Musicians
NEXT CONCERT
Parisian Baroque musicians – Jan. 24, 2010
Penelope Jensen, soprano, has been soloist with major orchestras across the country. A favorite recitalist, she was awarded the Franz Schubert Prize by the Franz-Schubert-Institut in Austria. For Gasparo Records she has recorded music of the baroque with the Atlanta Symphony, the Cleveland Baroque Soloists, and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute where she is a member of the faculty. She teaches voice at Duke University and in her home in Chapel Hill.
Florence Peacock, soprano, has performed as a soloist in oratorio, recitals and opera throughout the United States and in Canada, England, Japan, Indonesia and Russia. A regular soloist at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, she has also performed at the Franz Schubert Institute in Austria and has broadcast songs by Stephen Foster on NPR. She holds her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hollins College and her Master of Music degree from Yale University.
Elaine Funaro, harpsichord, is a frequent performer at international early music festivals, and Artistic Director of Aliénor, a non-profit organization that sponsors a world-wide competition for new harpsichord music. Funaro has premiered pieces on four continents, performing in cities including Amsterdam, Rome, Manchester, Berkeley, Boston and Tokyo. In addition to her many solo recitals, including concerts at the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress, Funaro has played with numerous symphonies and chamber music ensembles. She has recorded for the Centaur, Gasparo, Wildboar and the Classic Concert labels.
Harpsichordist Beverly Biggs is Artistic Director of the Baroque & Beyond series. In late 2004 she moved back home to North Carolina after many years in the Pacific Northwest. While in Spokane, Washington, she performed, toured, and served as artistic director of two period music organizations. She has recorded five CDs from the baroque, classic and early romantic periods on harpsichord and fortepiano, with other instruments. For additional information, including discography, please see ‘About’.
Gesa Kordes, baroque violin, performs with numerous chamber ensembles and Baroque Orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic. Recent engagements include The King’s Noyse, Collegium Vocale St Louis, Ensemble Vita Nova, Ensemble Courant, Opera Lafayette, Chatham Baroque, Ensemble Tra i Tempi, and the Churpfälzische Hofcapelle Mainz, as well as the Indianapolis and Atlanta Baroque Orchestras. 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, Dorian, and Naxos. Since 1998, she has been increasingly in demand as an ensemble director of chamber groups and Baroque orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, most recently at the Magnolia Baroque Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Rebecca Troxler, baroque flute, has been on the faculty of the Duke University Music Department since 1981. She received her training at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Juilliard School of Music. A specialist on historic flutes, she was flutist with the Mozartean Players, with whom she recorded two volumes of Haydn trios on the Arabesque label. Her recording of the flute sonatas of the sons of J.S. Bach was released on the Centaur label. She has performed as soloist with Orpheus Orchestra and Magnolia Baroque Festival.
Gail Ann Schroeder, viola da gamba, graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music History. She furthered her performance studies on the viola da gamba at the Royal Music Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium, with Wieland Kuijken, where she obtained the First Prize and the Higher Diploma, with distinction. She has performed extensively as soloist and with various ensembles including the Huelgas Ensemble, Capilla Flamenca, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam and the Leipzig Barockorchester. She has participated in numerous radio and television productions, and on CD recordings for such labels as DHM, Sony Classical, Ricercar and Erato. From 1988-2002 she was assistant to Wieland Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where she taught viola da gamba, didactics of viola da gamba and was director of the viol consort. Since returning to the USA in 2006, Ms. Schroeder has been teaching at numerous workshops for the Viola da Gamba Society of America, the Amherst Early Music Festival and Mountain Collegium. Currently living in North Carolina, she teaches privately and free-lances on viola da gamba and lirone.
RECENT CONCERTS
Viva L’Italia musicians – Oct. 11, 2009
Erica Dunkle, mezzo soprano, hails from the San Francisco Bay area and has been living and performing in North Carolina since 2004. She currently sings in the Duke Vespers Ensemble, Choral Society of Durham, and Vocal Arts Ensemble of Durham, and she studies voice with Dr. Elizabeth Linnartz. Ms. Dunkle solos often with multiple artistic ensembles throughout North Carolina, having performed with groups such as the Duke Chapel Choir, the Women’s Voices Chorus of Chapel Hill, the Footnotes Tap Ensemble, and Pomodoro.
This spring, Ms. Dunkle was a featured soloist in the Duke Choirs’ performance of Handel’s Israel in Egypt, and in the summer she traveled to Vienna, soloing in Haydn’s Paukenmesse for the International Haydn Festival. She has performed in Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, and Puerto Rico as well as throughout the United States. Her solo performances include such repertoire as the Purcell Come, ye Sons of Art, Handel Messiah, and Vaughan Williams Magnificat. Ms. Dunkle received an A.B. in Music from Vassar College, where she studied voice with Karen Holvik. She is currently a full-time student, working toward her Masters of Social Work at UNC-Chapel Hill and is planning a solo and duet recital of early music for January 2010.
Florence Peacock, soprano, has performed as a soloist in oratorio, recitals and opera throughout the United States and in Canada, England, Japan, Indonesia and Russia. A regular soloist at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, she has also performed at the Franz Schubert Institute in Austria and has broadcast songs by Stephen Foster on NPR. She holds her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hollins College and her Master of Music degree from Yale University.
Peter Cama-Lekx, baroque violin. A native of Ontario, Canada, Peter Cama-Lekx performs internationally on period violin and viola as well as medieval strings. He is a founding member of the early music ensemble Cascata, and has also performed with Quicksilver, Cambridge Concentus, and Music for a While. Peter recently toured Japan with Cambridge Concentus, performing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion under the baton of Joshua Rifkin. Known also for his exciting interpretations of contemporary music on viola, he is an active performer in small chamber ensembles and orchestras throughout the Midwest and New England. While serving as the String Department Assistant and a viola Teaching Assistant at Boston University, Peter won an award in recognition of his performing talents and dedicated service to Boston University’s String Department. Peter recently completed his Performance Diploma at Boston University where he studied viola with Michelle LaCourse and baroque violin/viola with Jane Starkman. He also holds both a master’s degree (Penn State University) and a bachelor’s degree (Wilfrid Laurier University) in Viola Performance.
Joey O’Donnell, baroque violin and viola, lives in central North Carolina where he has been performing and teaching for the last five years. In recent history he has performed with Seraphic Fire, the nationally-acclaimed chamber choir (early music through contemporary) based in Miami; and with the English Country Dance band Collard Greene, Wild Rose, and various Broadway touring shows. He performs with regional early music ensembles, maintains a studio of thirty students, and leads the Meredith College Fiddlers, a reading group for youngsters.
John O’Brien, baroque viola, was born into a musical family, studying piano with his father from the age of five until graduating from high school. While in high school he also studied violin, flute, and later harp. He began his undergraduate studies as a double major in violin and piano performance. In 1989 O’Brien was awarded the DMA in accompanying from the University of Southern California. While at USC he also studied organ and harpsichord. O’Brien has been on the faculty of East Carolina University since 1985, serving as Professor of Accompanying, Chairperson of the Department of Vocal Studies and Director of the ECU Opera Theatre. Currently he teaches group piano and harpsichord and directs the Early Music Ensemble. Dr. O’Brien has collaborated with such artists as Metropolitan Opera stars Hilda Harris and Victoria Livengood, violinist Eliot Chapo, tenor Bill Brown, flautist Carol Wincence (The Juilliard School), and clarinetist Deborah Chodacki (University of Michigan). He has performed in New York’s Merkin Recital Hall, and at the Istanbul Festival with cellist Selma Gokcen. As harpsichordist he performs regularly with Clarino Consort and Baroque dance soloist Paige Whitley-Bauguess. He has performed recitals with soprano Julianne Baird and baroque violinist Julie Andrijeski. He was a featured artist in 2005, 2006 and 2008 at the Magnolia Baroque Festival in Winston-Salem and has appeared twice at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival with Chatham Baroque.
Barbara Blaker Krumdieck, baroque cellist, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where she studied cello with Katherine Scott, Mildred Rosner and Thomas Stauffer. She studied baroque cello with Phoebe Carrai at the Conservatory of Music in Hilversum, The Netherlands. While living in Europe, Barbara performed in France, Germany, and Belgium and recorded two CDs with Concerto Koln. Barbara is a member of many chamber groups, including Ensemble Vermillian which has recorded two CDs of 17th century German chamber music and another CD of 17th century Italian music. Ensemble Vermillian is currently working on a project of 17th century English music. She has also recorded the CPE Bach fortepiano quartets with Andrew Willis, Rebecca Troxler and Gesa Kordes.
William Simms, lute, theorbo and guitar, holds degrees from Peabody Conservatory (MMus) and College of Wooster (BMus). He performs on guitar, baroque guitar, lute and theorbo. He appears regularly with such groups as Opera Lafayette, Modern Musick and Olde Friends Concert Artists. He is also a founding member of the Baroque ensemble La Rocinante. In demand as a continuo player, he has performed numerous operas and oratorios, including performances with the Cleveland Opera and New York State Baroque. He serves on the faculties of Mt. St. Mary’s College; Hood College, where he is founder and director of the Hood College Early Music Ensemble; and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. He has recorded for the Dorian, Centaur and Eclectra labels.
Beverly Biggs, harpsichord, is Artistic Director of the Baroque & Beyond series. In late 2004 she moved back home to North Carolina after many years in the Pacific Northwest. While in Spokane, Washington, she performed, toured, and served as artistic director of two period music organizations. She has recorded five CDs from the baroque, classic and early romantic periods on harpsichord and fortepiano, with other instruments. For additional information, including discography, please see ‘About’.