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Stephen Alltop   Rachel Barton   Alan Bennett   Patrice Michaels Bedi
   Christine Brandes   Mark Crayton    Linda Dayiantis-Straub
Jerry Fuller   Paul Jacobson   Anita Miller-Rieder   Robert Rieder
John Mark Rozendaal   Susan Rozendaal   David Schrader   Mary Springfels
Christopher Verrette   Jeri-Lou Zike

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'97-'98 Calendar of Events    '96-'97 Season Program    '95-'96 Season Program

Mr. Alltop holds the Performer's Certificate as well as Masters degrees in organ and conducting from the Eastman School of Music. His harpsichord teachers have included Arthur Haas, Lisa Goode Crawford, and John Metz. Mr. Alltop has performed as an organist and harpsichordist with the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Chamber Orchestra, and the Springfield (IL) Symphony. He currently performs as harpsichordist for Storioni Ensemble, and frequently appears with oboist Judy Zunamon Lewis in chamber duo Serenata. Also active as Conductor of the Northwestern University Philharmonia, Director of Orchestras at North Park College in Chicago, and Assistant Conductor of the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin, and Director of Music at Northwestern University's Alice Miller Chapel. He has been a Conducting Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, and has studied under a number of distinguished conductors, including Victor Yampolsky, David Effron, Paul Vermel, and Otto Werner-Muller.

Bio soon to be added.

Tenor Alan Bennett is internationally renowned for his interpretations of Bach's evangelist roles. Mr. Bennett is a member of Theater of Voices, with recordings on Harmonia Mundi USA, Nonesuch, Telarc, and Focus records.

Christine Brandes has performed in programs ranging from recitals and chamber music to opera and oratorio on many of the most distinguished festivals and series in North America, Europe and the Far East including the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Berkeley and Boston Early Music Festivals, Hong Kong Festival, as well as Tangelwood and Ravinia. She has appeared with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Arcadian Academy under Nicholas McGegan, Les Arts Florissants with William Christie, Tafelmusik, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Handel and Haydn Society under Christopher Hogwood, the Newberry Consort and the National Arts Centre Orchestra with Paul Goodwin and Jane Glover. As a frequent guest with the Mark Morris Dance Group, Ms. Brandes sang the role of Amor in a lengthy tour of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. She recently appeared on the Metropolitan Museum's "Introductions" series in her New York recital debut. Upcoming debuts include the title role in La Calisto with Music of the Baroque (Chicago), the Angel in Handel's La Resurrezione at the Gottingen Handel Festival and Handel's "Carmelite" Vespers with Andrew Parrott and the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. Ms. Brandes will also make her debuts with Opera de Montreal and Opera de Quebec singing the role of Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. Christine has recorded for harmonia mundi,USA, BMG and Koch.

Ms. Bedi's voice is "like the Romantic Ideal, both natural and passionate," says Classical DisCDigest about Songs of the Romantic Age. Her first solo release (on the Cedille Label) and debut program at the New York's 92nd Street Y, Miss Michaels Bedi has received raves for her "poise, musicianship and impressive fioratura" (LA Times) and "point-accurate . . . bravura" (Boston Globe). Recent seasons have included performances with Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Maryland Handel Festival, the St. Louis, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Atlanta, Minnesota, and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras, Chicago's Music of the Baroque, Boston Baroque and Concert Royal (New York). Last season included a series of live, nationally broadcast performances with the contemporary Chamber ensemble EXPRESS. Miss Michaels Bedi debuted in the '90-'91 season with the Cleveland Opera as Marzelline in Fidelio, and recently sang the role of Monical in Menotti's The Medium for the Chicago Opera Theatre. She has appeared with the Florentine Opera, Central City Opera, Tacoma Opera, and the Banff Centre, Canada. A , Partice Michaels Bedi can be heard on Music of the Baroque's recording of the Great Mass in C minor. She has received consistent critical acclaim for her recording of the six Elizabethan Songs of Dominick Argento on the Cedille Label, and will be featured in the releases of Mozart, Vivaldi, (with Chicago Baroque Ensemble) and Ginastera this '95-'96 season.

Mr. Crayton is receiving acclaim in both Europe and the United States for the beauty of his voice and his expressive interpretations. Mr. Crayton has appeared extensively in the United States and the Netherlands, where he maintains his European base. Mr. Crayton took his degree in vocal performance at Butler University. He continued his studies at the Akademie voor Oude Muziek in the Netherlands, where he studied with Max von Egmond.

Bio soon to be added.

Mr. Fuller began studying the double bass at age 16 and was invited to join the Lyric Opera of Chicago three years later. Within two years he was promoted to first desk of the double bass section, in addition to performing with the Santa Fe Opera and the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra. Subsequently Mr. Fuller was appointed to Solo Double Bass of the Musikkollegium Switzerland. While in Europe, Mr. Fuller became interested in historically-informed performance practice and has achieved international recognition for his work with period instruments. He is a member of the American Bach Soloists, proclaimed by the San Francisco Examiner as "period instrument all stars" who are "setting a new international standard" by presenting and recording historically-informed and virtuosic performances of baroque masterpieces.

A Chicago Artists Abroad grant recipient, Mr. Fuller's performances in Rome, London, Geneva, and Edinburgh have been broadcast worldwide. In addition, Mr. Fuller has performed at both the Boston and the Berkeley Early Music Festivals; his recordings on the Musical Arts Society, Cedille and Centaur labels have been hailed by both critics and colleagues; he writes on period performance practice for the Journal of the International Society of Bassists; is music editor for the Pro Arte Press; and is co-founder of the Chicago Baroque Ensemble. Visit him at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/fuller

Mr. Jacobson is co-founder and principal flutist of The Lyra Concert, an historical instrument orchestra in Minnesota. He has been a featured soloist at the 1990 National Flute Association Convention in Minneapolis, the 1993 International Artists Series at Worchester College, Massachusetts, and the 1996 NFA Convention in New York City. He has performed with the Bach Society of Minnesota, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Schubert Club, Ex Machina, the Oberlin BPI Orchestra, and with other ensembles throughout the upper Midwest. He gives frequent lecture-demonstrations on 18th century ornamentation and improvisation. Mr. Jacobson is the chairperson of the Historical Flutes Committee of the NFA and was a judge for the first round of the NFA's 1995 Baroque Flute Artists Competition. He is a member of the national board of the NFA. Mr. Jacobson has degrees from St. Olaf College and Union Seminary School of Music and has done work in composition at the Columbia School of the Arts. He has studied piano with DeWayne Wee, Boehm Flute with Donald Berglund, recorder with Martha Bixler and Steven Silverstein, and transverso with Sandra Miller, Robert Willoughby, Chris Krueger, and Wilbert Hazelet.

Ms. Miller-Rieder made her debut on WFMT's Dame Myra Hess series. A winner of numerous competitions, she was selected to perform in solo recital at Orchestra Hall in celebration of the Chicago Symphony's Centennial year. She is principal flutist of the Northwest Indiana Symphony, and as a specialist on the Baroque flute, has appeared with the City Musick, Basically Bach and the Lyra Concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ms. Miller-Rieder initiated the first Suzuki flute program in the Chicago area at the Music Center of the North Shore where she is currently on the faculty. This year Ms. Miller-Rieder is studying baroque and renaissance flute as a Fulbright scholar at London's Guildhall School of Music.

Trumpeter Robert Rieder leads a busy dual career that combines his interests in music, acoustics, audio technology, and engineering. As one of America's few specialist performers on historical trumpets, he has appeared with many of North America's leading period instrument groups, including Tafelmusik (Toronto), the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra (Washington, DC), Apollo's Fire (The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra), The City Musick, Basically Bach (Chicago), and Ars Musica (Ann Arbor). He has been solo trumpet with the Lyra Concert (St. Paul), of which he is a founding member, since 1985. He also freelances on modern trumpet in the Chicago area. Mr. Rieder is a Senior Acoustical Engineer with International Jensen, where he works in both research and product design and teaches courses in basic acoustics and listening. He is active as a recording engineer and has worked as a music producer for Wisconsin Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, and Germany's Radio Deutsche Welle as well as for commercial recording companies. Mr. Rieder also serves on standards and administrative committees of several professional societies in the audio and electronics industries. He currently lives in London with his wife Anita, a US Fulbright Scholar who is competing her doctoral research into early eighteenth century British literature for the Baroque flute.

Mr. Rozendaal is the artistic director of the critically acclaimed Chicago Baroque Ensemble, Chicago's only ensemble dedicated to performing music of the eighteenth century on period instruments. 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 Early Music at the Newberry Library, the Harwood Ensemble, Orpheus Band, Genesee Baroque Players, Ensemble Musical Offering (Milwaukee), Apollo's Fire (Cleveland) and His Majestie's Clerkes. Mr. Rozendaal's viol playing has been praised as "splendid" (Chicago Tribune), and "breathtaking" (Sun-Times). Rozendaal teaches at the Music Center of the North Shore and Roosevelt University. In 1997 he performed in the Boston Early Music Festival's production of Luigi Rossi's Orfeo under the direction of Peter Holman, and toured England with the Choir of Men and Boys of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Evanston. John Mark Rozendaal and Chicago Baroque Ensemble record for Centaur and Cedille Records.

Ms. Rozendaal has performed on both baroque violin and viola in many of Chicago's period instrument ensembles, including The City Musick, Basically Bach, Harwood Ensemble, and Orpheus Band. Ms. Rozendaal teaches violin in the Winnetka Public Schools and the Music Center of the North Shore. She performs with Symphony of the Shores and with Lake Forest Symphony.

Mr. Schrader has achieved international renown as a keyboard soloist performing on the harpsichord, organ, fortepiano, clavichord and modern piano. He holds both a Performers Certificate and a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University. His teachers include Storm Bull, Abbey Simon and Anthony Newman. His performance credits include solo appearances with the Chicago Symphony under Sir George Solti, Daniel Barenboim, Claudio Abbado, and Erich Leinsdorf, the San Francisco Symphony, The City Musick, Basically Bach, and the Michigan Mozart Festival with Roger Norrington. Mr. Schrader is the organist of the Church of the Ascension, and teaches at Roosevelt University. His recordings of music of Soler and Bach are available on the Cedille label.

Ms. Springfels, is one of the most highly regarded interpreters of music written before 1800 working in America today. She is Musician-in Residence at the Newberry Library, Director of the Newberry Consort, and Director of the Early Music Ensemble at Northwestern University. She has appeared with virtually every important early music group in the country, including The New York Pro Musica, The Waverly Consort, The Folger Consort, Pomerium Musices, and Concert Royal. She was a founding member of The Eliziabethan Enterprise and Les Filles de Sainte-Colombe. In Chicago she has performed with Orpheus Band, The City Musick, and The Harwood Ensemble. Recent solo appearances include the American Bach Soloists, Musica Sacra, Fretwork, and the Arcadian Academy. Ms, Springfels has taught at Duke University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The University of Chicago. She has recorded for Nonesuch, Titanic, Columbia, Decca, Koch International and Harmonia Mundi USA.

Mr. Verrette, a member of Canada's renowned baroque orchestra Tafelmusik, was the first baroque violinist to receive the Performers Certificate from Indiana University's School of Music. He studied the baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie, Monica Huggett, John Holloway, and Maralyn Mcdonald, and the modern violin with James Buswell, George Fulkerson, and Roman Totenberg at Indiana University and the Longy School of Music. He has performed with The City Musick, Basically Bach, Orpheus Band, and as concertmaster of the Iowa Bach Festival. He has demonstrated the baroque violin and performance practice at Harvard University and at the Boston Early Music Festival Exhibition. Mr. Verrette's violin is an original eighteenth century instrument by an anonymous French maker.

Ms. Zike is a versatile, energetic musician who enjoys a variety of artistic activities in the Chicago area. She is currently the Assistant Concertmaster of both the Lake Forest Symphony and Symphony of the Shores and a member of Symphony II. Ms. Zike is also active as a performer of Baroque music with period instrument ensembles. She has studied with the renowned Baroque violinist Monica Huggett at the Vancouver Early Music Festival and was a member of The City Musick and Basically Bach. She also performs as concertmaster for the University of Chicago Baroque Concerts and Bach Week in Evanston. Ms. Zike is also in great demand as a chamber musician. She is a founding member of the Chicago Classical String Quartet. She is a member of the faculty of the Music Center of the North Shore.

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