Bios 2016-17

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La Bernardinia Baroque Ensemble

Rainer Beckmann, a native of Germany, performs with a large variety of early music ensembles in the Philadelphia Tri-State area. He is a founding member of La Bernardinia Baroque Ensemble and a member of Vox Renaissance Consort. As featured soloist and guest musician, he has appeared with Melomanie, Philadelphia Bach Collegium, Brandywine Baroque, Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Gabriel Chamber Ensemble, Camerata Ama Deus, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, West Jersey Chamber Music Society, Curtis Opera, Tempesta di Mare Baroque Orchestra, and Piffaro – The Renaissance Band. Before moving to the United States, he performed in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy, Israel, and Brazil. Rainer is the music director of the Philadelphia Recorder Society and a graduate of the Utrecht School of the Arts (Netherlands), where he studied recorder with Heiko ter Schegget, Baldrick Deerenberg, and Marion Verbruggen.

Donna Fournier plays viola da gamba and baroque cello with Mélomanie and Triomphe de l'Amour and has been a guest artist with such groups as Opera Lafayette, Tempesta di Mare, Brandywine Baroque, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and The Philadelphia Classical Symphony. The Philadelphia Inquirer acclaimed her solo work as "poised, soulful ... [and] played with particular depth." She specializes in repertoire from the French Baroque period as well as works featuring solo viola da gamba by J.S. Bach. Donna has recorded Buxtehude cantatas for PGM, Telemann trio sonatas for the Lyrichord, Boismortier trio sonatas for A Casa Discos, Jaquet de La Guerre and Bousset cantatas for Plectra Music, and new music for baroque ensemble for Meyers Music. Her most recent recording of a new work for solo gamba and harpsichord by local composer Mark Rimple was released in 2016. Marcia Kravis has performed numerous solo and ensemble recitals, primarily in the Philadelphia area. She is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music where she studied with John Gibbons. She taught harpsichord to students at the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College and Bryn Mawr College and currently teaches harpsichord privately at her studio in Philadelphia. She has accompanied master classes by Julianne Baird, Marion Verbruggen, Han Tol, Sandra Miller and Saskia Coolen. Marcia was a music and drama specialist at The Philadelphia School from 1983-2006 and is the author/composer of several children’s musicals. She continues to work as a drama consultant at The Philadelphia School and at The Friends School Haverford. She also works as a Certified Music Practitioner, playing the hammered dulcimer for patients, staff and visitors in hospice and hospital settings.

and guests in 2016-17

Paul Miller is a music theorist and a performer specializing in music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Before joining the musicianship department of the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University in 2015, he served as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University and on the faculties of the University of Colorado in Boulder and Temple University. Paul has presented research at numerous national and regional conferences, and his work has been published in Perspectives of New Music, the American Music Research Center Journal, Twentieth-Century Music and Music and Letters. An expert on the remarkable music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Paul studied with the composer for six summers and premiered his solo viola work "In Freundschaft" in Europe and the United States. Paul's research has centered on the unusual spatial dimension of Stockhausen's music as well as the phenomenon of temporal dissonance. In addition, Paul works on ornamentation and improvisation in 18th century music, especially as it relates to the works of Italian composers such as Arcangelo Corelli. He is currently working on an edition of late 18th century viola d'amore music with Tom Georgi, a noted specialist and member of the Tafelmusik baroque orchestra in Toronto, Canada. As a performer, Paul has appeared at the Metropolitian Museum of Art in New York City, the Library of Congress, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., the Darmstadt International Festival for New Music, the Bethlehem Bach Festival, the Hawai`i Performing Arts Festival and with ensembles such as El Mundo and Tempesta di Mare. He has recently collaborated in chamber music concerts with Richard Savino and Jory Vinikour, both Grammy ® award nominees. During his tenure as a fellow at Cornell, Paul led the Baroque Orchestra there and studied with Neal Zaslaw, Christopher Hogwood and Malcolm Bilson.

Gwyn Roberts, recorder and traverso, enjoys an active career as a performer, music director and educator. American Record Guide called her “a world-class virtuoso”, and her most recent solo recording earned a five star rating from BBC Music Magazine. Together with lutenist Richard Stone, she is a founding director of Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare, “the model of a top-notch period orchestra” (Miami Herald), and leads the ensemble in performances from Oregon to Prague and annual recordings for Chandos. Other recordings include Deutsche Grammaphon, Dorian, Sony Classics, Vox, PolyGram, PGM, Newport Classics, and Radio France. Soloist engagements include the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Recitar Cantando of Tokyo, the Washington Bach Consort and the Kennedy Center. She is in demand as a masterclass teacher, with recent engagements at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Amherst Early Music Festival, the Hartt School of Music and the Oregon Bach Festival. She is Professor of Recorder and Baroque Flute at Peabody Conservatory and Director of Early Music at University of Pennsylvania, and has also taught recorder and directed ensembles at Swarthmore College, Haverford College and the University of Delaware and at numerous workshops and summer festivals. She studied recorder with Marion Verbruggen and Leo Meilink and traverso with Marten Root at Utrecht Conservatory (Netherlands)

John Mark Rozendaal specializes in teaching and performing stringed instrument music from the Baroque and Renaissance eras. As founding Artistic Director of Chicago Baroque Ensemble, JMR performed and led seven seasons of subscription concerts, educational programs, radio broadcasts, and recordings for the Cedille and Centaur labels. Rozendaal served as principal 'cellist of The City Musick, and Basically Bach, and has performed both solo and continuo roles with many period instrument ensembles, including the Newberry Consort, Orpheus Band, and the King's Noyse. Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, and Soli Deo Gloria's Chicago Bach Project. JMR performs as a member of Trio Settecento with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist David Schrader; as a member of Brandywine Baroque Ensemble; and as a member of LeStrange Viols. Rozendaal's viola da gamba playing has been praised as "splendid" (Chicago Tribune), and "breathtaking" (Sun-Times). A dedicated teacher, Rozendaal is in demand as a workshop teacher and often joins the faculties of the Viola da Gamba Society of America Conclave, Viols West’s annual workshop, Amherst Early Music, Madison Early Music Festival, and the Music Institute of Chicago’s annual Baroque Festival. JMR teaches private lessons and Viola da Gamba Dojo classes at his studio in Manhattan.