia is interested in musicology and music theory. To combine her interests in performance and research, she regularly organises her own thematic concerts (e.g. on music at the court of Frederick the Great, European music at the Chinese court in the 18th century) and she is giving workshops in various contexts on Solmisation and Rhetoric in Music.
Kristiina Watt lute, theorbo, early guitars
Kristiina Watt enjoys a busy concert schedule as an orchestral and chamber musician. She performs regularly with leading groups in the historical performance scene and beyond such as the Academy of Ancient Music, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, The English Concert, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Ensemble. Kristiina particularly enjoys working with singers and regularly plays for consorts such as Ensemble Pro Victoria, The Marian Consort, Musica Secreta and Vache Baroque.
Kristiina also performs as a singer specialising in renaissance and baroque repertoire and particularly self-accompanied performance practice. In addition to formal training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland she has been fortunate to receive coachings from Dame Emma Kirkby at the Guildhall School and continues her vocal studies with Dr Patricia Macmahon.
Kristiina is an enthusiastic advocate for the creation of modern repertoire for old instruments and is currently fundraising with her ensemble The Portrait Players for a new commission for soprano, theorbo and viol by composer Clare Elton on the sonnets of 16th century poet Louise Labe.
Kristiina is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music&Drama, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of Glasgow
Bigaglia Project :
We are excited to introduce beautiful vocal and instrumental music by a Venetian composer Diogenio Bigaglia.
There are beautiful duets, motets, and sonatas!
The musicologist Michael Talbot, Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Liverpool, writes:
It is a pleasure and a privilege to be contributing ideas and materials towards Il Capo’s planned recording consisting entirely of music by Diogenio Bigaglia, This Venetian composer (1678–1745), a monk belonging to the Benedictine community of San Giorgio Maggiore in his native city, has interested me for a long time, and in the past few years I have worked extensively on him, researching his life, writing articles about his music and editing some of his music.
There is much to investigate, for Bigaglia, despite the heavy demands of his “day job”, was a highly productive composer admired and appreciated all over Europe during his lifetime, who wrote sacred vocal music of many kinds (from oratorios and choral music down to lightly scored chamber works), secular vocal music (cantatas and canzonettas for solo voice and chamber duets) and instrumental chamber music (sonatas for a variety of instruments and a few concertos).
Recorder players and, to some extent, players of other instruments such as the violin, cello and oboe, “discovered” his music many years ago, but his vocal music in all genres mostly still awaits its entry into modern concert life and the world of recordings. In many ways, Bigaglia’s music resembles that of Vivaldi – hardly surprising since he was born only a week after his more famous fellow Venetian – but he has a very distinct musical personality that includes a liking for airy textures, a taste for experimentation, a natural feeling for melody and counterpoint and a rather un-monkish relish for humorous effects that reaches its peak in a pair of cantatas in Venetian dialect on mundane subjects of local interest. Lovers of Venetian baroque music are already familiar with three other composers contemporary with Bigaglia who were officially, like him, amateurs (dilettanti di musica): Albinoni and the two Marcello brothers. Now is the time to let Bigaglia take his place alongside them.
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