Amy Domingues performs regularly on the cello, viola da gamba, and vielle. She has a master’s degree in Historical Performance from Peabody Conservatory and has performed in masterclasses for Wieland Kuijken, Paolo Pandolfo, and Philippe Pierlot. Amy has performed with groups as varied as the Valencia Baryton Project, The Folger Consort, Hesperus, and the Washington Bach Consort. She is a founding member of Sonnambula, and the experimental duo Domingues & Kane. Amy is a recipient of an Arts and Humanities Fellowship Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, a Peabody Career Development Grant, and a VdGSA Grant-in-Aid. Ms. Domingues has served on faculty at the Madison Early Music Festival and the VdGSA Conclave, maintains a private viol and cello studio, and has worked as a session cellist. She appears on over 70 albums, and resides in Washington, DC with her husband and two cats.
Gold medalist and first-ever American laureate of the International Bach-Abel Competition (2018) Arnie Tanimoto has established himself as one of the foremost viol players in the United States. He has performed and recorded in venues across North America and Europe with the likes of Barthold Kuijken, Enrico Gatti, the Boston Early Music Festival Ensemble, and the Smithsonian Consort of Viols. Arnie was the first-ever viola da gamba major at the Juilliard School, where he soloed on both viola da gamba and baroque cello. In 2017 he was awarded with a Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Fellowship and subsequently finished his studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. His principal teachers include Paolo Pandolfo, Sarah Cunningham, Christel Thielmann, and Catharina Meints. He holds additional degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music. Arnie is a core member of Mountainside Baroque and a founding member of the Academy of Sacred Drama. Alongside harpist Parker Ramsay, he co-directs A Golden Wire. He is currently on faculty at Princeton University.
Brent Wissick has been teaching at VdGSA Conclaves since 1979 and served as President of the Society from 2000-04. He is Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has performed and taught throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; and can be heard on numerous recordings.
Catharina Meints has enjoyed a distinguished career in music, performing, recording, and teaching on five different instruments all over the world. She was a cellist in the Cleveland Orchestra for 35 years and taught viol, baroque cello, modern cello and ensembles at Oberlin for over 40 years. She performed most often with the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble and the Oberlin Consort of Viols. She and her late husband, James Caldwell, collected antique viols and she enjoys making them available to players. Her book, “The Caldwell Collection of Viols” contains pictures, stories, and a CD of performances on each viol. She has enjoyed teaching many years at Conclave and was honored to serve on the Board of the VdGSA.
A conductor, cellist, and viola da gambist, David B. Ellis has performed repertoire ranging from Renaissance to Contemporary. He received a Bachelor’s of Music degree in Cello performance, a Master’s of Music degree in Historical Performance, and a Master’s of Music degree in Orchestra Conducting, all from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. While at Oberlin, David studied with professors Raphael Jimenez, Tim Weiss, and Catharina Meints, and assembled and directed the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra. As a viola da gambist and baroque cellist, David has performed in many ensembles in Ohio and throughout the United States, including The Newberry Consort, Catacoustic, Les Délices, Three Notch’d Road, Apollo’s Fire, Burning River Baroque, and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. As a modern cellist, David has played in ensembles featuring a wide range of genres, and as a conductor, David has served as director of the CWRU Case Camerata Chamber Orchestra and Executive and Artistic Director for Earth and Air: String Orchestra. David is a passionate teacher, and maintains a small private studio of cellists and viola da gambists.
Early string specialist Dongmyung Ahn is a performer, educator, and scholar whose interests span from the twelfth to eighteenth centuries. Dongmyung is co-founder of Duo Custos, a medieval duo that specializes in music of the fourteenth century. She regularly performs with Green Mountain Vespers, Pegasus, Raritan Players, The Sebastians, and TENET Vocal Artists. She played rebec in the critically acclaimed production of The Play of Daniel at the Cloisters. A dedicated educator, Dongmyung has taught music history at Columbia University, New York University, Queens College, Rutgers University, and Vassar College. She received her PhD in musicology at the Graduate Center, CUNY and has published an article on medieval liturgy in the Rodopi series Faux Titre and an article on Jewish-Christian relations in Henry VIII’s court (IU Press).
Emily Walhout grew up playing cello and piano, but it was not until college that she discovered her love for baroque bass lines. At Oberlin Conservatory she took up baroque cello and viola da gamba, thus launching an active and enriching career in early music. Especially captivated by the music of the 16th and 17th centuries, she found her calling in the chamber ensembles The King’s Noyse, La Luna, and Les Délices, among others. Lately, she’s been delighted to explore polyphony on Renaissance viols with Nota Bene Viol Consort. As an orchestral player she has played principal cello, bass violin, viola da gamba, or lirone for the Boston Early Music Festival, Seattle Baroque, Portland Baroque, New York Collegium, Trinity Consort (Portland, OR), Les Violons du Roy, Les Boréades (Montreal), Montreal Baroque Festival, L’Harmonie des Saisons, Emmanuel Music, Boston Baroque, and the Handel and Haydn Society. Her solo playing has been described as "soulful and expressive " by The New York Times. As a Certified Music Practitioner, Emily plays therapeutic music on the bass viol one-on-one at bedside for the sick and dying. This work is further enhanced by her collaboration with Sarah Mead in the viol duo Heart’s Ease, formed with the same intent—to bring healing music to those in healthcare settings.
Erica Rubis is a versatile performer on the viola da gamba whose work ranges from Renaissance viol consort to improvising and co-creating new music. She is a member of Alchymy Viols, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Les Ordinaires Trio, and also plays with Bourbon Baroque, Catacoustic Consort, Echoing Air, and North Carolina Baroque Orchestra. She collaborates and performs regularly with composer/performer Tomás Lozano in his song project on the poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez. Erica’s most recent recordings, Les Ordinaires, Inner Chambers and Monteclair: Beloved and Betrayed and contemporary music of Tomas Lozano, Eternal Juan Ramón Jiménez, were released in 2018 and 2020. Active in music education, Erica holds regular workshops on the viola da gamba for string students and has pioneered a multimedia program, Shakespeare's Ear, with regular tours and residencies in schools since 2009.
Erik Andersen performs on all sizes of viola da gamba, including the pardessus de viole, as well as on baroque and modern cello. He also enjoys playing and teaching modern violin and viola. His wide range of experience informs and adds complexity to his musical approach, helping to uncover articulations and colors not so readily found on the single-instrument path. Erik strives to find the voice of each instrument, each composer, and each musical work, sharing the discoveries of those interactions with his audiences. He teaches in San Francisco and at workshops and events around the country.
Gail Ann Schroeder studied viola da gamba performance at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Brussels, Belgium, with Wieland Kuijken, obtaining her First Prize and Higher Diploma, with distinction; and subsequently taught viola da gamba, pedagogy and directed the viol consort there from 1988 to 2002. Ms. Schroeder has performed extensively as soloist and in various chamber music ensembles, participating in numerous radio and television productions, and on CD recordings for such labels as DHM, Sony Classical, Ricercar and Erato. Ms. Schroeder is in demand as a teacher and ensemble coach at workshops for the Viola da Gamba Society of America, the Amherst Early Music Festival and Mountain Collegium. Currently living in North Carolina, she teaches privately, free-lances on viola da gamba and is artistic director of Asheville Baroque Concerts.
Graham Christian studied Renaissance dance with Dorothy Olsson and Baroque dance with Ken Pierce, and has taught both forms at Pinewoods Camp near Plymouth, Massachusetts, as well as performing in both styles of dance with Nona Monahin. He has taught English country dance for more than thirty years all over the United States, as well as in Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and England. He is the author of The Playford Assembly, an authoritative anthology of more than 125 dances devised between c. 1600 and c. 1820; that volume is now in its fourth printing. He was educated at Swarthmore College, Harvard University, Simmons University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where his academic specialty was English poetry of the seventeenth century.
Heather Miller Lardin is principal double bassist of the Handel + Haydn Society, director of the Temple University Early Music Ensemble, and co-director of the Philadelphia-based period instrument ensemble Night Music. Other recent engagements have included Tempesta di Mare, Choral Arts Philadelphia, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Staunton Music Festival, and Brandywine Baroque. Intensely curious about all things historical bass, Heather designs online and in-person workshops engaging like-minded players worldwide. Her Baroque Double Bass course is available on discoverdoublebass.com. In addition to serving on the faculties of Amherst Early Music and the VdGSA Conclave, Heather has presented recitals, workshops, and master classes for Oberlin Conservatory, Yale University, James Madison University, and Peabody Conservatory. When not teaching or tuning, Heather might be enjoying a cozy mystery and a good cup of coffee with her two Maine Coon cats.
Jack Ashworth is Professor Emeritus of Music History at the University of Louisville, where he directed the Early Music Ensemble from 1977 until his retirement in December 2013, and where he continues as a part-time instructor in harpsichord and organ. A specialist in historical keyboard and string instruments, he has performed with Wieland Kuijken, Margriet Tindemans, Cléa Galhano, Brent Wissick, Fretwork, Baroque Northwest, Trio Settecento, The Folger Consort and Chicago Baroque, among others, and has taught on early music workshop faculties throughout the United States as well as in Canada, England and Australia. Jack received the Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award from the University of Louisville and the Thomas Binkley Award for Outstanding Achievement by the Director of a University Collegium from Early Music America, and was a long-time board member of the VdGSA, which he also served as President for two terms. Jack has published a variety of items related to basso continuo practice, including the hands-on manual Running the Numbers, co-authored with Frances Fitch. He holds the DMA in Historical Performance Practice from Stanford University.
James Perretta is a Boston-based viola da gamba player and cellist who is active as a small ensemble director, teacher, and performer. James co-directs and performs with Lyracle, an ensemble dedicated to music for voice and viol-family instruments. An avid arranger, James is active on TikTok and YouTube, where he records his own arrangements of video game music for solo viol or viol consort. James teaches private lessons, group classes, and workshops online and at the Powers Music School in Belmont, MA. James serves on the Website Committee for the Viola da Gamba Society of America and is a board member of the New England chapter of the Viola da Gamba Society. James holds a BM in cello performance from the University of Michigan, where he studied modern cello with Richard Aaron and Baroque cello and viola da gamba with Enid Sutherland.
James Williamson performs on all sizes of viols, as well as baroque cello and voice. He has been heard with the Arion Baroque Orchestra, Studio Musique Ancienne de Montréal, and the Boston Camerata, and was formerly a core member of the viol consort Long & Away. He is dedicated to Renaissance polyphony as a singer and instrumentalist, though he also loves playing continuo and Baroque solo music for the viol and has presented several recitals of unaccompanied repertoire. He has directed and taught at workshops of the Viola da Gamba Society of New England. Additionally, he is a long-time member of the VdGSA's teaching committee, is a former coordinator of the Consort Cooperative, and served on the board as Young Player's Representative. He holds a Master of Music in Early Music Performance from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his mentors included Phoebe Carrai and Jane Hershey.
Katherine Shuldiner is an accomplished viola da gamba performer, teacher, and advocate based in Chicago. She graduated from Oberlin Conservatory under the tutelage of Catharina Meints and has since become a fixture in the city's baroque music scene. Katherine performs extensively with ensembles such as The Newberry Consort, BBE: Bach and Beethoven Experience, Bella Voce, Apollo Chorus, Elmhurst Symphony, Washington Bach Consort, La Follia Austin Baroque, Bel Canto Chorus, and the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra. Her repertoire spans soloist, consort, and continuo roles, and she has delivered acclaimed performances of Bach's St. Matthew and St. John Passion. Katherine's dedication to the viola da gamba extends beyond the stage. She served on the board of the Viola da Gamba Society of America and currently contributes to the Oak Park Recorder School. Katherine is a dedicated educator who teaches viola da gamba to students of all ages. Along with her private studio, she currently serves as the Viola da Gamba Teacher and Assistant Baroque Orchestra Director at Stevenson High School. In the summer, she also teaches at early music programs such as the Madison Early Music Festival, Mountain Collegium, and Whitewater Early Music Festival, where she also holds the position of viola da gamba program director.
Martha McGaughey studied with Jordi Savall and with Wieland Kuijken. She is a founding member of the New York-based Empire Viols, which was in residence at Second Presbyterian Church for almost 20 years, as well as the Baroque group Gold and Glitter, with violinist Daniel Lee and harpsichordist Arthur Haas. She has recorded for the Fonit Cetra and Erato labels, as well as for EMI. She has twice been a Regents' Lecturer at the University of California, as well as a featured soloist with the China National Symphony in Beijing. She has taught at the Ecole Nationale de Musique in Angoulême (France), at Stanford University, and since 1986 at The Mannes College of Music, (College of Performing Arts, The New School) where she currently teaches Baroque Performance Practice as well as a Performance Workshop for ESL students. She has also taught English as a Second Language at Building One Community, the Center for Immigrant Opportunity, in Stamford, Connecticut.
Niccolo Seligmann records as a soloist and as a multi-tracked viol consort in soundtracks with Netflix, AppleTV, Microsoft Studios, Firaxis Games, and more. They perform and record on a collection of dozens of historical and traditional instruments, many of which were built in collaboration with their father-in-law, master luthier Ken Koons. Niccolo’s opera and theatre compositions include Julie Monster: A Queer Baroque Opera, An Iliad, Minerva: Times Change, and an electronic dance remix of Dave Malloy’s Ghost Quartet. Niccolo released their solo viola da gamba improvisation album Kinship as part of Strathmore’s Artist-in-Residence program. They record and perform nationally with ensembles Alkemie, The Broken Consort, Concordian Dawn, Hesperus, Magdalena, Utopia Early Music, Washington Bach Consort, and Wherligig. Niccolo holds a B.M. in Viola da gamba Performance from Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, having studied with John Moran.
Patricia Ann Neely has appeared with many early music ensembles including Folger Consort, Tempesta di Mare, Opera Lafayette, TENET Vocal Artists, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Players and Viol Consort, the Washington Bach Consort, ARTEK, Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, the Boston Camerata, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the Newberry Consort, the New York Consort of Viols, and Early Music New York, among others, and was a founding member of Parthenia Viol Consort. She is currently the Director of Abendmusik. For many years she was the principal violone player for Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity in New York City. She spent three years touring with the acclaimed European-based medieval ensemble Sequentia as the medieval fiddle player, performing throughout Europe and North America, at festivals including Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Bach Tage in Berlin, Tage Alter Musik in Herne, Wratislavia Cantans in Poland, Music Before 1800, and Early Music Vancouver. Ms. Neely conducts a viol workshop at Vassar College where she began her studies on the viol and has taught at many early music workshops. She is on the board of the Viola da gamba Society of America and Co-Chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee.
Patty Halverson (viola da gamba and violone) is a founding member of Chatham Baroque. As a musician with the ensemble, she has enjoyed a career of more than 30 years of performances in Pittsburgh and across the country as well as concerts and festivals in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Halverson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Early Music Performance Practice from Stanford University. At Stanford, she studied viol with Martha McGaughey, and following the completion of her degree, continued viol studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague. In addition to performances with Chatham Baroque, Patty teaches and coaches in Pittsburgh. She has served as faculty at viol and recorder workshops including the Mideast Early Music Workshop, Viol Sphere 2, Bloom Early Music Workshop, Music on the Mountain Viol Workshop and the VDGSA’s annual conclave.
Sarah Cunningham: I started playing consorts with my family when I was twelve, never dreaming that I would become a professional. In the Boston area, I studied with Gian Lyman Silbiger and Marleen Montgomery, and instantly knew this was how I must spend my life. Later I went to the Netherlands to work with Wieland Kuijken, then Boston, London, and to Ireland where I co-founded Trio Sonnerie. I’ve performed and recorded with Fretwork, the Dowland Consort, Phantasm, Les Filles de Sainte-Colombe, as well as other groups. My solo double CD, Play This Passionate, is still a favorite around the world. In 2009 I moved back to the US to help my parents and began teaching viol at the Historical Performance program at the Juilliard School. My teaching helps develop a flexible technique that can express all the characters, moods, and stories that the music has to offer.
Sarah Mead is a professor emerita of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she taught historical performance and music history for four decades, and for several years chaired their Medieval and Renaissance Studies program. She was Conclave Music Director from 2010 to 2016, and returns to that role this year. As editor of “News Music" for the VdGSA News, she provides a quarterly selection of music and commentary on both recent and historical works for viols. Her performing editions of historical and original works for viols were published by PRB Productions, and her handbook on Renaissance theory is used in historical music programs around the country. Overseas she has performed, lectured, given masterclasses, and led workshops in Brazil, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. She is a sought-after lecturer and ensemble-coach in the US, where she is a founding member and music director of Nota Bene Viol Consort.
Wendy Gillespie was inexplicably attracted to polyphony before she knew the word and has played the viola da gamba for more than 50 years. She has performed on five continents, mostly as a founding member of the viol consort Fretwork and long-time member of Phantasm, but also as a bass viol soloist, and not least as a happy continuo player, more recently specializing in renaissance viols with the consort Nota Bene. Wendy received Early Music America’s Thomas Binkley Award in 2011 and the Wellesley College Alumnae Achievement Award in 2012. In the best of times, she is a Circuit Rider and teacher at loads of workshops all over the place. In 2017, after 32 years on the faculty of Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Gillespie graduated to Professor Emeritus, very grateful to be able to learn more about herself, her connection to the planet, life, the universe, and everything.