Gallery Concerts

MUSIC IN INTIMATE SETTINGS

Directors

Founding Director

Jillon Stoppels Dupree, harpsichord

dupree_jillonAcclaimed as “one of the country’s top baroque musicians” (Seattle Weekly), Founding Director and harpsichordist Jillon Stoppels Dupree has captivated audiences in London, Amsterdam, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles.  Her playing, praised by the Chicago Tribune as “lively and colorful,”  can be heard on the Meridian, Wildboar, Decca, and Delos labels.  A recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Beebe Fund grant, and NEA Solo Recitalists Grant, she has been featured at the York, Boston, and Berkeley Early Music Festivals, the National Music Museum, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.  The New York Times described her 2006 premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra as “superb!”  Jillon has taught at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Universities of Michigan and Washington, and the Northwest Center for Early Music Studies.

Artistic Director

George Bozarthbozarth_george, piano

Artistic Director and pianist George Bozarth is Professor  of Music History at the University of Washington.  Internationally known as a Brahms scholar, he also specializes in the performance of Classical  and Romantic music on period pianos.  His publications include a book on Brahms and the singer Georg Henschel,  an article on performance issues in Brahms’s music, and a    two-CD set of early performances of Brahms’s music preserved on Welte-Mignon piano rolls.

Guest Artists

Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin

blumenstock_elizabethViolinist Elizabeth Blumenstock is widely admired as a performer of interpretive eloquence and technical sparkle.  The Resident Artistic Director of the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra and a frequent soloist, concertmaster, and leader with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the American Bach Soloists, the Sante Fe Pro Musica, and Il Complesso Barocco, she has pursued her love of chamber music as a founding member of Musica Pacifica, the Artaria Quartet, the Arcadian Academy, Trio Galatea, Trio Galanterie, and American Baroque.  She teaches at USC, and has taught at the International Baroque Institute at Longy, Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute, and the Austrian Baroque Academy.  Elizabeth has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin Classics, Dorian, BMG, and Koch International.

Shuann Chai, piano

chai_shuannAmsterdam-based pianist Shuann Chai has been heard in recitals across the globe, from Beijing and Kiev to the Foundling Museum of London, the Utrecht Early  Music Fringe Festival, and the Tartini Festival of Slovenia.  She  has been featured on WGBH Boston (with cellist Pieter Wispelwey) and Radio-Canada, and solo recitals for the Bloomington Early Music Festival and the National Trust at Fenton House in London.  With degrees in piano and biology from Oberlin College and piano from the New England Conservatory, she is now completing a Ph.D. at Brandeis University. Shuann’s teachers have included Jack Radunsky, Norma Fisher, and David Breitman, and she has worked extensively with Claus-Christian Schuster and Malcolm Bilson.

Ellen Hargis, soprano

hargis_ellenSoprano Ellen Hargis is one   of America’s premier early music singers, specializing in repertoire ranging from ballads to  opera and oratorio. She has worked with many of the foremost period-music conductors of the world, including Andrew Parrott, Gustav Leonhardt, Paul Goodwin, Monica Huggett, and Paul Hillier.  She has performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Tragicomedia, the Mozartean Players, Fretwork, the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Emmanuel Music, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. She has appeared at many of the world's leading festivals and is a frequent guest at the Boston Early Music Festival. Her recordings ranges from medieval to contemporary music, including Lully’s Thésée and Conradi’s opera Ariadne, both nominated for Grammy Awards. Her dozen recordings for Harmonia Mundi include a critically acclaimed solo recital disc of music by Jacopo Peri and Arvo Pärt’s Berlin Mass with Theatre of Voices, and two recital discs with Paul O’Dette on Noyse Productions. Ellen teaches voice Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and is Artist-in-Residence with the Newberry Consort at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

Northwest Artists

Cecilia Archuleta, violin

archuleta_ceciliaViolinist Cecilia Archuleta has performed internationally as an orchestral musician and soloist.  She has appeared as soloist with the Mexico City Philharmonic and by special request of the First Lady of Mexico played before the President of Mexico. Her freelance career in California brought numerous celebrity engagements, including a concert for Princess Grace of Monaco and a performance   of the Bach Double with Jack Benny.  In the Northwest Cecilia is one of the most sought-after violinists for chamber music. She participated for twelve seasons in the Olympic Music Festival.  Cecilia is a founding member of the Onyx Chamber Players and a member of the Northwest Sinfonietta, and has played with the Seattle Symphony.

Vicki Boeckman, recorder

boeckman_vickiVicki Boeckman has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Scandinavia, England, Scotland, and Germany, and for Danish  and Norwegian radio and television. She has taught at the Royal Danish Academy   of Music and at the Ishøj Municipal School of Music. Settling in Seattle in 2004,   she has been soloist with     the Seattle Baroque and Philharmonia Northwest Orchestras, and with The Northwest Girl Choir and   the Medieval Women’s Choir.  She is actively involved in       the Seattle Recorder Society and  is the Music Director for the newly formed Portland Recorder Society. Vicki teaches privately and at the Music Center of the Northwest. Her recordings can be heard on the Kontra Punkt, Classico, Da Capo, Horizon, Musical Heritage America, Paula, Kadanza, and Primavera labels.

Meg Brennand, cello

brennand_megCellist Meg Brennand’s  playing has been termed “stunning” (Seattle Weekly) and praised for its “exemplary musicianship and true flair” (Journal American).  Known  for her work on both modern and Baroque cello, she is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and has performed with the Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver Baroque Orchestras.  An avid chamber musician, Meg has concertized throughout the Northwest and is cellist with the Onyx Chamber Players, which is based in Chicago  and Seattle and has performed the complete Beethoven and Mozart piano chamber music.  A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Meg teaches at Seattle Pacific University and has recorded for NPR, Wild Boar, and Centaur.

Ya-Li Lee Cheng, soprano

chen_yaSoprano Ya-Li Lee Cheng  is new to the Pacific Northwest.  A graduate  of the Conservatorio Di Musica “O.Respighi” in Rome, she is currently a soprano soloist at St. James Cathedral and a member of the St. James Cathedral Cantorei.  Of her singing, Bernard Jacobson of Seen and  Heard International has written, “Ms. Ya-Li Lee Cheng has a fine voice and uses it with skill and taste.”  Her recent credits include being  the soprano soloist in the world premiere of Patrik Stoyanovich’s St. Cecilia Cantata in a performance conducted by Elizabeth Stoyanovich on Bainbridge Island.

Tekla Cunningham, violin and viola

cunnimgham_teklaTekla Cunningham, violinist and violist, performs across the United States and in Europe with such early music groups as the American Bach Soloists, Musica Angelica, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the Seattle Baroque Orchestra.  She has appeared at the Carmel Bach and San Luis Obispo Mozart Festivals and with such groups as the Artaria Quartet and Musica Pacifica. Her Bay-area ensemble, the Novello Quartet, delights audiences with music by Haydn and his contemporaries, and she is a member of La Monica, whose concerts at the Bloomington Early Music Festival were described as “sizzling.”  A native of Seattle, Tekla studied history, German literature, and music at Johns Hopkins University, the Peabody Conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna.  She holds a master’s degree from the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco.

Tamara Friedman, piano

friedman_tamaraTamara Friedman’s penetrating interpretations of the Classical and Romantic repertory have won praise from critics and colleagues.  A graduate of the Mannes College of Music, where she studied with Mozart specialist Lilian Kallir, she  has collaborated with such artists as Stanley Ritchie, Jaap Schröder, and Max van Egmond.  She has appeared in Seattle and San Francisco with Elizabeth Blumenstock as the Duo Amadeus, and in the Northwest has performed on the Allegro Baroque and Beyond, Mostly Nordic, and  Belle Arte and the Governor’s Chamber Music Festival.  With a grant from the Jack Straw Artist Support Program she has recorded a CD of early Romantic character pieces on her 1815 Streicher/Wolf grand piano recently issued by Kreisler Records.

Raluca Marinescu, soprano

marinescu_ralucaRomanian-born soprano Raluca Marinescu has studied both piano and voice, winning several prizes in national and international competition.  She has participated master classes in piano in Salerno, Italy, and in voice with such renowned singers as Carol Vaness, Eugenia Moldoveanu, and Corneliu Murgu, and holds degrees from the National University of Music in Bucharest and the University of Washington, where she is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in voice.  In addition to piano recitals in homeland, she has performed in Austria, Italy, England, and United States.   In the Northwest she has sung the roles of Antonia in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme, and Micaela in Bizet’s Carmen with the Bellevue Opera and the Contessa in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro with the University of Washington Opera.

Sarah Barratt Markovits, soprano

markovits_sarah_bSoprano Sarah Barratt Markovits holds degrees from Lawrence University and the University of Washington where she  is currently pursuing  a Doctoral of Musical Arts under the tutelage of Jane Eaglen.  A winner  of the Youth Prize at   the Metropolitan Opera District Auditions in Milwaukee in 1997, she is a member of and soloist with Choral Arts in Seattle.  Her stage roles include Arminda  in La Finta Giardiniera, Laurie in The Tender Land, Rose in Street Scene, Blanche in Dialogues des Carmelites, and Grizabella in CATS. In 2005–07 Sarah taught at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and the Punahou School.  During these years she presented faculty recitals and was a soloist with the Rose Consort of Viols.

Sarra Sharif, mezz-soprano

sharif_sarraMezzo-soprano Sarra Sharif received her Bachelor of Music in Music Education last spring at the University of Washington’s School of Music, where she studied conducting with Giselle Wyers and voice with Juliana Rambaldi.  She performs regularly as a mezzo soprano with the Renaissance Singers and appears often as an alto with the Tudor Choir.  Currently, Sarra is section leader and cantor at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Queen Anne.  She also works as a recording artist for movie and videogame soundtracks.

Page Smith, cello

smith_pagePage Smith is solo cellist   of the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Auburn Symphony and was principal cellist for the Northwest Chamber Orchestra for 25 years.  She has been principal cellist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony    and the New Jersey Symphony, and currently plays frequently with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera.  As a chamber musician she has performed regularly on the Showcase, Pilchuck, Mostly Nordic, and Second City chamber music series, in addition to her appearances for Gallery Concert.  Last summer she debuted with the Orcas Island Chamber Music Series.  Page has performed as soloist with the orchestras of which she has been principal cellist and also with the Tudor Choir, Opus 7, Choral Arts Northwest, the St. Mark’s Cathedral Choir, Seattle Pro Musica, and the St. James Cathedral Choir.

Stacey Sunde, mezzo-soprano

sunde_staceyMezzo-soprano Stacey Sunde has appeared as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Pro Musica, the Medieval Women’s Choir, Choral Arts, and the Choir of  the Sound.  A cantor at St. James Cathedral, she also is a member of the Cathedral’s professional ensemble, the Cathedral Cantorei.  Stacey works regularly as a recording artist for movie soundtracks, video games, and commercials.  She is also a music educator, teaching at    St. Catherine School and conducting two choirs   in St. James Cathedral’s renowned Youth Music Program.  Last autumn she was a part of the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera’s production of Cavalieri’s Rappresentatione die Anima et di Corpo.

Margriet Tindemans, viola da gamba

tindemans_margrietMargriet Tindemans has performed, recorded, and taught early music on four continents.  A 2005 Grammy Nominee, she was named “Best Asset to Seattle’s Classical Music Scene” in the Seattle Weekly’s 2004 “Best of Seattle” issue. She has been a frequent guest soloist with such leading ensembles as the Folger Consort, Tragicomedia, and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. She performs and records with Medieval Strings, Seattle Baroque, and Pacific Operaworks, directs the Medieval Women’s Choir of Seattle, and works closely with the Northwest Puppet Center on several productions.  Margriet maintains a busy private studio and she is a much sought after director and teacher at workshops, including the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop and the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera. Her recordings for Harmonia Mundi, Erato, Wildboar, BMG, EMI, Smithsonian Collection, and Koch span the centuries from the music of the German mystic Hildegard von Bingen to works by contemporary composers.

Karen Elizabeth Urlie, soprano

urlie_karenSoprano Karen Elizabeth Urlie appears frequently  on opera, concert, and recital stages across the Pacific Northwest. She   has been a soloist with    the Baroque Northwest Quartet, Northwest Sinfonietta, the Bellevue Chamber Chorus, the Sacred Music Chorale,    the Kitsap, Rainier Lyric, and Bellevue Operas, and the Seattle Opera Guild Previews, and is member of the Seattle Opera Chorus. Recently, she worked with Adam Guettel, Tony Award winning composer of A Light in the Piazza, on a recording of his Uncle Vanya for the Intiman Theater.  She is the winner of the 2001 Seattle Ladies Musical Club Awards/Tour Competition, and has been a finalist in the Sun Valley Opera Competition and N.A.T.S. Western Washington Vocal Competition.

Laurel Wells, violin

wells_laurelViolist Laurel Wells has enjoyed an extensive and eclectic musical life, performing from Hong Kong to Norway and throughout the United States.  For twenty years she played  with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, between seasons earning Master’s degrees in violin and viola at Indiana University.  She also studied at the Banff Centre in Canada, and performed extensively under the guidance of the Vermeer Quartet.  When not traveling and performing in Asia or Europe, or visiting the Northwest as a member of the Iris Quartet, she played frequently with the Chicago Symphony and various ensembles including City Musick.   In 1995 Laurel settled in Seattle, where she performs often with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera, is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, was principal violist of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and plays on Gallery Concerts and with the Seattle Baroque, Portland Baroque, and Pacific Baroque Orchestras.

Nancy Zylstra, Choral Director

zlystra_nancyCalled “one of the Northwest’s greatest natural resources” by the Portland Oregonian, soprano Nancy Zylstra has earned critical  acclaim for her pure and expressive singing in a wide variety of repertoire.  She has appeared as soloist    on major festivals throughout North America and Europe and performed with the leading American and Canadian baroque orchestras, as well as the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, under such renowned conductors James de Priest, Ton Koopman, Jeffrey Thomas, and Andrew Parrott.  In demand as a voice teacher and historical performance coach, she is a popular clinician and has given master classes for NATS, The Voice  Foundation, and many universities.  Nancy maintains a private studio, is on the faculty of Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute, the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera, and Pacific Lutheran University and is the vocal coach for the Medieval Women’s Choir.  She currently serves on the national board of Early Music America.  Her recordings can be heard on the Erato, Wildboar, Koch, and Gasparo labels.