ENGLISH
BAROQUE

Program:

Eccles: The Mad Lover
Purcell: Trio Sonata in A minor, Z.804
Rosseter: Pavin for Solo Lute
Handel: Flute Sonata
Handel: Violin Sonata in D minor, HWV 359a
Blow: Harpsichord Sonata
Handel: The Harmonious Blacksmith

About the Performers:

Flutist John Ross is an accomplished soloist, educator, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. He is on the faculty and administration of the Portland Conservatory of Music (ME) and the University of Southern Maine. He also teaches and performs in the summers for Sparrow Music Camp in High Springs, FL and the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra in Branson, MO. Dr. Ross has been principal flute of the orchestra for Music for the Sake of Music (MFSOM), the Italian-American Opera Festival Orchestra (CA), the Charleston Chamber Orchestra (WV), and has also performed with the Topeka Symphony, the Muncie Symphony, Tallahassee Symphony, and the Charleston Light Opera Guild. He has appeared as soloist with the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra (OH) and the orchestra of MFSOM. Dr. Ross attended West Virginia University, Ball State University, and Florida State University, studying with Joyce Catalfano, Thomas Godfrey, Francesca Arnone, Mihoko Watanabe, and Eva Amsler.

Deeply inspired by the relationship between music, movement, and dance, violinist and Dalcrozian Sylvia Schwartz is a passionate chamber musician in both modern and historical performance practices. The power of music to heal and to bring us together drives Sylvia to perform wherever she can, from the Scarborough COVID-19 vaccine clinic to Shostakovich Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia. Sylvia performs with several groups including Guts Baroque (which she co-founded), Baroque Orchestra of Maine, Portland Bach Experience, Classical Uprising, Newton Baroque, Arcadia Players, North Star Baroque, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and on the Noonday, Quietside, Bagaduce, Vigorous Tenderness, and BEMF Fringe concert series. Sylvia earned a M.Mus. in Violin Performance from Longy School of Music, and a B.S. in Engineering from Olin College. She enjoys nurturing vivid, healthy, historically-informed playing in her students of all ages at Portland Conservatory of Music and Palaver Music Center.

Timothy Burris has performed widely in Europe and the US, including many appearances with world-renowned early music specialists. Ciaccona, the most recent of his nine CD recordings includes his lute transcription of Bach’s monumental Ciaconna for solo violin. A Fulbright alum, Mr Burris is a graduate of The Hague’s Royal Conservatory and holds a Ph.D. from Duke University. A lute instructor at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music in Antwerp from 1990-96, he is currently on the faculties of the Portland Conservatory of Music and Colby College. He also tutors French and Spanish at Portland’s Waynflete School. La Semaine d’Anvers (Antwerp, Belgium) described a solo performance thus: “One perceives in him a distinguished musicality and a depth of artistry, which join with a solid and finely shaded technique to produce sonorities strongly evocative of the princely courts.”

Marina Minkin (harpsichord, piano) performs and records regularly as a soloist, and as a member of the Phoenix Ensemble, the Spectrum Ensemble, Ad Libitum Ensemble and Mediterranean Baroque Quartet featuring Italian and Israeli musicians. Among many chamber music festivals, Marina Minkin has appeared at the Fifth International Recorder Festival in Montreal, Canada, the Abu Gosh Festival, Israel, Cluj International Festival, Transilvania, Jerusalem Bach Festival and Brianza Early Music Festival, Italy. She was a founder and an Artistic Director of the “LAUDA: Jewish-Arab Youth Ensemble of early and ethnic music based in Galilee. Ms. Minkin has released highly acclaimed CDs: a recording of Vittorio Rieti’s harpsichord solo and chamber music on NEW WORLD RECORDS featuring American and Israeli artists, and “Conversations” – contemporary music for 2 harpsichords (with David Shemer) on OMNIBUS CLASSICS. Her other recordings include the CD Harpsichord Music by Israeli Composers (ALBANY RECORDS), the album Bach, Bach & Bach (ARTONA) and numerous appearances on the WGBH radio station (Boston), the Kol Israel classical music radio station (Israel), RCJ radio Paris, and WNYC radio NewYork. Currently, Marina resides in Maine and serves as a pianist and organist at the Sanford Unitarian Universalist Church and teaches piano and harpsichord at Portland Conservatory of Music.