Ensemble Biography
London-based duo, Flutes & Frets present intimate, magnetic performances that exploit the fragility and versatility of their ensemble. Their concerts feature an array of instruments that enable them to express the colours, gesture and emotions of repertoire from the medieval era through to contemporary.
Enthusiastic about developing in knowledge, they are devoted to keeping primary sources at the core of their historically-informed approach to performance practice. Through researching and arranging music for their combination, they push the boundaries of repertoire creating imaginative and innovative programmes.
Flutes & Frets have had the pleasure of performing all over the UK and Europe. Their radio debut with WDR 3 took place in 2023 and they have been featured in world-class festivals including Misteria Paschalia, the National Centre of Early Music, Alpen Classica Festival, Festival Van Vlaanderen Antwerpen, International Early Music Festival of Sierra Espuña and the Wunderkammer Festival in Trieste. December 2025 saw the release of their debut album Heir Of All The Ages produced by EM Records featuring sound-snapshots of the evolution of British music over the past six hundred years. Highlights include a new folk-inspired commission for flute and guitar from British composer Seth Bye; a premiere recording arrangement of one of Henry Eccles’s many violin sonatas for traverso and theorbo; and lute songs by Renaissance court musician, Nicholas Lanier, amongst many other gems.
They have won numerous international competitions including the 2023 International H.I.F. Biber Competition; 2022 “22nd LAMS Matera Award”; 2021 La Follia Nuova International Chamber Music Competition; and the International Music Competition (IMC) of Association Les Musicales Du Centre. They have been Making Music Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist (PDGYA) Award Scheme artists, an ECOS Ensemble 2023, Brighton Early Music Festival (BREMF) Live! Ensemble 2022 and DEBUT Horizon Artists. In 2022, they were chosen as an “IYAP Selected Promising Ensemble” for the International Young Artist Presentation, enabling them to perform in the Early Music Festival, “Laus Polyphoniae” at AMUZ, Antwerp, Belgium. This led to being selected for an award from the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA) supported by the European Festivals Association.
Known for their onstage chemistry and interaction, they cultivate a special sound-world taking audiences on a journey through time.
Personal Biographies
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Beth Stone
As an avid player of all flutes from renaissance all the way through to modern flute, London-based Beth Stone enjoys a colourful career performing in many different settings in the UK and Europe. She has had the pleasure of working with a variety of orchestras including the Academy of Ancient Music; Irish Baroque Orchestra; Ex-Cathedra; The Sixteen; Armonico Consort; Cambridge Handel Opera Company; among many others. Her playing can also be heard on recordings with the Taverner Consort and the Academy of Ancient Music. Beth’s radio debut took place in Germany for WDR3 and she has recorded albums with Lumas Winds for Champs Hill and Flutes & Frets Duo for EM Records. She has won several prizes in competitions including the 2026 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition; 2023 International H.I.F. Biber Competition; 2022 Royal Overseas League Competition; and the Telemann Fantasia Recording Competition 2021.
Chamber music has always been a central part of Beth’s music making. She has performed with several chamber groups, and now primarily, the award-winning Flutes & Frets Duo and Lumas Winds which have enabled her to perform in many festivals, concerts, competitions and events. Supported by several schemes and trusts including The Munster Trust; Kirckman Concerts; Making Music, Tunnell Trust and the European Festivals Association she has had the opportunity to tour all over the UK and Europe.
Beth spent seven years studying at Chetham’s School of Music from age eleven, taking an interest in historical flutes in her final two years there. As an Ian Evans Lombe Scholar, she graduated from the Royal College of Music with a first class honours in 2022, where she studied modern flute with Gitte Marcusson and historical flutes with Rachel Brown as part of the joint principal course, winning the RCM McKenna Prize for the highest end-of-year recital mark in a baroque instrument.
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Daniel Murphy
Daniel Murphy specialises in Baroque & Renaissance Lute, Theorbo, and other historical plucked string instruments. Taking inspiration from the great lute players of the past, and the leading players of the last 25 years, historical accuracy is at the heart of his music-making. In 2026, he was appointed Historical Lute Professor at the Royal College of Music in London.
Entering the Royal College of Music initially as a guitarist, he gradually transitioned to the historical performance department and in his third year, became RCM’s first ever undergraduate principal-study theorbo player, winning the Christopher Hogwood Scholarship and studying with Jakob Lindberg. Daniel soon became sought after as one of the most exciting young continuo players in London, and began working with professional ensembles across the UK and Europe.
Daniel is passionate about the lute as a multi-faceted instrument, and as a result plays with many different sized ensembles and as a soloist. He is a core member of the 6 strong Bellot Ensemble (2025 BBC New Generation Baroque Ensemble) and a founder member of the Flutes & Frets Duo with flautist Beth Stone. The duo has won numerous international awards including the Romanus Weichlein Prize for the advancement of Austrian Music at the 2023 International H.I.F. Biber Competition and the 2022 La Follia Nuova International Chamber Music Competition.
As a soloist, Daniel won the 1st International Solo Lute Competition organised by the German Lute Society in 2025, and the 2024 La Risonanza EMSA Competition. Experienced at performing on solo & ensemble recordings, his discs with Flutes & Frets and Bellot Ensemble have been met with critical acclaim, and in 2027 he is looking forward to recording his first full solo album on lute.