House of Time
"Musically suave..volatile and beguiling"
- San Francisco Classical Voice
Monica Huggett, Violin
Monica Huggett was born in London and took up the violin at age six. At age sixteen she entered the Royal Academy of Music as a student of Manoug Parikian.
Monica has earned her living solely as a violinist and artistic director and, in 2008, was appointed inaugural artistic director of The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Program, where she is now artistic advisor and artist-in-residence. In the intervening four decades, she co-founded, with Ton Koopman, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra; founded her own London-based ensemble, Sonnerie; worked with Christopher Hogwood at the Academy of Ancient Music and Trevor Pinnock with the English Concert; toured the United States in concert with James Galway; and co-founded, in 2004, the Montana Baroque Festival. In addition to her position as artistic director of Portland Baroque Orchestra, she is also the artistic director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Monica’s expertise in the musical and social history of the Baroque Era is unparalleled among performing musicians. This huge body of knowledge and understanding, coupled with her unforced and expressive musicality, has made her an invaluable resource to students of baroque violin and period performance practice through the 19th century. Monica’s recordings have won numerous prizes. Her CD “Flights of Fantasy” with Irish Baroque Orchestra was named by Alex Ross in The New Yorker as Classical Recording of the Year for 2010. Her recording of J. S. Bach’s “Orchestra Suites for a Young Prince” with Gonzalo X. Ruiz (PBO principal oboist) and Ensemble Sonnerie was nominated for a Grammy™ Award and won the Diapason d’Or in 2009.
Monica lives in Portland, where she enjoys spending time in her garden and plans to buy a motorcycle.
Cynthia Roberts, Violin
Cynthia Roberts is one of America's leading baroque violinists and has appeared as soloist, leader, and recitalist throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. She has served as concertmaster of the New York Collegium, Apollo's Fire, Concert Royal, and Les Arts Florissants. She performs regularly performs with Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, and the American Bach Soloists and is a principal player with the Carmel Bach Festival. She has appeared with the London Classical Players, Taverner Players, Clarion Music Society, American Bach Soloists and Smithsonian Chamber Players. Her playing was featured on the soundtrack of the film Casanova and she has performed live on the Late Show with David Letterman. She has toured South America as concertmaster with Musica Angelica and actor John Malkovich in The Infernal Comedy and appeared as guest soloist and concertmaster with the New World Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Ms. Roberts teaches at the Juilliard School, the University of North Texas, and the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. She has given master classes at Eastman, Indiana University, the Cleveland Institute, Cornell, Rutgers, the Minsk Conservatory in Belarus, the Leopold Mozart Zentrum in Augsburg, Germany, the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and for the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique in Santes, France. Her recording credits include Sony, Analekta, BMG/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and Eclectra.
Max Mandel,
Viola
Violist Max Mandel enjoys a varied and acclaimed career as a chamber musician, orchestral musician, soloist, and speaker. He is the Co-Principal Viola of The Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment. He is a member of the trailblazing ensembles The FLUX quartet and The Knights. He has appeared as Guest Principal Viola with The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Bern, The Handel & Haydn Society and The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. Other group affiliations include ClassNotes, The Silk Road Ensemble, The Smithsonian Chamber Players and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. FLUX Quartet's latest album features the work of Morton Feldman on Mode Records. Recent festival appearances include La Jolla Summerfest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Le Domaine Forget. Mr. Mandel's newest venture is his lecture series Chamber Talk. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, he divides his time between New York and London. He plays a 1973 Giovanni Batista Morassi generously loaned to him by Lesley Robertson of the St. Lawrence Quartet.
Aisslinn Nosky, Violin
A unique and dynamic violinist, Aisslinn Nosky has captivated audiences around the world with her innovative interpretations and impeccable technique. Her fierce passion for early music and skill as a soloist, director, and conductor has generated robust appreciation by press and audiences alike. Hailed as “superb” by The New York Times and “a fearsomely powerful musician” by The Toronto Star, widespread demand for Aisslinn continues to grow. In addition to her role as Concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, Aisslinn has also collaborated with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Holland Baroque, and the Charlotte Symphony. She was a dedicated member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra from 2005 to 2016 and served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Niagara Symphony from 2016 to 2019. Aisslinn is a founding member of the Eybler Quartet, who explore repertoire from the early quartet literature on period instruments. Their most recent recording features Beethoven’s Op. 18 string quartets and was releasedin 2018 (CORO). Gramophone Magazine mused, “they make no bones about treating Beethoven as a radical. ...This set might delight you or it might infuriate you: either way, I suspect, Beethoven would have been more than happy.” With the Eybler Quartet, Aisslinn serves on the faculty of EQ: Evolution of the String Quartet at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Aisslinn has recorded the complete Haydn violin concertos with the Handel and Haydn Society and most recently, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (CORO) with violist Max Mandel. Born in Canada, she began playing violin at age three and made her solo debut with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra at age eight.
Photo: Liz Linder
Stephen Schultz, Flute
Stephen Schultz, called “among the most flawless artists on the Baroque flute" by the San Jose Mercury News and “flute extraordinaire” by the New Jersey Star-Ledger, plays solo and Principal flute with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Musica Angelica and performs with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Apollo's Fire, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Wiener Akademie, and Chatham Baroque. A graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Holland, Schultz also holds several degrees from the California Institute of the Arts and the California State University of San Francisco. Currently he is an Associate Teaching Professor in Music History and Flute at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the Carnegie Mellon Baroque Orchestra. He has taught at the Juilliard School and the International Baroque Institute at Longy School of Music. In 1986, Mr. Schultz founded the original instrument ensemble American Baroque, with the purpose of defining a new, modern genre for historical instruments. He has been very active in commissioning new music written for his instrument and in 1998, Carolyn Yarnell wrote 10/18 for solo, processed Baroque Flute and dedicated it to Mr. Schultz. The Pittsburgh composer Nancy Galbraith wrote Traverso Mistico, which is scored for electric Baroque flute, solo cello, and chamber orchestra. It was given its world premiere at Carnegie Mellon University in April 2006 and this highly successful collaboration was followed in 2008 with Galbraith's Night Train, Other Sun in 2009, and Effervescent Air in 2012.
Photo: Tatiana Daubek
Molly Netter, Soprano
Canadian-American soprano Molly Netter enlivens complex and beautiful music, both old and new, with "clear, beautiful tone and vivacious personality" (NYTimes). This season includes the US premiere of a new solo work by David Lang conducted by Joe Hisaishi at Carnegie Hall and in Tokyo, as well as solo engagements with the GRAMMY Award-winning Boston Early Music Festival, the Grand Rapids Bach Festival, the New World Symphony, New York Baroque Incorporated, and the “Times Arrow Festival” at Trinity Wall Street, where she is also a current full-time member of the choir. Molly has performed as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, Yale Opera, Heartbeat Opera, BOP Opera in Montreal, Contemporaneous Ensemble, the Staunton Music Festival, with Juilliard415 at Lincoln Center, and in Lorelei Ensemble, Seraphic Fire, TENET, and Clarion Music Society. Molly has toured internationally with with the Triplepoint contemporary/jazz ensemble and as a soloist in Japan, Singapore and Burma under Masaaki Suzuki. Ms. Netter holds a Bachelor of Music degree in composition and contemporary voice from the Oberlin Conservatory and a Master’s degree in early music voice and oratorio from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where she studied with James Taylor. Between degrees, she taught English in Kyoto, Japan.
Photo: Tatiana Daubek
Chloe Fedor,
Violin
Transcending her humble musical beginnings involving a macaroni box disguised as a violin, Chloe Fedor has since received critical acclaim for her “lovely, plush, seductive tone” (New York Times) and appears as soloist, concertmaster, and chamber musician in period ensembles throughout the country. She can be seen and heard performing with Trinity Wall Street Baroque Orchestra, Early Music New York, Clarion Music Society, The Sebastians, New York Baroque Incorporated, The American Classical Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, and the Bach Society of Charleston, as well as the Lakes Area Music Festival each summer. Highlights of this season include soloist for Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Project Amadeus, Vivaldi’s Winter with the Sebastians, Concertmaster of Seckendorff’s Proserpina with New York Baroque Incorporated, and tours of Montreal and California. She completed her studies at The Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School, receiving two Master of Music degrees from the latter, both in Violin and Historical Violin Performance. Miss Fedor is one of ten Juilliard graduates to have received the esteemed Career Advancement Fellowship, and she enthusiastically continues her music-making and teaching from her New York City base.
Photo:Tatiana Daubek
Alana Youssefian, Violin
A native of New Jersey, violinist Alana Youssefian has quickly forged a reputation as a sought-after soloist known for her engaging performances, fierce virtuosity, and passionate interpretations of works spanning the baroque era to the music of today. Her performances have garnered acclaim in Early Music America, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, New Zealand Herald, and other publications. She is a member of Voices of Music, and frequently performs with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, Bach Collegium Japan, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, New York Baroque Incorporated, The Sebastians Chamber Players, and Teatro Nuovo as associate concertmaster. Ms. Youssefian’s 19/20 season includes many exciting solo performances throughout the US. After successful performances of Beethoven Violin Concerto in February 2019, Alana returns to Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale for Nicholas McGegan’s final season with performances of Mendelssohn E minor Violin Concerto. She will also be performing a program of Vivaldi concerti with Ars Lyrica Houston, and will perform Locatelli "Harmonic Labyrinth" Violin Concerto with Voices of Music. Ms. Youssefian was named an American Fellow of The English Concert and Juilliard Fellow of Mercury in 2018. Ms. Youssefian studied with Marilyn McDonald at Oberlin Conservatory, and completed a master’s degree in Violin Performance at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music with Kenneth Goldsmith. She is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School's Historical Performance Program, where she studied with Cynthia Roberts, Elizabeth Blumenstock, and Rachel Podger. In her free time, Ms. Youssefian enjoys spending time with her fiancé Jared and their cats Jimmy and Django, reading Stephen King novels, and rocking out to The Rolling Stones.
Photo: Tatiana Daubek