Jemma Thrussell
Jemma Thrussell is a cellist, viola da gamba player, violone player and music researcher specialising in historical performance practice. In 2020, Jemma completed a Master of Music (Performance) majoring in historical cello from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the University of Sydney. In October 2020, Jemma began a master's degree with the renowned German viol player Hille Perl at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. She also studied singing with Bettina Pahn as an additional main subject at the HFK.
In 2025, Jemma began her doctoral studies at the HFK Bremen. She has played with various ensembles in Europe and Australia and has also participated in workshops with international ensembles such as the Academy of Ancient Music (UK) and Tafel Musik (Canada). She has won numerous academic prizes and awards throughout her studies.
Supervisors: Prof. Dr Florian Edler and Prof. Dr Christian Leitmeir
RESUME
After completing her studies in her native Australia, where she studied historical cello with Dr Daniel Yeadon at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and earned her Master of Music (Performance), she moved to Germany. At the beginning of her stay, she furthered her baroque cello studies with Viola de Hoog at the Bremen University of the Arts.
Subsequently, from 2020 to 2023, she completed a Master's degree in Early Music, specialising in the viola da gamba under Professor Hille Perl. Simultaneously, she refined her artistic expression in singing with Bettina Pahn. She also received important artistic inspiration in masterclasses with renowned ensembles and musicians such as Tafelmusik (Canada), the Academy of Ancient Music (UK), Fretwork (UK), Midori Seiler (Germany), and Shunske Sato (Netherlands).
After working as a Research Fellow at the Bremen University of the Arts (HFK Bremen) from 2023 to 2024, she has been pursuing her doctoral studies there since 2025. Supervised by Prof. Dr Florian Edler and Prof. Dr Christian Leitmeir (University of Oxford), she is researching the applicability of Johannes Kepler's cosmological music theory to historical performance practice.
Jemma is a versatile chamber musician and soloist on the cello, viola da gamba, and violone. Jemma Thrussell has performed with leading figures in early music such as Dame Emma Kirkby, Hille Perl, and Paul Agnew, as well as with numerous European ensembles, including Concerto Ispirato, Göttingen Baroque Orchestra, Cantate Domino, the North German Baroque Collegium, the Bremen Baroque Consort, Ensemble Filum, Opus 7, and the Hamburg Baroque Orchestra.
Jemma is a permanent member of the Concertino Schleswig-Holstein, where she has also played pardessus de viole for the past three years. A particular focus of her work lies in the connection between musicology and artistic research. For example, in September 2024, she presented her lecture-recital project “Alchemy of Power” as part of the Performing in Artistic Research Summer School at the Venice Biennale. Her other projects include the solo program "EINSAM" (ALONE), which was supported by the Bremen University of the Arts (HFK Bremen). On October 31st, 2026, as part of her doctoral research, she will present the symposium Alchemy of Power in the concert hall of the Bremen University of the Arts (HFK Bremen), where her ensemble, The Curious Consort, together with Prof. Dr. Leitmeir, will explore the musical world of the Rudolfine court at the end of the sixteenth century and early seventeenth century and how it was impacted by the music theory of the court mathematician and polymath, Johannes Kepler (1571–1630).
Jemma regularly presents her academic work at international conferences. Her lectures have taken her from Sydney (2017/2019) to the University of Surrey (2022) and the Academy of Music in Poznań (April 2024). In November 2024, she presented her research on the history and practice of self-accompaniment on the viola da gamba at both the National Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia and at the Italian Society of Musicology (SIdM) at the "G. Verdi" Conservatory in Milan. She is currently preparing a publication for the SIdM based on these contributions. Her career has been recognised with numerous scholarships, including the Corinna D'Hage Mayer String Scholarship (2016–2019), the Albert Scholarship (2020), and grants from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
Jemma Thrussell can be heard on various recordings, including as a continuo cellist with Ensemble dal Barocco and as a violone player on the recording "Michael Praetorius: Polyhymnia exercitatrix" with Ensemble La Protezione della Musica.
PORTFOLIO
Interpretative editions and the ensemble performance of Corelli’s La Folia.
by Imogen Coward and JK Thrussell
"Performing History" 2017 Combined Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia and the New Zealand Musicological Society. December 8-10, Conference Centre, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries, the University of Auckland , 2017, 2017
Published by the University of Sydney
By Jemma K. Thrussell
This Master's thesis investigates and evaluates the use of the practice of chordal cello accompaniment, as demonstrated in the works of Johann Baptist Baumgärtner (1723-1782). It appears that Baumgärtner’s method, Instructions de musique théorique et pratique à l’usage du violoncello, was one of the first works to try to standardise the rapid evolution of cello technique, especially concerning chordal realisation; however the purpose of this study is to question whether his other lesser known compositions, particularly his collection of duets for two cellos, Extrait des Airs François de plusieurs Operas qui ont été representées could contribute further evidence of this practice. The results of the study indicate that Baumgärtner’s compositions for the cello provide further evidence of the chordal accompaniment practices described in his method and his Extrait are an exceptional example. The analysis of the Extrait conducted as a part of this study suggest that these arrangements are explicitly notated examples of the practice and therefore establish the Extrait as rare and invaluable documentation of what otherwise appears to have been a predominantly improvised practice. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that Baumgärtner’s works are of vital importance to furthering our understanding of chordal cello practice and highlight a distinct lack of understanding concerning the significance of his output.
Diese Dissertation befasst sich mit der weniger bekannten Praxis der Selbstbegleitung auf der Viola da Gamba, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf der Praxis liegt, wie sie im Italien des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts angewandt wurde, insbesondere auf der Grundlage der in Sylvestro Ganassis Traktat Regola Rubertina (1542) gezeigten Techniken und Beispiele sowie anekdotischer Dokumentation von zeitgenössischen Interpreten dieser Praxis, wie Tarquinia Molza (1542–1617). Diese Arbeit befasst sich auch mit der Frage, wie diese Praktiken in die heutige Zeit integriert werden können,aber auch wie diese Techniken an die Musik anderer Nationalitäten angepasst werden können. Nämlich die englische Lautenmusik des 17. Jahrhunderts, die durch das Transalpina-Phänomenstark vom italienischen Stil und den Madrigalen beeinflusst wurde. Dieser wissenschaftliche Diskurs enthält außerdem fünf praktische Musikbeispiele von Bearbeitungen italienischer Madrigale und Lieder sowie englischer Lautenlieder, die dem Leser zeigen, wie er Ganassis Informationen zur Selbstbegleitung in einem klaren, modern notierten Format umsetzen kann. Diese Arbeit zeigt eine bedeutende Wissenslücke in Bezug auf die Praxis des selbstbegleiteten Gesangs auf der Viola da Gamba auf und liefert weitere theoretische und praktische Beispiele, die zu einem besseren Verständnis dieser Praxis beitragen. Ziel dieses Projekts ist es, die Bedeutung dieser Praxis aufzuzeigen und anhand von Beispielen zu verdeutlichen, warum Interpreten, die sich auf eine historisch informierte Aufführungspraxis konzentrieren, von der Integration von Komponenten dieser historischen Praxis in ihre historische informierte Aufführungspraxis sehr profitieren würden.
(Foto: Rui N. Namagoa)