James Andrewes, Baroque Violin
James Andrewes grew up in New Zealand and attained a Bachelor of Music degree (University of Otago), Master of Music degree (University of Oregon) and a Post-Masters Certificate in String Quartet Performance (University of Colorado). He is currently pursuing his second Masters at Indiana University, studying early music and baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie. Recent performance highlights include a tour of New Zealand with the Wallfisch Band, led by baroque violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch, a concert with ¡Sacabuche! at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in San Francisco and concerts at the Oregon Bach Festival under Helmuth Rilling.
Sarah Barbash-Riley, Baroque Trombone
Sarah Barbash-Riley is currently in her third year of studies for sackbut at Indiana University Bloomington with Linda Pearse. She has been an official member of ¡Sacabuche! since 2009, and has performed with Concentus and Pro Arte, ensembles made up of students in IU’s Early Music Institute. She has also performed at the Bloomington Early Music Festival’s Isaac Conference in 2010, the 2010 Berkeley Early Music Festival, and performances of the Monteverdi Vespers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Indianapolis Christ Church. Sarah is currently involved in ¡Sacabuche!’s tour to China, where they will perform at the China National Center for the Performing Arts.
Christine Buras, Soprano
Soprano Christine Buras is currently pursuing a master’s degree in voice performance at Indiana University, where she studies with tenor Paul Elliott in the Early Music Institute. She began her musical career as a chorister at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, where she sang under directors Bruce Neswick, Dr. James Litton, and Michael McCarthy, and studied voice with soprano Rosa Lamoreaux. With the Cathedral Choir, she made several recordings, toured in the United States and abroad, and performed at important state services held at the Cathedral, She was head chorister from 2005–06, and continues to sing professionally at the Cathedral in the chamber ensemble, Cathedral.
Christine received her bachelor’s degree in Musicology from the University of Chicago in 2010, and wrote her honors thesis on the early seventeenth century Danish composer Mogens Pedersøn. She spent the summer of 2009 researching this paper in London, supported financially by two grants from the University of Chicago. Prior to that summer, Christine had spent the 2008–09 academic year studying at King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Music, and singing in the King’s College Chapel Choir and several other ensembles. In addition to ¡Sacabuche!, Christine sings in several ensembles including Concentus and Pro Arte, and also sang in IU Opera Theatre’s 2010 production of Little Women. She is thrilled to be a part of such a vibrant musical community, and is especially grateful for the opportunity to represent the JSoM in Beijing with ¡Sacabuche!
Benjamin Geier, Tenor
Benjamin L. Geier, Conductor, Tenor, is originally from Lafayette, IN. Benjamin has received high praise as a compelling and insightful leader, who inspires both performers and audiences alike. Mr. Geier is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Music degree in choral conducting at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Mr. Geier also holds degrees in voice performance and choral conducting from Indiana University.
In 2009, Mr. Geier founded the vocal ensemble Vox Reflexa, based in Bloomington, Indiana. Since then, Vox Reflexa has been steadily performing virtuosic sacred polyphony throughout the Mid-west. Of his most recent performance of Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610, (Monteverdi) the Bloomington Herald Times said, “Geier, who lent his ringing voice and artistic passion, was splendid.”
Upcoming projects include tenor soloist for Arvo Pärt’s Missa Syllabica, Don Freund’s Passion with Tropes, Shulamit Ran’s Credo/Anima Mea, and an early music/contemporary music tour in China with ¡Sacabuche! ¡Sacabuche! will tour “Matteo Ricci: His Map and Music,” a multi-media performance which will reanimate the pivotal cultural exchange between Italian Jesuits and Chinese literati in seventeenth-century China. This fall, Mr. Geier is excited to be an Associate Instructor for the choral conducting department at the Jacobs School of Music and an adjunct member of the voice faculty of Anderson (IN) University.
Wendy Gillespie, Viola da Gamba, Professor of Music, Indiana University
A performer of medieval, renaissance, baroque, and contemporary music, Wendy Gillespie teaches early bowed strings, early music performance, and notation. She has performed with ensembles worldwide ranging from the English Concert to Ensemble Sequentia. Gillespie has participated in more than 80 recordings for Harmonia Mundi, EMI, Virgin Classics, BIS, Channel Classics, and other recording companies.
As a member of the viol consorts Fretwork and Phantasm, Gillespie has shared two Gramophone awards, several Gramophone and Grammy nominations and “Recordings of the Month,” and a French Grand Prix du Disque with her colleagues.
Gillespie is much in demand for workshops and seminars in early music performance in the United States and Europe. She is a member of the executive board of the Medieval Studies Institute at Indiana University and president of the Viola da Gamba Society of America.
Philip Hembree, Cornetto
Philip Hembree, a native of Louisiana, is studying trumpet and cornetto with John Rommel (trumpet) and Kiri Tollaksen (cornetto) at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. He began cornetto studies in the fall of 2009 to compliment his studies on trumpet. Since then, he has performed the Monteverdi Vespers in Indianapolis, Bloomington, Madison WI, Kansas City MO, as well as a performance at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in San Francisco. He is excited to be performing with ¡Sacabuche! for their upcoming Beijing tour!
Ray Horton, Baroque Trombone
Ray Horton is from Seattle, Washington. He has been playing trombone for nine years and is currently attending Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music. Ray is a senior and is a music performance major. He studies modern trombone under Professor Carl Lenthe and Baroque trombone under Linda Pearse. Ray has performed with ¡Sacabuche! at the Boston Early Music Fringe Festival, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, the Heinrich Isaac Musicology Conference, and the Berkeley Early Music Festival in addition to performances of the Monteverdi Vespers and numerous other concerts. In his spare time, Ray enjoys watching professional football and playing football. After graduating college, he hopes to attend graduate school.
Linda Pearse, ¡Sacabuche! Artistic Director and Baroque Trombonist
Linda Pearse is currently adjunct lecturer of early trombones at Indiana University and adjunct professor of brass at Vincennes University. A graduate of the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, and McGill University in Montréal, she is near completion of a Doctor of Music degree (brass pedagogy) at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. While in Europe she performed with acclaimed ensembles such as the Stuttgart Opera House, the Stuttgart Philharmoniker, La Cetra, the Basel Sinfonietta and the Basel Theater. She is the winner of two prestigious Canada Council of the Arts Grants to Performing Musicians (2008 and 2009), and with her ensemble ¡Sacabuche! she won the 2009 Early Music America Collegium Musicum competition. ¡Sacabuche! performed at the Berkeley Early Music Festival with Nigel North in June, 2010, the Heinrich Isaac Musicology Conference in Bloomington, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and is touring in Beijing, China in December, 2010 where ¡Sacabuche! will perform at venues including the National Center for the Performing Arts, the Nantang Cathedral, the U.S. Embassy and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. Upcoming ¡Sacabuche! tours in the midwest, West coast and East coast are planned for the 2011–12 season including performances at the Indianapolis Early Music Festival and University of Minnesota. Linda maintains an active performing career, gives master classes, and can be heard on several recordings, including Capella Artemesia’s recent CD “Raphaella Aleotti: Le Monache di San Vito.” Two CD recording projects with ¡Sacabuche! are planned for the 2011–12 season—please keep an eye out for releases
Ignacio Prego de Oliver, Keyboard and Piano
Considered by the newspaper EL MUNDO (08-23-09) as “…one of the Spanish musicians with more projection and versatility of the classical panorama…” Born in Madrid, he received musical training in Spain and USA, studying with the renowned pianist Luiz de Moura Castro at the Hartt School of Music, CT. Later on, at the Jacobs School of Music (Indiana University), Mr. Prego studies with Emile Naoumoff and Sigheo Neriki and he specializes in the field of the early music performance with the harpsichordist Elizabeth Wright.
He has performed in the United States, Canada, Rumania, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Italy, in important venues such as the Festival Internacional de Segovia Fundación Juan de Borbón, Ars Nova Music Series (Canada), Baiona International Piano Festival (Galicia), in concert halls such as the Arnold Schonbergzaal and Stadhuis Den Haag (The Hague), Conde Duque Auditorium (Madrid), Teatro Bulandra (Bucharest) the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute (New York), the National Gallery of Arts in Washington or the Cervantes Institute of Chicago. Last year, in September 2009, Ignacio made his solo symphonic debut with the OSCh Orchestra at the National Auditorium in Madrid with great acclaim. Mr. Prego has recorded for the labels Piccolo and Verso, including a live concert in Madrid of the Beethoven’s Triple Concerto under the baton of Rainer Steubing-Negenborn or a recent recording of the Prokofiev and Cassado Cello Sonatas.
A grand prize-winner in several national and international competitions, Ignacio Prego has received prestigious performance scholarships from the Spanish Government (AECI), and more recently from the Caja Madrid Foundation, presented by His RHC Prince Felipe at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Upcoming engagements include concerts in New York conducting the ensemble Suite Hispania, as well concerts in Madrid, Ottawa, Miami and Mexico DF.
Stanley Ritchie, Baroque Violinist, Professor of Music, Indiana University
Stanley Ritchie has directed and appeared as soloist with many period instrument ensembles, including the Academy of Ancient Music, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, and the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra. He is in demand for master classes and workshops throughout the world.
Professor Ritchie is a member of Duo Geminiani with harpsichordist Elisabeth Wright, and was a member of Three Parts Upon a Ground, specializing in 17th-century music for three violins. For 20 years, he was a member of The Mozartean Players, with whom he recorded the complete Mozart and Schubert Piano Trios.
He has held various positions as a modern violinist, including concertmaster of the New York City Opera Orchestra, associate concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and first violinist of the Philadelphia String Quartet.
Huang Ruo, Composer, Artistic Director and Conductor of Future In REverse (FIRE), Lecturer in Music, SUNY Purchase
Recently awarded First Prize by the prestigious Luxembourg International Composition Prize, Huang Ruo has been cited by the New Yorker as “one of the most intriguing of the new crop of Asian-American composers.” His vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese folk, Western avant-garde, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls “dimensionalism.” Huang Ruo’s writing spans from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and modern dance, to sound installation, multi-media, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film. Ensembles who have premiered and performed his music include the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Quatuor Diotima, and Dutch Vocal Laboratory, and under conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, James Conlon, Dennis Russell Davies, Ed Spanjaard, Xian Zhang, and Ilan Volkov. Huang Ruo has received awards and grants from the ASCAP Foundation, Presser Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Argosy Foundation, Greenwall Foundation, Meet The Composer, NYSCA, Chamber Music America, American Music Center, Aaron Copland Award, and Alice M. Ditson Award. He was selected as a Young Leader Fellow by the National Committee on United States–China Relations in 2006.
Ann Waltner, Professor and Director, Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota
Ann Waltner is a professor in both the Department of History and the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures. Her research interests lie in the social history of sixteenth and seventeenth-century China, comparative women’s history, and world history. She served as editor of the Journal of Asian Studies from 2000 to 2005 and has published widely on the history of Ming dynasty China, including on the Jesuits in China. She and her graduate students are engaged in a major research project on the Ricci map.
Other current projects include: a book length manuscript on religion and society in sixteenth century China, as well an article on spatial impropriety and other transgressions in Shen Fu’s Six Records of a Floating Life and another on family scandal and political crisis in the domestic life of the sixteenth-century literatus Wang Shizhen, as shown in eulogies and letters. As director of the Institute, she has initiated a number of interdisciplinary projects, including collaborations with a public performance component.
Simon Wood, Baroque Trombone
Simon Wood is currently a junior at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with Peter Ellefson. Originally from Seattle, Washington, Simon studied with his elementary school teacher, Ian Alvarez from fifth grade until junior year of high school. For his remaining two years, he studied classical trombone with Cathy Cole, and jazz trombone with Jeff Hay. In his senior year, he was featured at Benaroya Hall in Seattle as a soloist with Cascade Youth Symphony. After coming to Indiana University, he started playing sackbut and has taken baroque trombone lessons from Linda Pearse for two semesters. He is also a member of ¡Sacabuche!, a Baroque trombone ensemble, which is touring in China this December.
