Cynthia Roberts is one of America's leading baroque violinists and has appeared as soloist, leader, and recitalist throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She has served as concertmaster of the New York Collegium, Apollo's Fire, Concert Royal, and Les Arts Florissants. She performs regularly with Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, and the American Bach Soloists and is a principal player with the Carmel Bach Festival. She has appeared with the London Classical Players, Taverner Players, Clarion Music Society, American Bach Soloists and Smithsonian Chamber Players. Her playing was featured on the soundtrack of the film Casanova and she has performed live on the Late Show with David Letterman. She has toured South America as concertmaster of the Los Angeles ensemble Musica Angelica with actor John Malkovich in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer and appeared as guest soloist and concertmaster with the New World Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Ms. Roberts teaches at the Juilliard School, the University of North Texas, and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. She has given master classes at Eastman, Indiana University, the Cleveland Institute, Cornell, Rutgers, the Minsk Conservatory in Belarus, the Leopold Mozart Zentrum in Augsburg, the Utrecht Early Music Festival, The Middle School of the Shanghai Conservatory, and for the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique in Santes, France. Her recording credits include Sony, Analekta, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and Eclectra.

Patricia Ahern was educated at Northwestern University, Indiana University, and the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland. She taught baroque violin at the Freiburg Conservatory in Germany and Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute, and has given masterclasses at McGill, York University, Wilfrid Laurier, University of Windsor, Western University, University of Toronto, University of Wisconsin, Penn State University, Grand Valley State University, California State University Long Beach, Sookmyung Women’s University (Seoul), and the Sydney Conservatorium (Australia). She has concertized throughout Canada, the US, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America, and has performed with Milwaukee Baroque, Ars Antigua, Chicago Opera Theater, Toronto Consort, Aradia, I Furiosi, Newberry Consort, Musica Pacifica, and the Carmel Bach Festival. Patricia is a frequent soloist and core member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and has recently joined the Eybler String Quartet and the faculty of the Banff Evolution Chamber program.

Violinist Anthony Marini specialises in Baroque music and is often featured as a concertmaster or soloist with ensembles such as the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Espoo Baroque, the King’s Road Musicians, Ensemble Floridante, the Corelli Consort, and Barokkanerne. He also plays regularly in the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Nylandia and Fioretto Ensemble. Anthony also actively performs chamber music with groups such as the Rosetta Ensemble, the Eloisa Consort, Avanti!, Ensemble Stravaganza, and other chamber ensembles. He has played with a wide variety of ensembles including Opus X, the Jaye Consort, the King’s Consort, Le Poème Harmonique, Les Ambassadeurs, Ensemble Zaïs, and the Folger Consort. Anthony’s playing can be heard on recordings published by FiBO Records, BIS, Sony, Paraty, Ondine, and Erato. Anthony teaches at summer courses such as Käläviä goes Baroque and the Helsinki Early Music Association’s summer course in Orivesi, and teaches Baroque violin at the Sibelius Academy. He is also the co-artistic director of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra with Marianna Henriksson.

Anthony began his music studies in the United States of America, where he studied modern violin with Jody Gatwood at the Catholic University of America and baroque violin extracurricularly with Risa Browder. In 2010 he moved to Europe, where he continued his studies at the Sibelius Academy and the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP), under the tutelage of Minna Kangas, Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch, and François Fernandez. Anthony enjoys both classical and folk music and can be seen playing the violin, viola da gamba, nyckelharpa, or viola d’amore. Anthony plays on a Baroque violin made by Jason Viseltear, made possible by the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Mary Riccardi’s musical tastes were forged in her native city, Detroit, and refined in the concert halls of Europe where she spent the better part of two decades studying and performing. During that time, she played and recorded with such renowned groups as La Capella Neapolitana, Il Complesso Barocco, Modo Antiquo and Barockorchester Bremen. Upon returning with her family to North America, she co-founded the ensemble l’Invenzione which draws on the incredibly rich musical repertoire of 18th Century Naples. As concertmaster of the Michigan Baroque Consortium, Mary has helped bring historically informed performances to Michigan. She is a regular member of New York’s Publick Musick, has appeared with Apollo’s Fire, Bourbon Baroque, Four Nations and Pegasus and has recorded with the BEMF orchestra. In addition to her performance activities on baroque violin, Mary enjoys coaching young string players and cultivates her varied musical interests through continuing projects with Detroit-based experimental composers.

Molly Werts McDonald, a native of Fairway, Kansas, has been a violinist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013. With a Bachelor of Music degree and a Certificate in World Music, Molly was one of RPO Concertmaster Juliana Athayde’s first students at Eastman. She then continued on to complete a Master of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music with William Preucil. 

Molly’s first exposure to baroque violin came through the Eastman Collegium, led by Paul O’Dette and Christel Thielmann, and she was fortunate to play in master classes with artists such as Elizabeth Wallfisch and Kristian Bezuidenhout. She went on to work with Julie Andrijeski in the Case Western Reserve Baroque Orchestra and has since enjoyed opportunities to perform with Publick Musick, Pegasus Early Music, Christ Church Schola Cantorum, Third Thursdays at the Memorial Art Gallery, and New York State Baroque. In 2016, Molly spent a summer at the Tafelmusik Institute in Toronto, studying with Jeanne Lamon, Julia Wedman, and other members of the Tafelmusik ensemble. 

In addition to the RPO and Baroque violin, Molly is passionate about teaching, and has her own private studio as well as coaching and coordinating chamber music for the Hochstein music school.  She is a founding member of the Salaff String Quartet along with three other members of the RPO.

James Marshall joined the viola section of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in January 2023, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music, with a Certificate of Advanced Achievement in Early Music. Although his primary instrument at Eastman is modern viola, James has enjoyed playing baroque violin as well, and is currently the leader of the school’s Collegium Musicum baroque orchestra. He first became interested in early music performance practice when he attended the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin, having lessons with Marilyn McDonald and Cynthia Roberts. James’ guidance today includes study both on the instrument and in the classroom with professors Paul O’Dette, Christel Thielmann, and Roger Freitas. James also enjoys occasionally playing in Eastman’s Cantata Series concerts held throughout the year.

Josh Newburger is the newly appointed Principal violist of the Rochester Philharmonic. Formerly the Assistant Principal violist of the Pacific Symphony, Josh has performed as a guest principal with the Fresno Philharmonic and the Santa Barbara Symphony, and subbed in the sections of the LA Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Buffalo Philharmonic.

During his time in the Los Angeles area Josh recorded for numerous feature films and television productions, working with renowned film composers including John Williams, James Newton Howard, and Ludwig Göransson. Among other credits, he can be heard on the soundtracks for movies from the Star Wars, Lego Movie, Creed, Charlie’s Angels, and IT franchises, and TV series including The Mandalorian, The Orville, and American Dad.

Josh has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, and a guest musician with Ivan Fischer’s Budapest Festival Orchestra. He was twice selected as the Assistant Principal violist of the New York String Orchestra and studied as a fellow at the Music Academy of the West and the Verbier Festival.

As a graduate student at the Yale School of Music, Josh regularly performed on baroque viola with the Schola Cantorum. His other early music encounters have included festival performances with Nicholas McGegan and Reinhard Goebel.

“Who is Beiliang Zhu?” A question often asked by the person herself. She is a cellist, who plays a lot of baroque cello and sometimes the viola da gamba. From time to time she disguises as an ethnomusicologist exploring the connection between performers and the music they choose to play and the ways in which they choose to play that music. Beiliang has earned degrees including a Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance and a Master of Arts in Ethnomusicology, but what that really means is that “Dr. Zhu” is quite interested in learning, hardly ever the most diligent student but always curious. She has won competitions and awards such as the First Prize and the Audience Award at the XVIII International Bach Competition in Leipzig, but what that really means is that Beiliang is quite in love with Bach’s music and baroque music in general. While technical perfection is always an intention, nothing is as important to her as letting the spirit of the music flow through her and reach the listeners.

Michelle (Michi) Cole Wenderlich (violone) grew up in the Finger Lakes but has worked and toured with many of the top early music orchestras and conductors in Europe, such as Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Leipziger Barockorchester, Elbipolis or Die Kölner Akademie, along with innovative crossover groups like Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop and Pera Ensemble. After studying with Joe Carver at Stony Brook University they moved to Europe for early music studies with Dane Roberts at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, and they also have performance degrees from the Orchestra of the Enlightenment and the Formation Supérieure of the Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes, in cooperation with l’Orchestre de Champs-Elysées, specializing in period classical and romantic orchestra and chamber music. They have been featured as a soloist, especially for Viennese bass repertoire, at the Limberger Musiktage and Baroque Nights in the Frankfurt area, and have toured in Europe, the US, Australia and South Korea. In addition to 16’ instruments they also play G Violone - a versatile continuo instrument of the Renaissance and early Baroque in the gamba family. They moved to Rochester from Minnesota in 2022, where they performed with such groups as Bach Society of Minnesota, La Grande Bande, Flying Forms, Consortium Carissimi, and Sospiri. In Rochester they are also a political organizer with Metro Justice’s campaign to replace RG&E with a public utility. 

Deborah Fox is the Artistic Director and founder, in 2005, of Pegasus Early Music, an early music concert series in Rochester, NY. She is a lutenist with a span of repertoire ranging from medieval to baroque music, as a soloist, chamber music player, and baroque opera continuo specialist. She has performed with the major early music ensembles and festivals in North America, including the Carmel Bach Festival, Glimmerglass Opera, Les Violons du Roy (Montreal), Spoleto Festival, Opera Atelier (Toronto), Aradia (Toronto), Tafelmusik, Concert Royal, Brandywine Baroque, Music of the Baroque and Callipygian Players (Chicago), NYS Baroque (Ithaca), and others. She has made frequent trips to Australia to work with Pinchgut Opera in Sydney. She received the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Early Music at London's Guildhall School of Music, specializing in the improvised accompaniment practices of the seventeenth century. Her teachers have included Paul O'Dette and Nigel North. She performs as a regular member of the baroque chamber music ensemble Fioritura. She has made recordings for Naxos, Sonabilis, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Centaur. She has been a Teaching Artist for the Aesthetic Education Institute.

Dongsok Shin was born in Boston, started modern piano lessons at the age of four with his mother, Chonghyo Shin, and continued studying with Nadia Reisenberg at the Mannes College of Music. Post college, he converted exclusively to early keyboard instruments – fortepiano, harpsichord, and organ – in the early 1980s.

Mr. Shin has been a member of the internationally acclaimed baroque ensemble REBEL since 1997. He has appeared with the American Classical Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, ARTEK, Bach Sinfonia (Washington), Concert Royal, Dryden Ensemble, Early Music New York, New York Philharmonic, NYS Baroque, Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Parthenia, Pro Musica Rara, Tempesta di Mare (Philadelphia), and the Washington Bach Consort, among others. He has accompanied Renée Fleming, Rufus Müller, Jed Wentz, Marion Verbruggen, and Barthold Kuijken in recital. He received international recognition as music director of baroque opera productions with the Mannes Camerata. He has toured throughout the Americas and Europe and has been heard on numerous radio broadcasts.

Mr. Shin is well known as a performer, recording engineer, producer, and editor of early music recordings for Acis Productions, ATMA Classique, Bridge, Dorian Sono Luminus, Ex Cathedra, Helicon, Hollywood Records, Lyrichord, Naxos, and Newport Classic. He tunes and maintains early keyboard instruments for the Flint Collection in Delaware, and in New York City for the Metropolitan Opera, and the Metropolitan Museum. His YouTube videos produced by the Met Museum, demonstrating their earliest known Bartolomeo Cristofori fortepiano, have garnered almost a half-million views. He and his wife, the early keyboard player, Gwendolyn Toth, have three grown children, two cats, and 17 early keyboards at last count.

Naomi Gregory performs widely as an organist and harpsichordist, working with period ensembles including Incantare, Pegasus Early Music, Publick Musick, and, as guest director, the Schola Antiqua of Chicago. She is Lecturer in Music in the Arthur Satz Department of Music at the University of Rochester and Director of Music for the First Baptist Church in Penfield, NY. Naomi holds a PhD degree in musicology, and a DMA degree in organ performance and literature, from Eastman School of Music, and MA and MPhil degrees in music and musicology from the University of Cambridge, UK. Her PhD dissertation explores the five and six-voice motet at the royal French court in the early sixteenth century and its role in the performance and practices of royal piety. She has presented her research at the annual meetings of the American Musicological Society, the Renaissance Society of America, and the Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference. Her DMA lecture recital presented a reconstruction of Vespers from mid-seventeenth century Rome, featuring the Italian Baroque Organ at the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY. From 2013-2019, Naomi curated a monthly concert series showcasing this instrument. She has also served as a graduate instructor of early music and continuo assistant for Eastman’s Collegium Musicum. 

Rochester-born tenor Jeffrey Thompson completed his studies at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati with William McGraw. In 2001, he was awarded First Prize in the Concours International de Chant Baroque de Chimay, Belgium under the jurisdiction of William Christie and selected to participate in the first edition of Jardin Des Voix with the French baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants in a concert tour of Europe’s prestigious theaters. This resulted in a series of performances with Les Arts Florissants including Hercules and Acis & Galatea (Handel), Charpentier’s Messe des morts and Te Deum (recorded for Virgin Classics) and as the tenor soloist in the DVD recording of In Convertendo (Rameau).

Other highlights of his career included the role of Zotico in Cavalli’s Eliogabalo under the direction of René Jacobs, Atys in Rameau’s Les Paladins in Basel, Aldobrandin in Gretry’s Le Magnifique (recorded for Naxos), Lurwel in Montsigny’s Le Roi et Le Fermier (recorded for Naxos), Monsieur Riss in Philidor’s Les Femmes Vengées (recorded for Naxos), Rameau’s Les Fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour (DVD recorded for Naxos) all under the direction of Ryan Brown (Opera Lafayette) in New York, Washington and Versailles, the title role in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie in Budapest, Acamas in Royer’s Pyrrhus (recorded for the label Versailles Spectacles), the title roles in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux in Sydney (recorded with Pinchgut Opera) and Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria in the production of William Kentridge and Philippe Pierlot (Ricercar Consort) in New York, Korea, Versailles, Berlin, Luxembourg and Palermo.

An avid recitalist and recording artist, he can be heard on CDs including Charpentier’s and Lully’s Te Deum and “Son of England,” both with Vincent Dumestre (Le Poème Hamonique), Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri with Philippe Pierlot, music of De Negri and Zamponi with Marco Horvat, a CD dedicated to the songs of Henry Lawes, motets of Sebastian de Brossard and sacred anthems for three male voices by Henry Purcell with ensemble La Rêveuse, and a solo CD with gambist Philippe Pierlot and theorbist Daniel Zapico entitled “An Englishman’s Ballad.”

Future projects for 2023 include Monteverdi’s Vespers and Bach’s Saint John’s Passion in Canada with L’Harmonie Des Saisons, a North American tour/recording of the music of Henry Purcell with the Canadian viol Consort, Les Voix Humaines, concerts in Western New York with the Rochester based early music ensembles Pegasus and Publick Musick, Dowland lute songs with Les Voix Humaines and lutenist, Nigel North, the world premier of Thomas Arne’s opera The Guardian Out-witted with Brandywine Baroque, concerts of tenor duets by Claudio Monteverdi and newly discovered duets by his contemporaries with the tenor, Aaron Sheehan as well as a recording of newly discovered arias and cantatas for tenor by the forgotten genius, Christoph Graupner, in Montreal. 

After spending twenty years living in Paris, France, Mr. Thompson decided to relocate back to Rochester, New York but continues to perform and record in Europe.

Praised for her “sparkle and humor, radiance and magnetism” and hailed for “a voice equally velvety up and down the registers”, Laura Heimes is widely regarded as an artist of great versatility, with repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. She has collaborated with many of the leading figures in early music, including Andrew Lawrence-King, Julianne Baird, Tempeste di Mare, The King’s Noyse, Paul O’Dette, Chatham Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, The New York Collegium, Voices of Music, Brandywine Baroque, Trinity Consort, and Piffaro – The Renaissance Band. She has been heard at the Boston, Connecticut, Berkeley and Indianapolis Early Music Festivals, at the Oregon and Philadelphia Bach Festivals under the baton of Helmuth Rilling, at the Carmel Bach Festival under Bruno Weil, and in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil in concerts of Bach and Handel. With the Philadelphia Orchestra she appeared as Mrs. Nordstrom in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. December 2003 marked her Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah with the Masterwork Chorus and in December 2011 she appeared in the acclaimed staged production of the same work with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Maestro Honeck. A native of Rochester NY, she holds her Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Geneseo and Master of Music degrees in Choral Conducting and Voice Performance from Temple University.

Characterized by The Dallas Morning News as a “countertenor full and fluent, glowing on top, dispensed with the loveliest legato,” Nicholas Garza has been hailed for intimate, engaging performances across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

An early music specialist, Garza has performed with ensembles including the Chicago Arts Orchestra, ensemble viii, Spire Ensemble, Austin Baroque Orchestra, Tactus, and Mountainside Baroque, among others. In the 2021–2022 season, he made his Ars Lyrica debut as the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. He’s excited to return to Rochester to join Publick Musick for this program of Bach and Graupner.

Working with noted singer and conductor Simon Carrington, Garza was twice a singing fellow at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival of Yale University; additional festival credits include the International Cervantino, Victoria Bach, Big Moose Bach, and Hawaii Performing Arts Festivals.

A frequent performer with the American Baroque Opera Company, Garza has sung roles including the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina, Cortez in Vivaldi’s Montezuma, and Rinaldo in Handel’s Rinaldo. He also appears regularly with the Dallas Bach Society, Orpheus Chamber Singers, Orchestra of New Spain, and Incarnatus.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Michael Unger is a multiple award-winning performer who appears as a soloist and chamber musician in North America, Europe, Japan, and South Korea. Since 2013, he is Associate Professor of Organ and Harpsichord at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He is a First Prize and Audience Prize winner of the National Young Artists’ Competition of the American Guild of Organists (NYACOP), a First Prize winner of the International Organ Competition Musashino-Tokyo, and a Second Prize and Audience Award winner of the International Schnitger Organ Competition on the historic organs of Alkmaar, the Netherlands. Recent solo recitals include performances for national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, Organ Historical Society, and Historical Keyboard Society of North America; ‘Five Continents – Five Organists’ Festival at Seoul’s Sejong Center; International Festival of Organ, Choral and Chamber Music Gdańsk; Internationale Orgelwoche Nürnberg – Musica Sacra; and numerous international and regional recital series. Recent orchestral appearances include Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (“Organ”) and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”) with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Other organ and harpsichord collaborations include Cincinnati May Festival, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Collegium Cincinnati and Catacoustic Consort, with repertoire that includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos and Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord. He received favorable international reviews for his debut solo recordings under the Naxos and Pro Organo labels, and his performances have been broadcast on North American and European radio, including syndicated programs Pipedreams and With Heart and Voice. He was a guest faculty at the 2015 and 2016 Smarano International Academies in Trentino, Italy, the 2019 Colorado State University Organ Week, and has given masterclasses at several North American universities and conservatories.

Michael Unger holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts with Performers’ Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student and teaching assistant of David Higgs and William Porter, and recipient of the school’s Jerald C. Graue Musicology Fellowship. He is also a Gold Medal graduate of the University of Western Ontario, where he studied with Larry Cortner and Sandra Mangsen; post-graduate teachers include Roberta Gary in Cincinnati and Jean-Baptiste Robin in Versailles, France. Formerly the Director of Music at the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word in Rochester, New York, he currently serves as organist of Cincinnati’s historic Isaac M. Wise – Plum Street Temple.

Caroline Giassi, a native New Yorker, began her musical studies on a Cracker Jack box violin at the age of three. She soon switched to the oboe and later found her musical home in the world of performance practice and historical oboes. She has performed with some of the top early music ensembles such as The Sebastians, Handel & Haydn Society, Opera Lafayette, Boston Early Music Festival, Pegasus Early Music, and is an American Fellow of the English Concert. In addition to performing, Caroline is a dedicated educator and has worked with students ranging from second graders in New York City public schools to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Michigan where she is a continuing guest artist teaching baroque oboe and coaching performance practice.

Aika Ito, a native of Tokyo, Japan, joined the first violin section of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2014. Previously she was a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and the Akron Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in several summer festivals including the Pacific Music Festival, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Festival. She plays in the Blossom Festival Orchestra and Rochester Chamber Orchestra, and subs in The Cleveland Orchestra.

She is a violist of the Salaff String Quartet with RPO members Thomas Rodgers, Molly McDonald, and Benjamin Krug. As a baroque violinist, she is a member of the Christ Church Consort and Schola Cantorum.

Ito began studying the violin at the age of four. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where she studied with Tsugio Tokunaga, former concertmaster of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. She earned an artist diploma at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Stephen Rose, principal 2nd violinist of the Cleveland Orchestra. During her education, she also studied with Mayumi Ohira, Kumi Iguchi, Akihiro Miura and Asako Urushihara.

French-American violinist Lydia Becker unites historical performance practices with creativity and curiosity, engaging diverse audiences through explorative music-making. Lydia currently serves as concertmaster for La Forza delle Stelle, and has held concertmaster positions for Juilliard415, the Boston Early Music Festival Young Artists program, and the Eastman Collegium Musicum. As a core member of Juilliard415, Lydia toured the Netherlands and Germany, and has performed with Rachel Podger, Reggie Mobley, William Christie, and Lionel Meunier, among others. She has appeared as a soloist with Juilliard415 (under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki), Publick Musick, and the Eastman Collegium Musicum (with Christel Thielmann and Paul O’Dette). She is a founding member of the Berwick Fiddle Consort, an ensemble that explores historical fiddling traditions of the British Isles. Equally at home on modern violin, Lydia regularly teaches and performs at Rencontres Musicales Internationales des Graves (France), where she has premiered new works by composers such as François Rossé and collaborated with Maxim Vengerov.

 Lydia is a Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant recipient and a Mercury-Juilliard Fellow. She is also a former Presser Scholar, Morse Teaching Artist fellow, and a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. Lydia holds degrees from the Juilliard School, the Eastman School of Music, and the Conservatoire de Bordeaux.

Alissa Smith, violist, holds music degrees from the Australian National University and the Juilliard School, where she was a Teaching Fellow. Her five-year tenure as violist of the Canberra String Quartet included recitals at Carnegie Hall; performances at the Park City, Aspen, Bravo! Colorado, and Steamboat Springs music festivals; and a residency with the Emerson String Quartet. 

A versatile performer on modern and baroque violas, Alissa has appeared with The Knights at the Tanglewood, Caramoor and Ravinia Festivals, and toured Australia and North America with The Australian Chamber Orchestra. She has performed with NOVUS, New York City Ballet, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Composers Orchestra, Klangforum Wien and the Houston Symphony Orchestra. International festival appearances include the Sydney Festival alongside Lou Reed and at the Istanbul International Jazz Festival.

As a baroque violist Alissa currently performs with Clarion, NYBI, The Sebastians and Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and recently appeared with Apollo’s Fire, Opera Lafayette, NY Collegium and at the Staunton, Teatro Nuovo and Carmel Bach Festivals.

Alissa can be heard on recordings of numerous movie soundtracks including “Casanova,” “Julie and Julia,” “True Grit” and “Keeping Up with the Joneses”; period instrument recordings of Bach Motets with The Trinity Choir and Mozart Symphonies with Apollo’s Fire; and on the multi Grammy award winning album “Winter Morning Walks” with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Historical clarinetist Dominic Giardino enjoys a varied professional life exploring the intersections of history and performance. Dominic was first introduced to historically informed performance through the lens of 19th-century band music with Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band in 2013, and since then has performed with a variety of ensembles specializing in HIP in the U.S. and Europe, including the Arcadia Players (USA), Grand Harmonie (USA), Three Notch'd Road: The Virginia Baroque Ensemble (USA), Raleigh Camerata (USA), Capricornus Consort Basel (CH), and The Kingsbury Ensemble (USA). In addition to freelancing, Dominic has worked as a historical interpreter and musician with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where his research focussed on military bands during the American War of Independence. During that time, he also served as the operations manager of Three Notch’d Road: The Virginia Baroque Ensemble. He is currently the executive director of the Tucson-based concert series, Arizona Early Music. Dominic earned his B.M. in clarinet performance at the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Ken Grant and Jon Manasse, and his M.M. in early music as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in The Hague, studying with Eric Hoeprich.

Julie Andrijeski is celebrated as a performer, scholar, and teacher of early music and dance. She has been recognized for her “invigorating verve and imagination” (Washington Post), “fiery and poetic depth” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and “velvety, consistently attractive sound”(New York Times). Julie is Artistic Director of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, founding member of Apollo’s Fire, Creator and Director of the Wonder Chamber Project, and a frequent guest with various ensembles nationwide. Julie joined the Music faculty at Case Western Reserve University in 2007, where she teaches historical performance and directs the baroque music and dance ensembles. Julie is frequently invited to present workshops in historical dance and music throughout the U.S. She won EMA’s Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship in 2015, was named a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellow by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, and was awarded a Grammy for “Songs of Orpheus “with Apollo’s Fire in 2018.

Kiri Tollaksen enjoys a varied career as a performer and teacher. Equally skilled on trumpet and cornetto (a wind instrument used primarily in 17th century Western Europe), Kiri has been praised for her "stunning technique, and extreme musicality," (Journal of the International Trumpet Guild). She has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe with numerous groups such as Apollo's Fire, Concerto Palatino, La Fenice, Folger Consort, Tenet, Green Mountain Project, Piffaro, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, New York Collegium, Huelgas Ensemble, Catacoustic Consort and Pacific Music Works. She has performed both at the Boston Early Music Festival, and at the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and she is a founding member of the ensemble Dark Horse Consort (http://darkhorseconsort.org/welcome/)

As a professional trumpet player, Kiri has performed with the River Raisin Ragtime Revue in Tecumseh, Michigan, and freelances throughout Michigan. From 1996-2005, she played the Eb soprano saxhorn with the Dodworth Saxhorn Band (a re-creation of a 19th century community brass band, based in Ann Arbor. Kiri is featured on Dodworth's CD, "Home Sweet Home.") From 1995-2004, Kiri was a member of the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Gustav Meier.

Kiri maintains a teaching studio in Ann Arbor, has taught cornetto at the Amherst and Madison Early Music Festivals and was on faculty at the Early Music Institute at Indiana Univeristy from 2006-2010. Kiri holds performing degrees in trumpet from Eastman, Yale, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Michigan. Her discography includes recordings with the Huelgas Ensemble, La Fenice, Apollo's Fire, Piffaro, The New York Collegium, La Gente d'Orfeo, the River Raisin Ragtime Revue and the Dodworth Saxhorn Band. For upcoming concerts, please visit http://www.KiriTollaksen.com.

Active throughout New York State and beyond, trombonist and educator Ben David Aronson is based in Rochester, New York. A founding member of Incantare, his engagements as a historical trombonist include collaborations with Piffaro, New York Baroque Incorporated, Dark Horse Consort, Trinity Wall Street, Mercury! The Orchestra Redefined, the Washington National Cathedral Choir & Baroque Orchestra, and the Schola Cantorum of Christ Church in Rochester, NY. As a modern trombonist, Ben David has performed extensively with Symphoria, and has worked with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic and Erie Philharmonic orchestras, the Plymouth Brass Quintet, Symphoria Brass Quintet and as a founding member of the Hohenfels Trombone Quartet. Ben David holds the DMA from the Eastman School of Music, and serves on the faculties of the Eastman Community Music School, the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, and SUNY Geneseo.

New Orleans area native Melanie Russell made her NYC debut in August 2008 with Opera Omnia’s premiere production, The Coronation of Poppea, for which ClassicsToday.com stated: “[Her] creamy soprano and engaging stage presence impressed in the roles of Virtue and Damigella.” The Wall Street Journal also took note of her “steely sparkle” and “almost impossibly fast, clean runs” in Handel’s Messiah at Trinity Wall Street. In addition to freelancing in the NYC area and around the US, she toured internationally for three years with Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach (now available on Blu-ray disc). She made her solo debut at Carnegie Hall in April 2010 (Fauré’s Requiem) and covered the roles of 2nd Lady & 2nd Witch in the Mark Morris Dance Group’s production of Dido and Aeneas in Moscow and New York. Other notable solo appearances include Handel’s Messiah in New York, California, and Kansas City, Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (BWV 51) at St. Paul’s Chapel in NYC, Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Israel in Egypt (Musica Omnia), Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate and Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Mendelssohn’s Hör mein Bitten, Stravinsky’s Les Noces, and Magnificat settings by Bach and Mendelssohn (Naxos). In addition to her solo work, Melanie’s many years of choral and chamber music experience have culminated in performances with Bach Collegium San Diego, Antioch, TENET, Clarion Music Society, Oregon Bach Festival Choir, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Yale Schola Cantorum, Yale Voxtet, Etherea, Seraphic Fire, Conspirare, and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street. Opera roles include Phoebe (The Cunning Man), Adele (Die Fledermaus), The Queen of the Night/ Pamina (The Magic Flute), Mme. Goldentrill (The Impresario), and Aline (The Sorcerer). Theater credits include The Music Man (Marian Paroo), The King and I (Tuptim), and Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story (Maria Elena Holly). Melanie holds the Artist Diploma in Voice from Yale University/ Institute of Sacred Music, as well as performance degrees from Loyola University New Orleans and Centenary College of Louisiana with a minor in French.

Currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Eastman School of Music, baritone Jason Rober enjoys a great variety of musical opportunity in the Western New York area. In opera, he has performed roles that span the history of the art form, from Giove in Cavalli’s ‘La Calisto,’ to Mortimer in Anothony Davis’s ‘Lear on the Second Floor.’ He has also had the pleasure of being a soloist in several cantatas of Bach, as well as in the B Minor Mass with the Rochester-based choral ensemble VOICES. Other highlights in oratorio include the baritone solos in Fauré’s Requiem with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and in Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his studies in voice at Eastman under Jan Opalach, Jason obtained his B.M. in Music Education at SUNY Fredonia, where he studied with Dr. Kimberly Upcraft.

Christel Thielmann is assistant professor of Conducting and Ensembles at the Eastman School of Music, where she has directed and coached the Eastman Collegium Musicum, the Eastman Collegium Baroque Orchestra, the Eastman Collegium Viol Consort, and numerous other ensembles since 1978. As viola da gambist, flutist, and recorder player, she has toured extensively as a member of The Musicians of Swanne Alley and has appeared with Fretwork, The Parley of Instruments, The Harp Consort, Tafelmusik, and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra. She has performed at many of the leading early music festivals including those in Boston, Vancouver, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Bath, and Regensburg, as well as numerous appearances on the English and Dutch Early Music Networks. She has recorded for the BBC, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, NPR, Virgin Classics, harmonia mundi, Hyperion, CBC, Focus, and Pantheon Records.

Bassist Dara Bloom has performed with many luminaries of historical performance practice, recently playing with groups including Ruckus, House of Time, New Vintage Baroque, Phoenix Ensemble, Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, Cantata Profana, Sonnambula, Bourbon Baroque, and Pegasus Early Music, as well as several summers as a fellow at Berwick Academy and professionally at the Oregon Bach Festival. Recent highlights of contemporary/modern collaborations include William Parker (album improvising string quartet and performance at Sons d’Hiver Festival in Paris), Parlando (principal/solo bass, chamber orchestra), solo performance of Sofia Bass’s Alaap in Raag in Des (BPBC), and forthcoming albums by Tyondai Braxton and Slingbaum. Larger bass section/ensemble playing includes Orchestra Lumos and Eve Beglarian's “A Murmur in the Trees” led by Robert Black. Dara regularly records and collaborates in theater, film, and dance.

Dara studied at the Jerusalem Academy (Dr. Michael Klinghoffer), New England Conservatory (Don Palma), and the Juilliard School’s Historical Performance department. Introduced to the viol family by Dr. Myrna Herzog, Dara also studied cello with Marcel Bergman (Principal, IPO) and Professor Hillel Zori (Tel Aviv University), and is a recipient of the America Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship for Outstanding Performers.

Sue Yelanjian is the Principal Bassist for Apollo's Fire, The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. She also performs with Tafelmusik, the Handel and Haydn Society, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra and Chatham Baroque. She attended Oberlin Conservatory and received degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Boston University. She appears on numerous recordings on the Koch, Analekta, Electra and CBC labels.

Austin-based soprano Shari Alise Wilson is among the new generation of singers specializing in early and modern music, demonstrating great versatility and stylistic sensitivity. Recent highlights include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Conspirare at the Victoria Bach Festival, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri with Pegasus Early Music and New York State Baroque, a world premiere performance and recording of music by Gavin Bryars with The Crossing choir and the PRISM Quartet, the world premiere performance of John Luther Adams' "Sila: The Breath of the World" at Lincoln Center, David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion with skybetter and associates and the Ear Heart Music Ensemble, and performances with The Crossing choir at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival. Ms. Wilson is an active ensemble singer, performing with the Grammy award-winning ensemble Conspirare (Austin), The Crossing (Philadelphia), the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Texas Early Music Project (Austin), Spire Chamber Ensemble (Kansas City), and Boston’s Blue Heron. She can be heard on the newly-released Blue Heron discs of Nicholas Ludford’s “Missa Regnum mundi” and “Missa Inclina cor meum,” Conspirare’s Grammy-award winning “Sacred Spirit of Russia,” and Kile Smith’s “Vespers” with The Crossing and Piffaro.

Tracy Cowart (mezzo-soprano) enjoys a wide range of interests, from twelfth-century polyphony to contemporary art music. She has sung with period ensembles including Apollo’s Fire, La Donna Musicale, Musica Pacifica, Musica Sacra, the Newberry Consort, Opera Lafayette, Seven Times Salt, the Shenandoah Bach Festival, Three Notch’d Road, and the Washington Bach Consort. As co-director of the 17th-century ensemble Labyrinth Baroque with Richard Kolb, she stages 17th-centuty pastiches that juxtapose florid virtuosity and ribald comedy. Tracy is also a co-director of the medieval ensemble Alkemie, with whom she ponders the perspectives and sounds of centuries past, especially as they resonate with (and challenge) our modern-day perceptions. With Alkemie she has performed at the Amherst Early Music Festival, Arizona Early Music Series, Cambridge Society for Early Music, Capitol Early Music Series, Five Boroughs Music Festival, Indianapolis Early Music Festival, and Music Before 1800 Series. She currently co-directs the Collegium at Fordham University and serves as staff/faculty with the Amherst Early Music Festival. Tracy received her M.M. in Early Music from the Longy School of Music and her D.M.A. in Historical Performance Practice from Case Western Reserve University. She is also a member of the Mycological Society of New York and enjoys foraging.

Wei En Chan is a Singaporean countertenor whose singing is lauded for its “time-stopping” beauty and technical finesse. He leads an active career in Asia and North America performing the major works of Bach and Handel. Wei En has appeared in leading roles with numerous organizations including the Singapore International Festival of Art (SIFA), The Opera People (TOP, Singapore), Bachfest Malaysia, Red Dot Baroque (RDB), First Lutheran Church of Boston, Boston Opera Collaborative, the NEC Philharmonia and Concert Choir, the American Bach Soloists, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and others. Highlights include the title role in Handel’s Oreste with SIFA, conducted by Tian Hui Ng, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Bachfest Malaysia, conducted by Dr. David Chin, and Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina with TOP & RDB. Wei En has had the privilege of performing a wide variety of music beyond his work with the standard repertoire. He has premiered many contemporary works and gave the Boston premieres of Stephan Weisman’s The Scarlet Ibis as Doodle, Ligeti’s virtuosic Nouvelle Aventures, conducted by Efstratios Minakakis, and workshopped Pulitzer Prize winner, Cerise Jacob’s videogame opera, Permadeath. Wei En has garnered awards at numerous international competitions and was nominated for the “Best Solo Performer – Vocal” at the 17th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards.

Wei En’s musical journey also runs parallel to his work as an arts leader. Apart from being a founding member & Marketing Director of Carduus, Wei En is an active council member of Early Music America’s “Emerging Professional Leadership Council”, working with EMA staff and Board of Directors to encourage the development of programming and resources for emerging artists and professionals in the field of early music. Wei En draws on his many years as an administrator in various industries and largely from his time working with NEC’s Entrepreneurial Musicianship department and experiences organizing numerous grant-funded concerts and arts events in Boston and Singapore.

Wei En earned his Master’s degree in Voice Performance from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Dr. Ian Howell, and his Bachelor’s degree in Voice Performance from Ithaca College, where he studied with Professor Carol McAmis.

Described by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a dignified and beautiful singer, Paul Max Tipton, bass-baritone, performs to acclaim in repertoire ranging from Schütz and Monteverdi to Britten and Bolcom. He solos under such notable figures as Masaaki Suzuki, Matthias Pintscher, Nicholas McGegan, Leonard Slatkin, Ton Koopman, Craig Hella Johnson, Helmuth Rilling and Martin Katz, and has performed with the Bach Collegium Japan, New York Philharmonic, Apollo's Fire, Seraphic Fire, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Recent engagements include Britten’s War Requiem, Rameau’s La Lyre Enchantée, and a recording of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 which earned a 2012 Grammy nomination. His singing of the Bach Passions are noted in particular for their strength and sensitivity, and in February, 2022 a recording of solo cantatas by Nicolaus Bruhns under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki will be released on the BIS label. He studied at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor with George Shirley and at Yale University with James Taylor.

Violinist Gesa Kordes performs with numerous chamber ensembles and Baroque Orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic, including Music City Baroque, Muses’ Delight, Opera Lafayette, Ensemble Tra i Tempi, Baroque and Beyond, Churpfälzische Hofcapelle Mainz, and Rheinisches Barockorchester Bonn. She has toured as soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., Central America, Europe, and Israel and has recorded for NPR, harmonia mundi, FONO, Centaur, Dorian, and Naxos. Since 1998, Ms. Kordes has been increasingly in demand as an ensemble director of chamber groups and Baroque and Classical orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, most recently at the Victoria Bach Festival in Victoria, TX, Troisdorf Barock in Troisdorf, Germany, and the Staunton Music Festival in Staunton, VA. Ms. Kordes received her Baroque and Classical violin training from Stanley Ritchie and John Holloway at Indiana University's Early Music Institute, where she served as Lecturer for Baroque violin. She holds a Master's degree in Violin and Musicology from Indiana University, where she was admitted to candidacy for a Ph.D. in Musicology. After teaching at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Ms. Kordes joined the faculty of the University of Alabama in 2009, where she directs an early chamber ensembles program and was promoted to a full-time position as Instructor of Musicology and Early Music in Fall 2021.

Joëlla Becker is a cellist based in Rochester, NY, actively performing works in engaging andinteractive ways. Her inventive spirit sparked her passion for historical performance, and shecurrently studies with Paul O’Dette and Christel Thielmann, performing as the principal cellist of
the Eastman Collegium Musicum.

Joëlla earned a Diplôme d’Etudes Musicales from the Conservatoire of Bordeaux as well as from the Conservatoire of Saint Maur des Fossés and is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in cello performance at the Eastman School of Music.

In addition to historical performance, Joëlla is passionate about new music, premiering works of emerging young composers and collaborating with ensembles such as OSSIA New Music and Musica Nova. In her free time, Joëlla loves spending time with family and friends and listening to 60s pop music.

Serbian-American violinist Ela Kodžas is pursuing a Master of Music in Violin Performance under the tutelage of Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she is also a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She recently graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Renée Jolles. She is a Keidean and a member of Pi Kappa Lambda.

During her time at Eastman, she soloed and held principal positions with all major orchestral ensembles, including the baroque orchestra, Collegium Musicum, and graduated with a Certificate of Achievement in Performance Practice, having studied baroque violin with Cynthia Roberts. She has also worked with Christel Thielmann, Paul O’Dette, Elisa Citterio, and Julie Wedman, and attended the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute.

Kodžas has spent summers performing at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Kinhaven Young Artist Seminar, Round Top Festival Institute, and at the Eastern Music Festival, where she was concertmaster and winner of the concerto competition. She has additionally performed in masterclasses for Julie Andrijeski at the Amherst Early Music Festival, Itamar Zorman, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and Joseph Silverstein. During her free time, Kodžas enjoys practicing yoga, reading, spending time with her family, and dog watching!

Soprano Madeline Apple Healey is known for her “gorgeous singing" (Washington Post) and “fetching combination of vocal radiance and dramatic awareness” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). This season brings debuts with Pegasus Early Music and Portland's Oratorio Chorale, a remounting of Ellen Reid’s Pulitzer Prize-winning p r i s m at the Kennedy Center, as well as appearances with The American Classical Orchestra, L’Académie du Roi Soleil, Academy of Sacred Drama, Amor Artis, Apollo’s Fire, Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, The Clarion Music Society, Novus NY, and New York Baroque, Inc.

Recent engagements have included appearances at Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Aldeburgh Festival/Snape Proms, the Kennedy Center, LA Opera, National Opera House in Wexford, Ireland, premieres at National Sawdust, Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Ad Astra Festival, and PROTOTYPE Festival, as well as collaborations with Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra, Variant 6, and les soûls d'amour. Specializing primarily in early and contemporary repertoire, Madeline is passionate about polyphony and loves working on music that challenges the construct of beautiful sound.

She is equally at home in standard repertoire, and operatic credits include Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) a role in which she was praised for her “crystal clear coloratura” (Princeton Town Topics), La Musica/Ninfa (L'Orfeo), Hébé (Les Indes galantes), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Despina (Cosi fan tutte), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), and Cunegonde (Candide). Madeline is a member of the GRAMMY-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street and cofounder of AMPERSAND, a vocal chamber ensemble that prioritizes the work of female artists. She appears internationally as a soloist and ensemble singer. Madeline holds degrees in voice from Westminster Choir College and Baldwin Wallace University. A native of Cleveland, OH, she now resides in Brooklyn, NY where, when she's not making music, she can be found cooking, rock climbing, eating french fries, and spending time with her husband Teddy and their many houseplants.
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Joëlle Morton is a widely sought performer and teacher in North America, Europe, Australia and Brazil, specializing in a variety of period instruments, including Renaissance and Baroque violas da gamba, violone and double bass. She is artistic director for the Scaramella concert series in Toronto, where in addition to numerous other freelance performing affiliations, she teaches viola da gamba and historical bass at the University of Toronto, and is the official Viol Consultant for the Hart House viols collection. Joëlle is also much in demand as a musicologist and clinician, presenting lecture/demos on the history and development of string instruments. She is the author of a number of scholarly articles and urtext performing editions of music. Her website (www.greatbassviol.com) serves as an important international resource to those interested in researching large bowed bass instruments.

Originally trained as a linguist, oboist Fiona Last aims to explore as many musical languages as possible. From playing 16th-century polyphony on the shawm to performing Stravinsky with John Adams, she is always seeking out new instruments to play and new musical idioms through which to express herself. Her interest in early instruments stems from the belief that we all seek to mine the most potential possible from the music that we play, and that understanding a musical style through the instrument for which it was written and vice-versa can bring a special kind of life to music-making. She has performed with The Handel + Haydn Society, Tempesta di Mare, the Carmel Bach Festival, Piffaro, Sonnambula, and the Bach Festivals of Philadelphia and Charleston, and is currently a fellow with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Fiona holds a Master’s degree in Historical Performance from The Juilliard School; she also received MM and BM degrees in oboe performance from the Yale School of Music and Temple University respectively, and a BA in Arabic and Ethnomusicology from The School of Oriental and African Studies in London.