Total Running Time: 66 minutes
Recorded at St. John's Episcopal Church, Ellicott City, Maryland,
by Paul Bensel with the help of Howard Bass, score reader.
Edited by Scott Reiss.
Designed by Jeanne Krohn.
Produced by The Folger Consort.
Released: 2009 (Folger Consort)
Founded in 1977, the Folger Consort is ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library, a leading center for medieval and Renaissance studies in Washington, DC. Its founding members are Robert Eisenstein (medieval fiddle, viol, violin, recorder), Christopher Kendall (lute, citole, harp, cowbells), and Scott Reiss (recorders, dulcimer, percussion); Tina Chancey (medieval fiddle, viol, violin, recorders) joined the ensemble in 1996. Tom Zajac and Mark Bleeke perform with the Folger Consort frequently.
Robert Eisenstein is a founding member and programming director of the Folger Consort. In addition to his position with the Folger Consort, he is the director of the Five College Early Music Program in western Massachusetts. Mr. Eisenstein has a particular interest in medieval poetry and music, and served as a core staff member of the two-year Mount Holyoke/National Endowment for the Humanities Medieval Lyric Project.
Christopher Kendall is founder of the Folger Consort, and is also artistic director of the 20th Century Consort, new music ensemble in residence at the Smithsonian Institution, and Director of the Music Division at Boston University School of the Arts. Mr. Kendall's guest conducting appearances have included the Juilliard Symphony, San Francisco Sinfonia, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Collage.
Scott Reiss is a founding member of the Folger Consort, and the founder and artistic director of Hesperus. Mr. Reiss has appeared as guest soloist with Concert Royal, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Washington Bach Consort, and the National Symphony Orchestra with Christopher Hogwood.
Tina Chancey, now a performing member of the Folger Consort, is a founding member and producing director of Hesperus, was a frequent guest artist with the Folger Consort since its 1977 debut. Ms. Chancey has performed with the Ensemble for Early Music and the New York Renaissance Band. In 1985 and 1990 she received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to support solo performances on pardessus de viole at the Kennedy Center and at Weill Recital Hall in New York.
Mark Bleeke travels extensively singing a wide variety of musical genres, including opera, concert oratorio, recital, contemporary, and jazz. Some of his operatic roles include Tamino, Don Ottavio and Ferrando, from Mozart's The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan Tutté respectively. Among Mr. Bleeke's many performances are appearances with The New York Philharmonic (Kurt Weil's The Seven Deadly Sins,), The Pittsburgh Symphony (Jeanne d'Ark of Honnegger), The Montreal Symphony (Messiah, The Seven Deadly Sins), The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Seattle Symphony, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Musica Sacra (New York premiere of Dave Brubeck's Mass: To Hope), and the Bethlehem Bach Festival. Other ensembles with which Mr. Bleeke appears as a featured artist are Boston Baroque, The Bach Society of Saint Louise, 20th Century Consort, Parnassus, 92nd Street Y Chamber Orchestra, St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, Ascension Music, Ensemble for Early Music, and Hudson Shad, a male sextet of which he is a founding member.
Tom Zajac is a member of the ex Umbris and the Philadelphia-based Renaissance wind ensemble Piffaro. He is a frequent guest artist with many early music groups including New York's Ensemble for Early Music, the Newberry Consort, and King's Noyse. He has appeared on many recordings on DG, Harmonia Mundi, Angel EMI, Virgin Veritas, Lyrichord, and others. He is on the faculty of the Amherst Early Music Festival and Mannes College of Music in New York City.
The Folger Library extends grateful appreciation to Ricola, Inc., for its generous support of the Consort and its recording of Alpine Airs.
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Todd M. McComb