Violinist, CLAIRE SMITH BERMINGHAM, performs on both baroque and modern instruments. She has performed widely on baroque violin with ensembles such as American Classical Orchestra, Abendmusik, The Academy of Sacred Drama, Siren Baroque, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Biber Baroque, La Fiocco, Dorian Baroque, Vilas Baroque, Big Apple Baroque, Vox Ama Deus, VOICES, The Yale Schola Cantorum, Princeton Pro Musica. Claire is also the Artistic Director of her own early music ensemble, The Queens Consort. As a modern violinist, she has played with Astoria Symphony, Sinfonia Celestis, The Greenwich Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Di Capo Opera, Bronx Opera, Orchestra of the Bronx, Staten Island Philharmonic and Connecticut Grand Opera. For the past 13 years she has been the violinist for Ritchie Blackmore’s renaissance folk rock band, a “Blackmore’s Night,” with whom she has recorded and toured America and Europe. As a longtime educator in New York, she taught for over two decades at The Spence School, Bank Street College and the Third Street Music School. She also serves as Assistant Orchestra Conductor at Manhattan University.
JEREMY RHIZOR plays the baroque violin and founded the Academy of Sacred Drama, an organization that champions the performance and research of sacred drama. Through the Academy, he revived sixteen Italian-Baroque oratorios and published a journal. Noted for playing “virtuosically but with fluid grace” by The New York Times, Jeremy was the guest concertmaster of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and The American Classical Orchestra. His favorite musical projects include a tour of Nova Scotia with Aureas Voces and the creation of Deep River, a recording of spirituals, with Alchymy Viols. He performs with Mountainside Baroque in Maryland, La Fiocco in Pennsylvania, and Three Notch’d Road in Virginia. In the New York metropolitan area, he performs frequently for ARTEK, Bach Vespers, and The Clarion Choir & Orchestra. Jeremy is exploring the relationship between music and prayer and lives in the hamlet of Croton Falls in North Salem, NY. Visit www.sacreddrama.org.
Violist MARGRÉT HJALTESTED enjoys a diverse career as a performer and teacher. Born in Reykjavík, Iceland, she is currently based in New York City. Margrét has played with orchestras such as the New Jersey Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra and the Albany Symphony. As a baroque violist, she has performed with The American Classical Orchestra, Abendmusik and La Fiocco. She is a founding member and co-director of the baroque ensemble The Queens Consort. Margrét has toured internationally with the New York Symphonic Ensemble, the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Luciano Pavarotti´s International Farewell Tour, and the Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk. She maintains a private studio for adults/amateur string players in Queens, New York and Lubec, Maine. She received her B.Mus. from The Juilliard School, M.Mus. from Mannes College of Music and M.C.M (Master of Creative Management/Art Management) from Bifröst University in Iceland. Visit www.margrethja.com.
Cellist, ANNEKE SCHAUL-YODER, performs in both period instrument and modern ensembles at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 92nd Street Y, and other venues. Anneke plays regularly with the Suore Project, Piano Music & Song Trio, Eudemonia, and Siren Baroque; she has also performed with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Live from Lincoln Center, and the Britten Centenary Quartet. Her performances of the Bach Solo Suites have been featured at the Bronxville Bach Festival and the Music on Market Series. Anneke has recorded with the Lumineers, Shawn Mendes, and members of Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, and Antibalas. Green Age, her recording of cello sonatas by Bohuslav Martinu and Jordan McLean, is available through System Dialing Records. She studied with Julia Lichten and Marcy Rosen at Yale, SUNY Purchase, and Mannes College of Music. Anneke plays on a French cello from 1713 by Jacques Boquay. Visit www.annekeschaulyoder.com.
Harpsichordist, DYLAN SAUERWALD, is a distinctive historical keyboardist and conductor. At the keyboard, he has been praised for his “fleet fingers” and “sophisticated playing,” (Capriccio) and as a conductor, his performances have been called “heart-wrenching and self-reflecting” (OperaWire). Dr. Sauerwald has performed in venues from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to Taipei’s
National Recital Hall, and his playing is featured in the BBC historical drama Poldark. As a recording artist, he can be heard on the New Focus, Coro, and Urtext labels, as soloist and continuo player on the harpsichord, organ, fortepiano, and lautenwerck performing works from the 16th century to the 21st. A champion of early opera, he has led productions of rarely-performed works acclaimed as “refined and flexible,” (Boston Globe) “fearless,” (Voce di Meche) and “a remarkable musical experience” (OperaWire). Dr. Sauerwald is Director of Music Ministry at Green’s Farms Church in Westport, CT. Visit www.dylansauerwald.com.
Soprano, BRITTANY PALMER, resides in Poughkeepsie, NY and regularly performs as a soloist, choral soprano, and chamber music collaborator in the northeast region. Trained at Florida State University and the Eastman School of Music, her performing career has included solo performances with the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra, Opera North, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and the Trinity Church at Wall Street, among many others. Ms. Palmer particularly enjoys singing baroque and classical repertoire. Some of her favorite performances have included the soprano solos for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, and Magnificat, as well as Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Mozart’s C Minor Mass, among many others. Ms. Palmer was praised in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for her performances in New York City, as well as in the Washington Post for her performances at the Kennedy Center. Visit www.brittanyleighpalmer.com.
