2017-2018 Artists
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Fiona Hughes, baroque violin
Violinist Fiona Hughes holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music. A founding member of Three Notch’d Road, she is a versatile performer of both modern and baroque violin, appearing with North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Washington Bach Consort, Boston Baroque, Duke Vespers Ensemble, the Richmond Symphony, and the Handel + Haydn Society. She has performed in numerous music festivals, including Kinhaven, Encore, Brevard Music Center, National Repertory Orchestra, Banff, Staunton Music Festival, and Japan’s Pacific Music Festival. She looks to Stephen Rose, Adam DeGraff, Marilyn McDonald, and Lucy van Dael as primary mentors. Fiona’s period bows are by David Hawthorne and her violin is the ex-Vieuxtemps Claude Pierray (1720 Paris).
Anne Timberlake, recorders
Anne Timberlake has appeared across the United States performing repertoire from Bach to twenty-first-century premieres. She holds degrees in recorder performance from Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Alison Melville, and Indiana University, where she studied with Eva Legene and won the 2007 Early Music Institute Concerto Competition. Critics have praised her “fine technique and stylishness,” “unexpectedly rich lyricism” (Letter V), and “dazzling playing” (Chicago Classical Review). Anne has received awards from the American Recorder Society and the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, and was awarded a Fulbright Grant. With Musik Ekklesia, Anne has recorded for the Sono Luminus label. Anne is a founding member of the ensemble Wayward Sisters, specializing in music of the early baroque. In 2011, Wayward Sisters won Early Music America’s Naxos Recording Competition. Wayward Sisters released their debut CD on the Naxos label in 2014. Anne enjoys teaching as well as playing. In addition to maintaining private and online studios, Anne has coached through Indiana University’s Pre-College Recorder Program, the Amherst Early Music Festival, the San Francisco Early Music Society, the Virginia Baroque Performance Institute, Mountain Collegium, and for numerous ARS chapters. Students have ranged in age from 6-83, and in level from beginning to pre-professional. Teaching is a passion for Anne!
GUEST ARTISTS
Peter Walker, bass & bagpipes
Described as a “rich-voiced” and “vivid” singer by a recent New York Times review, and an “impressive” and “exciting” piper by clevelandclassical.com, Peter Walker enjoys a varied and exciting career as a singer of early, classical and folk music, and as a piper in music ranging from the Middle Ages to the present. Recent performances include Balthasar and Habbakuk in The Play of Daniel with Gotham Early Music, bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and singing in Russia and London with the Clarion Society Choir, as well as appearances with Apollo’s Fire, Three Notch’d Road, Handel + Haydn Society, Texas Early Music Project, Staunton Music Festival, Skylark Ensemble, and Early Music New York. Peter is a member of the choir of St. Luke in the Fields, is a founding member of the medieval ensemble Marginalia, and won the Overseas Class in the Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society Competition in 2016. He holds degrees from Vassar College and McGill University, where he studied with Drew Minter and Sanford Sylvan.
Teresa Wakim, soprano
Praised for her “bejeweled lyric soprano”, and “perfect early music voice”, soprano Teresa Wakim won First Prize at the International Soloist Competition for Early Music in Brunnenthal, Austria. In demand for her interpretations of concerted repertoire, she has performed under the batons of Roger Norrington, Harry Christophers, Martin Haselböck, Ton Koopman, and Nicholas McGegan. Solo engagements include Bach’s Mass in B Minor, St. John Passion, and Magnificat with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Bach’s Wedding Cantata with the Cleveland Orchestra, Bach’s Missa Brevis with the San Francisco Symphony, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with Boston Baroque, Bach’s Magnificat with Wiener Akademie Orchester, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with the Handel & Haydn Society, and Handel’s Messiah with the Charlotte, San Antonio, Alabama, and Houston Symphonies. In addition she performs with many of North America’s early music ensembles, including Mercury Baroque Orchestra, Boston Early Music Festival, Apollo’s Fire, Vancouver Early Music, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Tragicomedia, and Pacific Musicworks.
Paul Von Hoff, trombone
Paul Von Hoff is a trombonist and chamber music specialist who performs extensively on both historic and modern trombones. Paul is a founding member of the Gaudete Brass Quintet, a modern brass quintet founded in 2004 that has toured extensively, given masterclasses at schools such as Juilliard and Eastman, recorded four albums, most recently recording Chicago Moves and sevenfive for Cedille Records, and has premiered over thirty new works. Paul is also a founding member of Rook, a chamber ensemble dedicated to performing the music of the 16th and 17th centuries, where he plays baroque alto, tenor and bass trombones and Renaissance slide trumpet. Rook recently recorded their first album, eleven, featuring the rare instrumental combination of violin, bass violin, harpsichord and trombone. He is the trombone instructor at Carthage College as well on the music faculty at Roosevelt University as artist-in-residence with the GBQ. Paul holds a Bachelors degree cum laude from Northwestern University, a Masters Degree from Roosevelt University and has studied historic trombone with Greg Ingles, as well as modern trombone with Frank Crisafulli, Lawrence Borden, and Jay Friedman.
Wesley Hall, organ
Wesley Hall is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, where he studied organ with Martin Jean and harpsichord with Arthur Haas. He holds both a Master’s degree in Historical Performance and a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory where he studied organ with James David Christie and harpsichord with Webb Wiggins. He also studied under visiting professors Olivier Latry and Marie Louise Langlais, and has participated in numerous master classes and lessons with Ton Koopman, Carol Terry, John Grew, Hank Knox, Wilma Jensen, and Sietze de Vries among others. Wesley has given concerts throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, and was the first freshman chosen to represent the organ department at the Oberlin Danenberg Honors Recital in 2009. He has played continuo with Burning River Baroque, Oberlin Baroque Orchestra, and Emmanuel Music in Boston under the direction of John Harbison. Wesley was a finalist in the 2008 L. Cameron Johnson and 2007 Albert Schweitzer Organ Competitions and recently won the Preliminary Regional Competition for Young Organists in Wilmington, North Carolina, taking second place in the Region IV competition in High Point. He is a recipient of the Selby Harlan Houston Prize for excellence in organ and music theory. He has recently completed his tenure as Organ Scholar at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven, Connecticut, and serves as the Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church of Worcester, MA.
Jeremy David Ward, cello
Jeremy David Ward is a cellist whose musical inspiration and repertoire spans from Renaissance dance music to the post-tonal works of Saariaho and Dutilleux. He is a founding member of the 16th and 17th century brass and string ensemble Rook, which has performed at the Boston and Madison Early Music Fringe festivals, participated in Carnegie Hall’s Professional Training Workshop, and led a weekend residency at Oberlin Conservatory. As a player of early bass instruments, Jeremy has enjoyed musicking with Bella Voce, Three Notch’d Road, and the Newberry Consort where he has performed with early music luminaries Bruce Dickey, Paige Whitley-Bauguess and Tom Zajac. He has also had the pleasure of performing modern cello with Chicago new music groups Eighth Blackbird and Ensemble Dal Niente. Jeremy regularly performs internationally with Scottish fiddling champion Tim Macdonald, playing historically informed Scottish fiddle music. He graduated from Oberlin Conservatory and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Jeremy lives in Chicago and is teaches at Triton College as well as Wheaton Conservatory where he teaches historical performance.
William Simms, theorbo
William Simms is an active performer of early music. Equally adept on lute, theorbo and baroque guitar, he appears regularly with The Bach Sinfonia, Apollo’s Fire, The Washington Bach Consort, Ensemble Vermilian and The Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado. He has performed numerous operas, cantatas, and oratorios with such ensembles as The Washington National Opera, The Cleveland Opera, Opera Lafayette, and American Opera Theatre. Venues include The National Cathedral, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The Library of Congress, The Corcoran Gallery, The Kennedy Center and The Barns at Wolftrap. He has toured and recorded with The Baltimore Consort as well as with Apollo’s Fire. His recording with Ronn McFarlane, Two Lutes, was the CD pick of the week on WETA in Washington DC in 2012. Mr. Simms received a Bachelor of Music from The College of Wooster and a Master of Music from Peabody Conservatory. He serves on the faculties of Mount St. Mary’s University and Hood College, and is the founder and director of the Hood Early Music Ensemble. He has recorded for the Dorian, Centaur, Naxos and Eclectra labels.
Michelle Humphreys, percussion
Michelle Humphreys is Assistant Professor in Percussion at Towson University and percussion mentor at National Music Festival. She performs with many of the region’s top early music and modern ensembles including Opera Lafayette, Washington Bach Consort, Tempesta di Mare, and Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra. She has recorded seven French Baroque operas with Opera Lafayette for the Naxos label, including several modern-day premieres. Notable releases include Rebel’s 1745 Zelindor, Roi de Sylphes and Monsigny’s 1762 Le Roi et le Fermier, for which she created percussion parts based on historical performance practices. Most recently she performed with Tempesta di Mare on Comédie et Tragédie, Vol. 1 & 2, (Chandos). In March (2016) Michelle will perform Ney Rosauro’s Concerto for Marimba with Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra of Shepherdstown, WV. Highlights of recent seasons include Michael Daugherty’s concerto for timpani and wind ensemble, Raise the Roof, and a performance of James Curnow’s Concertino for Solo Percussionist. Michelle is a member of the Vic Firth Education Team, a frequent clinician, and a proud endorser of Grover Pro Percussion and Zildjian cymbals.
Simon Martyn-Ellis, lute
Simon Martyn-Ellis began playing the lute after finding the classical guitar repertoire too restrictive for ensemble performance. After traveling to Europe from his homeland Australia for postgraduate studies, Simon stayed in Germany for over 10 years to continue to work in the Historical Performance arena, appearing regularly with leading orchestras, theatres and chamber groups throughout Europe. In the US, Simon is a founding member of ACRONYM and Duo Corbetta, has appeared with Apollo’s Fire, Les Delices, Bach Collegium San Diego, Opera Theatre of St Louis, Opera Columbus, Helicon in New York City and at the Oregon Bach Festival. He is teacher of lute and related instruments at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His particular interests are in vocal collaborations, either in opera or intimate recitals, baroque guitar repertoire, and finding the groove in Early Music. But really, he just has a great time making music with people.
Arash Noori, lute & guitar
Referred to as “the compelling guitarist” (The New York Times), lutenist and guitarist Arash Noori has gained a reputation as a versatile musician with a repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music. He has been a top-prize winner at several national and international competitions, including the Great Lakes International Festival and Competition and Guitare Montréal. Arash has appeared with Early Music New York, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Piffaro, the Sebastians, the Western Wind, Bach Vespers at Trinity Lutheran and NOVUS NY of Trinity Wall Street, while performing regularly with Cantata Profana as a core-founding member of the group. Cantata Profana has gained much critical acclaim for their “intrepid and unexpected concerts” (The New Yorker) and the group was the recipient of Chamber Music America’s Award for Adventurous Programming in 2016. Arash is currently a student at the Juilliard School where he performs regularly with Juilliard415, the school’s Historical Performance ensemble.
Sarah Darling, violin
Karina Schmitz, viola
