Viola da Gamba Society of America

Erik Andersen is a graduate of the Aaron Copland School of Music at the City University of New York where he completed studies in modern cello under the direction of Marcy Rosen and additional studies in historical performance with Lisa Terry. He regularly performs on viola da gamba and baroque cello, and enjoys teaching historical and modern strings in group and individual lessons with a focus on body learning and wellness adapted from the Alexander Technique, yoga and his own experience as a performer, teacher, and practitioner.

At age 16 Erik was invited to participate in a teaching internship program through the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, and now has over ten years of teaching experience serving as music teacher and ensemble coach for students ranging in ages from 4 to 84 years old. As a current MA of Teaching candidate at the University of San Francisco, he is committed to facilitate the learning of all students and to promoting harmony and good-will in this world through teaching and music-making.

Captivated by early music ever since early childhood, I first started playing the viola da gamba in France. I obtained a master's degree in viola da gamba performance from the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, Belgium with Philippe Pierlot.

I have performed with various ensembles in northern France, Belgium and in the United States on the vielle, and treble, tenor and bass viols (medieval, Renaissance and baroque repertoire).

I offer viola da gamba lessons for children and adults, and chamber music/consort coachings.
I teach beginning, intermediate and advanced students. I am attentive to the musical needs and desires of my students in order to help them find their own personal way of playing the viol and provide useful tools to interpret the repertoire.

I start small children with ukulele lessons: this is the perfect way to begin a stringed instrument. Later, we can easily switch to the viol.

Rachel Cama Nemer performs on viol and Baroque cello throughout the country and abroad. Increasingly in demand as a teacher, Rachel has instructed viol at workshops in Philadelphia, New England, Toronto, at the Amherst Early Music Festival, at Brandeis University and at Case Western Reserve University. She has also enjoyed promoting the viol through outreach programs that have been presented to young children, public high school string students and college students.

Rachel was the winner of a Young Artist Grant-in-Aid from the Viola da Gamba Society of America. She completed graduate degrees in music at Brandeis University and Longy School of Music. Rachel is also a professional Certified Yoga Therapist—she works individually with musicians on performance-related concerns and seamlessly integrates body/mind practices into her music teaching and ensemble coaching.

Tina Chancey is director of HESPERUS. She plays medieval and traditional fiddles, viola da gamba and pardessus on roots music from Sephardic and Irish to Machaut and Joni Mitchell. A former member of the Toss the Feathers, Folger Consort, the Ensemble for Early Music, New York Renaissance Band, Blackmore's Night and QUOG, Tina teaches, performs, improvises, produces recordings, composes and arranges, writes popular and scholarly articles, and directs SoundCatcher workshops on playing by ear and improvisation. She has been given a Special Education Achievement Award by Early Music America and four Wammies for best classical instrumentalist. SPECIAL INTERESTS: Treble and pardessus; medieval strings, improvisation in the style of Ortiz; consort balancing, shifting and How to Practice.

Sarah Cunningham is recognized as one of the foremost viola da gambists worldwide. She trained at Harvard University, the Longy School of Music, and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Holland. She was co-founder, with Monica Huggett, of Trio Sonnerie, with whom she recorded chamber music for violin and viol, and toured on four continents between 1982 and 1997. She was invited by Sir James Galway to collaborate on his CDs of Bach's flute music, and toured with him in Europe and the USA. She released solo CDs on ASV and EMI/Virgin Classics, and she has appeared as recitalist from Helsinki to Vancouver.

Sarah loves teaching viol technique to all levels, focusing especially on bow technique for a beautiful sound, clear articulation, and clean strong crossings, and left hand technique for relaxation, flexibility, and avoiding injury. She coaches all levels of consort playing emphasizing listening and musical structure, and also has a deep knowledge of solo repertoire at all levels. She teaches at the Juilliard School and has 45 years experience teaching privately and at summer workshops.

Amy Domingues (BM James Madison University, MM Peabody Conservatory)

has enjoyed an ambitious career as a historically informed musician, performing on baroque cello and

viola da gamba with groups as varied as The Folger Consort, Hesperus, the Valencia Baryton Project, and the Washington Bach Consort. Amy isa founding member of Sonnambula (Ensemble in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 2018-2019). She is an avid educator and maintains a private studio of

cello and gamba students. Amy particularly enjoys coaching consorts of various levels and helping players navigate playing together as an ensemble, through group breathing and movement exercises, as well as providing historical contexts for the consort repertoire. She has served as faculty at the VdGSA Conclave, the Madison Early Music Festival, and as a guest clinician in multiple universities. Amy can be heard on over 70 commercial recordings, most recently Sonnambula’s world premiere of Leonora Duarte’s Sinfonias (Centaur Records). She is a multiple recipient of the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Grant. Amy resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two cats.

Julie Elhard, viola da gamba, appears regularly as a soloist and chamber musician and has made several appearances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, including the St. Matthew Passion by Bach under the direction of Nicholas McGegan. Ms. Elhard was awarded a 2016 and 2012 Artist's Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board and a Jerome Foundation grant in 2002. Ms. Elhard received a Performing Artist Certificate from the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, Netherlands and has taught at numerous workshops in North America and at the Viola da Gamba Society of America's national Conclaves. She currently teaches viola da gamba at St. Olaf and Macalester colleges and is director of the early music programs at the St. Paul Conservatory of Music. She has published repertoire for the beginning viol player, teaches private lessons and has created and led both youth and adult early music ensembles.

Wendy Gillespie taught performance practice, early notation and viola da gamba at Indiana University Bloomington's Jacobs School of Music for 32 years, and she has been playing renaissance polyphony, viol consorts, baroque music and contemporary music professionally for nearly 50 years - and she is still learning. She is eternally grateful to Grace Feldman at Wellesley College and Veronica Hampe at Amsterdam Conservatoire for their help and early encouragement into the world in which Wendy has been fortunate to spend her entire career.

As a member of Fretwork and Phantasm, Wendy has received several Gramophone Awards, Grand Prix du Disque, and other shiny things, and she has participated in over 100 commercial recordings. A founding member of Nota Bene and Fretwork, she has been on the cutting edge of the edgy Renaissance viol scene in both the UK and the US.

Wendy has experience teaching musicians of all ages, persuasions and levels of expertise. Her goal is to help people lose themselves in music, letting go of everything else. A Past President of the VdGSA, she has ideas of how to help people sound better and work together as a consort. Also a frequent faculty member at Conclave, Wendy has undertaken circuits in FL, CA and MS. She has a car, patience, curiosity, loads of time and motivation, and is willing to get on a plane.

Jane Hershey, viola da gamba, studied at the Longy School of Music with Gian Silbiger, and The Hague Conservatory with Wieland Kuijken. Early in her career, she toured and recorded with the Boston Camerata. For many seasons, she performed with Laura Jeppesen at Boston's MFA as a member of the trio Charivary, and with the Carthage Consort in performances around the US and in local venues such as the Loeb Drama Center and the "Cambridge Society for Early Music" series. She has been a frequent guest with Emmanuel Music, the Aston Magna Festival, Monadnock Music, Hesperus, and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, and performed as a violone player for many years with Arcadia Players. Her recent recordings are with Frances Fitch, music of Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, and with the viol consort Long & Away, cantatas of Samuel Capricornus. Jane is a member of Arcadia Viols, performing with the consort at colleges and universities in New England, at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and on the "Music before 1800" series. Next season, the Arcadia Viols will perform again at the Folger, and at other venues in New England.
Jane is an active member of the Viola da Gamba Society of America. A frequent teacher for the Society, she served on the VdGSA Board for two terms, and directed many local workshops and performance projects, such as the 2011 Wieland Kuijken Residency and the 2015 Lawes-a-thon at the Longy School. She is currently the VdGSA Chair of the Teacher Development Committee. As well as teaching in the M.Mus. program at Longy,School of Music of Bard College, she works with students of all ages at the Powers Music School, and has directed the Tufts University Early Music Ensemble since 1995.

Laura Jeppesen, violin, viola and viola da gamba, has a master's degree from Yale University. Following Yale, she studied at the Hamburg Hochschule and the Brussels Conservatory with Wieland Kuijken. She has been a Woodrow Wilson Designate, a Fulbright Scholar, and a fellow of the Bunting Institute at Harvard. A prominent member of Boston's early music community, she has long associations with The Boston Museum Trio, Boston Baroque, The Handel and Haydn Society, the Boston Early Music Festival and Aston Magna. In 2015 she was part of the BEMF team that won a Grammy for best opera recording. She has performed as soloist with conductors Christopher Hogwood, Edo deWaart, Seiji Ozawa, Craig Smith, Martin Pearlman, Harry Christophers, Grant Llewellyn, and Bernard Haitink. She has an extensive discography of solo and chamber works, including the gamba sonatas of J.S.Bach, music of Marin Marais, Buxtehude, Rameau, Telemann and Clerambault. She teaches at Boston University, Wellesley College and Harvard University, where in 2016 she won an award of special distinction for her teaching of undergraduates. She is a 2017 recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Blended Learning Initiative Grant for innovative teaching at Wellesley College. Find out more about Laura on her website: laurajeppesen.com

Lisle Kulbach, multi-instrumentalist...Coaches mixed consorts, viol consorts, recorder consorts, and consorts with voice.
Teacher and coach of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Sephardic, and Country Dance music for over 30 years.
Plays:
Strings: viola da Gamba, rebec, kamanja, violin, vielle
Winds: recorders
Keyboards: harpsichord, piano
Voice.
Performed with and was Co-founder of Voice of the Turtle, a Sephardic Music group. Quadrivium Consort. Recordings with Voice of the Turtle and Revels. Bodky Award on harpsichord as a duo with Sarah Cunningham. Graduate of New England Conservatory of Music, BM in harpsichord. First viola da gamba studies were with Gian Lyman. Took lessons with John Hsu under the Ithaca Summer Viol Program. Teaching at workshops include: VDGSA, Pinewoods, Mt. Collegium, Bloomington Early Music Workshop.

Brady Lanier can currently be seen performing on viola da gamba and Baroque cello with The Governor’s Music, Colonial Williamsburg’s resident Baroque chamber ensemble. He is a degree candidate for the Doctorate in Music in viola da gamba performance at Indiana University, where he studied with Wendy Gillespie and Joanna Blendulf. A founding member of Quaver Viol Consort (www.quaver.org), he has performed around the country with numerous ensembles such as the Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Houston Bach Society, Istanpitta Medieval Ensemble, Ars Lyrica Houston, and Musikanten Montana.
An experienced teacher, Mr. Lanier has taught cello and viol for over 25 years, offering both ensemble coaching and individual private lessons. His education studies have earned him a public music teacher's certificate and Suzuki certification for cello books 1 and 2. He has served on the faculty of numerous summer workshops, including the VdGSA Conclave and YPW, Music On The Mountain, and the Texas Toot. He is currently researching historical and modern viol pedagogy in preparation to write his Doctoral thesis.
Mr. Lanier holds a BA from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and a MM from Indiana University.

Carol Lewis has been called a "zestful and passionate champion" of the viola da gamba. She has frequently demonstrated her musical virtuosity and versatility as a soloist in recitals in the United States and abroad. A former student of Jordi Savall, Ms. Lewis has toured and recorded with Hespèrion, Boston Camerata, and many other groups. Ms. Lewis has taught at Festival dei Saraceni (Pamparato, Italy), Milano Civica Scuola di Musica (Italy), New England Conservatory of Music, Amherst Early Music, Pinewoods, and the annual summer conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society of America. She currently teaches a viol consort class at Somerville (MA) High School and is a coach for the Boston Recorder Society as well as Recorders Early Music MetroWest. She teaches and coaches privately as well—all ages, all levels, catered to the individual needs of the player or group. She's happy to coach recorders, flutes, or other strings or winds, as well as singers.

Lawrence Lipnik has performed with many acclaimed early music ensembles including Anonymous 4, Piffaro, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Waverly Consort, and is a founding member of the viol consort Parthenia and vocal ensemble Lionheart. He has prepared an authoritative edition of Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto, commissioned by the Juilliard School, served as gambist and recorder soloist for staged opera productions including Monteverdi's Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria at Wolf Trap and Telemann's Orpheus with the New York City Opera. In addition to performing, he enjoys a busy teaching schedule which has included viol, recorder and early music performance instruction at Wesleyan University, national and international festivals including the Benslow Music Trust in the UK, Port Townsend, San Diego and Madison Early Music Festivals, Pinewoods, Collegium Director at Amherst Early Music, and is currently serving as director of the Viols West Workshop in San Luis Obispo, California with his colleague Rosamund Morley. He is a contributor to The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Contemporary Dramatists, The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare, and the journal Comparative Drama. Recent performance highlights include concerts with lutenist Paul O'dette of Dowland's complete Lachrimae at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, concerts at the Berkeley Festival, appearances with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, ARTEK, TENET, the Indiana University Historic Performance Institute at the Bloomington Early Music Festival and early opera residency at Canegie Mellon University.

Sarah Manthey studied guitar in Spain, and a projected stay of one year turned into eight. While there, she heard a viola da gamba, and the course of her life was altered forever. She earned a degree from the Hochschule fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst, Hamburg, Germany; studied under Pere Ros, attended Masterclasses with Jordi Savall, Wieland Kuiken, took classes with Julia Theis, Hamburg, and Christine Kyprie, Cologne.
A founding member of Ensemble Odhecaton in Madrid, Spain; performed with various Baroque ensembles in Germany including Tempora mutantur, Kiel; Musica Viva Moelln; Trias, Hamburg; Lamento, Luebeck; Musica Poetica (Netherlands) under the direction of Jorn Boysen.

Since returning to New Mexico in 2011, has worked to expand interest in early music, continued private teaching, and performed with musicians working in New Mexico.

Though neither a singer nor a voice-coach, she has a small choir, and finds great satisfaction in helping people who thought they were unmusical learn to sing 3 and 4-part harmony.

Sarah Mead is a Professor at Brandeis University where she has directed historical instrument and vocal ensembles and taught music history since 1982. In 2007 she received the Thomas Binkley Award from Early Music America for her teaching and scholarship. She was Music Director of the annual VdGSA Conclave for seven years and of Pinewoods Early Music Week for six. Overseas she has performed and taught in Brazil, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. She is a sought-after lecturer and ensemble-coach, and a frequent faculty-member at early music workshops. She is a founding member and music director of Nota Bene Viol Consort. Her editions and commentary on both recent and historical works for viols can be found in the "NewsMusic" section of the VdGSA Newsletter. She helped found the Circuit Rider Program, where she enjoys teaching private lessons and coaching consorts of viols as well as recorders and mixed ensembles with voices.

Rosamund Morley performs on all sizes of the viol from the pardessus to the violone, and on the vielle. She is a member of New York's premiere consort of viols, Parthenia, with whom she enjoys playing and recording both early and newly commissioned music in New York and at festivals across the country and in Canada and Italy. For many years she toured around the world with The Waverly Consort. Having experience in many repertoires, she is a sought-after coach for both viol consorts and mixed ensembles working on Renaissance and Baroque music, and her busy teaching schedule has included numerous national workshops as well as courses in the UK, Italy and Canada. She teaches at her Brooklyn, NY studio, at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, CT, and online via Zoom and FaceTime. Active for many years in the VdGSA, from 2017 to 2020 she was the Music Director for the annual Conclave which in 2020 involved creating the first “NonClave” online workshop in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She continues to direct the Viols West Workshop in San Luis Obispo, California, with her colleague Lawrence Lipnik. She was educated in her native Canada at the University of Toronto, and at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Patricia Ann Neely has appeared with the Smithsonian Viol Consort, the Washington Bach Consort, Abendmusik and more. She was a founding member of Parthenia, spent three years touring with Sequentia, and participated in festivals in Utrecht, Berlin, Regensberg, Berkeley, Vancouver, and Boston. She is director of the string ensemble, Abendmusik which released its first recording, "Whyte Noyse" - the complete fantasies of Willilam Whyte and appeared with Gesualdo Six and Cathedra Singers for the interactive production, "Secret Byrd." Pat was on the music faculty of The Brearley School for 25 years teaching double bass, recorder, and an early music string ensemble. She holds degrees from Vassar College (BA in music) and Sarah Lawrence College (MFA in Historical Performance) and has recorded for many labels including Musical Heritage, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Erato, and Lyrichord. Pat is the recipient of a VdGSA GUTSY grant, which has supported her teaching the viol at two schools she attended, LaGuardia High School of Music and Art in New York City and Vassar College. Pat is a member of the Board of the VdGSA and chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.

Elisabeth Reed teaches viola da gamba and Baroque cello at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is also co-director of the Baroque Ensemble. Recent teaching highlights include master classes at the Juilliard School, the Shanghai Conservatory and Middle School, and the Royal Academy of Music. Her playing has been described as, "intense, graceful, suffused with heat and vigor" and "delicately nuanced and powerful" (Seattle Times). A soloist and chamber musician with Voices of Music, Archetti, and Wildcat Viols, she has also appeared with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Seattle, Portland, Pacific, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestras, American Bach Soloists, Byron Schenkman and Friends, Gallery Concerts, and Pacific Musicworks. She has performed at the Boston Early Music Festival, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, the Ohai Festival, the Whidbey Island Music Festival, and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. She can be heard on the Virgin Classics, Focus, Plectra, and Magnatunes recording labels and has many HD videos on the Voices of Music Youtube channel. She also teaches viola da gamba and Baroque cello at the University of California at Berkeley. She is a Guild-certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of Awareness Through Movement, with a focus on working with musicians and performers.

LESLEY RETZER holds degrees of MM in Cello Performance and MFA in Early Music Performance, with post-grad study in Austria. As a Period Strings Specialist Lesley performs annually at the Fall Medieval Festival at the Cloisters, and has performed, toured and recorded with Ensemble for Early Music, New York Consort of Viols, and New York Renaissance Band (and was an invited performer with this group at The White House). She has appeared as Viola da Gamba soloist for J.S. Bach's St. Matthew and St. John Passions in NYC and Florida, played Treble Viol in The Three Musketeers on Broadway, and Bass Viol for Giulio Cesare at the Metropolitan Opera.
Lesley teaches viols, medieval fiddles, and cello privately and at workshops, and attends a music festival performing concerts in churches and museums around Quebec on cello and viola da gamba. She has recorded for Arabesque, Indigo, Musical Heritage Society, Pleiades Records.

Cellist and Gambist Tulio Rondón performs throughout the United States, Europe, Middle East, and North and South America as a soloist and chamber musician. Known for his vivid depth, passionate performances and strong leadership, Tulio Rondón's performance career has taken him all over the world, sharing the stage with many internationally celebrated artists.
Tulio Rondón is in demand as a teacher, chamber musician, and early music specialist. He joined the Vancouver Early Music Festival as faculty on viola da gamba and baroque cello alongside Jaap ter Linden in the summer of 2012 and is currently a faculty member of the IMFA (International Music Festival of the Adriatic) in Duino, Italy.
He received his Bachelor of Music from the Simón Bolivar Conservatory, his Master of Music from Miami University (Oxford, OH), and completed a Doctoral Degree in performance at the University of Arizona. Pursuing his strong interest in historic performance practice, he continued his studies in The Netherlands, doing post-graduate studies on baroque cello and viola da gamba with Jaap ter Linden and Rainer Zipperling at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Mr. Rondón is currently the violoncello professor at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire.

Gail Ann Schroeder graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music History. She furthered her performance studies on the viola da gamba at the Royal Music Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium, with Wieland Kuijken, obtaining her First Prize and Higher Diploma, with distinction. She subsequently taught viola da gamba, pedagogy and directed the viol consort at the Brussels Conservatory from 1988 to 2002.
Since returning to the USA in 2006, Ms. Schroeder has been in demand as a teacher and ensemble coach at workshops for the Viola da Gamba Society of America, the Amherst Early Music Festival, Mountain Collegium, Music on the Mountain and Retreat to Advance. In 2012 she participated as performer and viol teacher in the French Baroque Project at the University of Alabama. Currently living in North Carolina, she teaches extensively in the southeast, mainly North Carolina and Georgia, where she currently has over 30 private students.

Niccolo Seligmann is a viola da gamba performer, teacher, and composer. Most recently as the Viol Coach for UCLA's Early Music Ensemble, Niccolo teaches viola da gamba, kemençe, vielle, and musical "soft skills" like ear training, music theory, and composition. He has years of experience teaching private lessons, and relishes group coachings for a wide variety of ensembles, from viol consorts, to baroque ensembles, to experimental music collectives and rock bands. Focusing on a whole-body pedagogical approach, Niccolo weaves concepts from Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais into his music teaching. In a coaching or lesson, students can expect to focus on breathing, posture, and freedom of movement. Niccolo looks forward to sharing his expertise in many musical traditions from around the world and throughout time to help his students sound their best, whether they are professional players or brand-new beginners.

Gambist, double bassist and collaborative artist PHILLIP W. SERNA has emerged among our nation's leading advocates of the viola da gamba. Co-founding Black Tulip, New Comma Baroque, ViolMedium and the Spirit of Gambo - a Chicago Consort of Viols, he’s collaborated with a myriad of distinguished historical-performance ensembles, most notably the Bella Voce Sinfonia, Burning River Baroque, the Chicago Early Music Consort, Les Touches and the Newberry Consort. He can be heard on WFMT Chicago, Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee Public Radio, and on releases from Clarion, Cedille, and Varèse Sarabande Records. Holding degrees from Northwestern University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Dr. Serna teaches at Valparaiso University, North Central College, the Music Institute of Chicago and co-directs Illinois' first public-school period-instrument program at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. Furthermore, he serves as music director of Viols in Our Schools, an education initiative that earned him Early Music America's 2010 Laurette Goldberg Award for Early Music outreach.

I've been a part of the Circuit Rider Program for nearly 10 years, having worked in Texas, Florida, California, Pennsylvania and, next year, Seattle. Each situation is unique, and has involved working with every level of player, from beginner to professional. I've taught individuals, given master classes, group technique sessions, baroque ensembles and consorts. Where appropriate, I've encouraged house concerts or other performance projects. I have broad repertoire interests, and have encouraged the exploration of earlier Renaissance music. For the concluding sessions in Philadelphia, we will begin to learn to improvise, a la Christopher Simpson, using The Division Viol as our only guide.

Gold medalist of the 7th International Bach-Abel Competition, Arnie Tanimoto is equally at home on the viola da gamba and baroque cello. Described by The New York Times as a “fine instrumental soloist” he performs in venues across the United States, Europe, and Japan. The recipient of a 2017 Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Fellowship he has also performed and recorded with Barthold Kuijken, the Boston Early Music Festival Ensemble, and the Smithsonian Consort of Viols. As a teacher, he serves on faculty at the Mountainside Baroque Summer Academy as well as maintaining a private studio. He holds degrees and certificates from Oberlin Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Arnie specializes in teaching the solo and ensemble repertory of the 17th and 18th centuries, including consort music and mixed baroque ensembles.