About
Seattle has long been one of the foremost “early music” cities in North America. For the last twenty years Gallery Concerts has been one of its leading presenters of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic music in intimate acoustically right venues. Its concerts have featured Northwest musicians and guest artists from around the world, using period instruments and exploring historically informed performance practices.
Founded in 1989 by harpsichordist Jillon Stoppels Dupree, Gallery Concerts took its name from its first venues—art galleries in Pioneer Square where audiences enjoyed the counterpoint of provocative modern art and lively historic chamber music. The first season saw three concerts, two Baroque and one Classical, held in the Davidson Galleries on Occidental Street. In this welcoming atmosphere was born the first of Gallery Concerts’ ensembles, the Classical Consort, which is still performing and will be heard on the last program of our 20th-anniversary season with three of its original members, cellist Meg Brennand and fortepianists Tamara Friedman and George Bozarth. Since its beginnings Gallery Concerts has fostered the creation of other permanent ensembles, including the Chickering Quartet and Brahms Girls.
In 1991 fortepianist and music historian George Bozarth joined Jillon as Co-Artistic Director, and in 2007 he became sole Artistic Director when Jillon assumed the role of Founding Director. Over the years much artistic guidance has been provided by fortepianist Tamara Friedman. Our first year we performed just three concerts, the current year we will present seven. Last season we mounted our first three-concert festival, “The Governor’s Chickering,” this year we are celebrating Johannes Brahms’s 175th birthday with “A Most Unusual Brahms Festival,” and in March 2010 we will commemorate the 325th anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach with a three-concert festival.
Gallery Concerts has been responsible for bringing a number of internationally acclaimed guest artists to Seattle, to perform with our resident Northwest musicians. Our audiences have enjoyed the impressive musical talents of such performers as violinists Elizabeth Blumenstock, Stanley Ritchie, Richard Gwilt, and Jaap Schröder, viola da gambist David Douglass, recorder player Marion Verbruggen, sopranos Julianne Baird and Ellen Hargis, baritone Max van Egmond, and the ensembles Il Gardellino, Medieval Strings, and Music’s Re-creation.
In its early years Gallery Concerts functioned as a musicians’ cooperative, with all funds taken in immediately distributed to its performers. But as it became clear, from full houses and enthusiastic audiences and from the performers, that Gallery Concerts was “here to stay,” the series was reorganized as a non-profit corporation, initially as the first organization of the Early Music Guild’s “Professional Affiliate” program and then with a Board of Directors of its own. Over the years, the inspiring leadership of Board presidents Stewart Landefeld, John Edwards, and Jim Miles, and the dedication of its numerous volunteer board members have created an enduring arts organization that has weathered difficult economic times.
Since leaving the galleries of Pioneer Square, Gallery Concerts has performed in a variety of locations, including the Security Pacific Bank Galleries, the Mount Baker Community Center, the Central Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill, Town Hall, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Laurelhurst. In recent years the intimate Queen Anne Christian Church has become a favorite venue of musicians and audiences alike, and it is the site of all of our concerts this year.
In recent years Gallery Concerts has established mutually supportive relationships with Classic KING FM 98.1 and the Queen Anne/Magnolia News. Gallery Concerts has been pleased to have the regular support of the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs (Seattle Arts Commission), 4Culture (King County), and the Washington State Arts Commission, periodic grants from the Nesholm Family Foundation, the advertising support of a large number of businesses, especially on Queen Anne Hill, and the donations of a large number of generous individuals who enjoy our concerts and support our mission.
The Guest Artists of Gallery Concerts
1989–2009
Ensembles
Il Gardellino (Rob Diggins, Jolianne von Einem, Peter van Heyghen, and Marcel Ponseele) Medieval Strings (Karen Clark, John Fleagle, and Shira Kamen) Music’s Re-creation (Louise Carslake, Carla Moore, John Dornenberg, Jillon Stoppels Dupree)
Sopranos
Julianne Baird, Ellen Hargis, Ann Monoyios, and Catherine Webster
Mezzo-Soprano
Judith Malafronte
Baritones
Max van Egmond and James Weaver
Recorder Players
Judith Linsenberg, Marion Verbruggen, and Cléa Galhano
Clarinetist
Neil Rynston
Violinists
Elizabeth Blumenstock, Marc Destrubé, Linda Melsted, Carla Moore,
Stanley Ritchie, Richard Gwilt, and Jaap Schröder
Viola da Gambist
John Dornenburg and David Douglass
Harpsichordists
Don Angle and Elaine Thornburgh
Ensembles
Brahms Girls, The Chickering Quartet, The Classical Consort, Ensemble Electra, The Gallery Baroque Players, Neuma, Seattle Early Dance, and The Tomasini String Quartet
Actress
Marjorie Nelson
Dancer
Anna Mansbridge
Sopranos
Amy Bills, Ya-Li Lee Cheng, Amanda
Jane Kelley, Raluca Marinescu,
Sarah Markovits, Sally Mitchell, Carmen Pelton, Marion Seibert, and
Linda Strandberg, Anne Tedards, Linda Tsatsanis, Karen Urlie,
Valerie Yockey, and Nancy Zylstra
Mezzo-Sopranos
Deirdre Forman,
Kathy Hanson-Mack, Michelle Rice, Sarra Sharif, and
Stacey Sunde
Flutists
Hal Ott, Kim Pineda, Janet See, and Courtney Westcott
Recorder Players
Vicki Boeckman, Sand Dalton, David Ohannesian, and Kim Pineda
Oboist
Sand Dalton
Clarinetist
William McColl
Violinists
Cecilia Archuleta, Dorethea Cook, Tekla Cunningham, Mary Manning, Ingrid Matthews, Sandra Schwarz, and Kim Zabelle
Violists
Wesley Dyring, Mary Manning, Lisa Moody, Ruth Sereque, and Laurel Wells
Viola da Gambist
Margriet Tindemans
Cellists
Meg Brennand, Sarah Freiberg, Claire Garabedian, Elisabeth Reed, Timothy Scott, Page Smith, Mar Vanscheeuwijck, and Nathan Whittaker
Contrabassist
Curtis Daly
Percussionist
Peggy Monroe
Harpsichordists
Jillon Stoppels Dupree and Byron Schenkman
Pianists
Rie Ando, George Barth, George Bozarth, Shuann Chai, Tamara Friedman, Françoise Papillon, and Byron Schenkman