Feature
Alison Stephens
Mandolin Player Extraordinaire
Part 7: The Pleasant Pluckers alias Duo Mandala Jacqueline Green
A
lison started her four year
Performance Degree course at
Trinity College of Music in September
1988. Early in the first year the
80 strong Musicianship class was
divided into suitable combinations of
instruments and told to go away and
develop a repertoire for that grouping.
Finally two students remained in the
hall. They were Lauren Bullingham
(later to become Lauren Scott) - harp,
and Alison Stephens – mandolin. “Oh
well!” said the teacher in charge, “You
had better go away and make music
together”. Thus was born the Mandolin/
Harp duo. There was virtually no
music written for this combination of
instruments so they were soon hard at
work arranging, mostly violin and piano
compositions, for harp and mandolin.
There were only two compositions in
existence that included mandolin and
harp: Hans Gal’s Divertimento and
Henze’s Trio for Mandolin, Harp and
Guitar which they performed ‘in house’
with a Trinity guitar student. During
their four years together at Trinity
a very strong and lasting friendship
developed between the two alongside
the groundwork for the Mandolin/Harp
duo and, ultimately Duo Mandala.
As with any developing ensemble,
there was no short cut to just spending
hours playing music together in the
early development of the duo and
they tried out all sorts of music to
establish what worked out for their
combination of instruments. Through
trial and error, not only did they develop
said my daughter, “It will attract
work”. And indeed it did. Amongst
other engagements they did a series
of six radio shows with Richard Stilgo
culminating in a live broadcast from
aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. They
also played a series of Library concerts
including Gravesend Library in October
1993. Tucked in between these they
played concerts with the more sedate
billing of ‘Alison Stephens – Mandolin
and Lauren Bullingham – Harp’ at a
number of leading Music Societies.
a new repertoire for the combination,
but they honed their sight-reading
skills, an invaluable asset in the music
profession. They had in fact stumbled
upon a thrilling combination with a
breath-taking range of sonorities and
textures. By the beginning of their
fourth year they had developed a
considerable repertoire and were invited
to play as part of the St. Martin-inthe-Fields Lunchtime Recitals on 20th
December 1991. The