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 Constance Whiteside, Artistic Director and medieval, renaissance and baroque harpist, performs and discusses music from the 12th through 17th centuries on historical re-creations of harps that existed when this music was new. In her lectures and performances, she describes and demonstrates the special tunings, stringing and techniques used on these harps. Her various harps include a gothic style medieval harp, the ‘Bosch’ harp, made by Rainer Thurau of Germany, a single row renaissance harp, the ‘Boston’, re-created from a 17th century original now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, a baroque double-strung harp re-created from an original 17th C. instrument now in a Brussels museum, and a triple-strung baroque harp. A highly knowledgeable specialist, scholar and performer on historic harps, she has performed at the Berkeley and Boston Early Music Festivals and with such acclaimed groups as Chanticleer. She performs on baroque harp with various ensembles in the Washington DC area. Originally trained on modern pedal harp by Anne Adams, she continues free-lance pedal harp performance in the Washington D.C. area. Dr. Whiteside, a physician and graduate of Stanford University, and former tenured faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of California Davis, was a founding member of Musica Coelorum, a medieval ensemble based in northern California and is the founder of Armonia Nova. She is former Chair of the Historical Harp Survey, a research project to document harps built before 1945, former Editor of the Historical Harp Society Journal. She is director of the Washington Early Music Festival.
Douglas Wolters, vielle and viols, performs in the metropolitan Washington, DC area on historical and modern stringed instruments including baroque cello, the viola da gamba, and vielle. Mr. Wolters is the principal cellist of The Bach Sinfonia and the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra and is a founding member of the baroque ensemble L’Arabesque. Recent performances include a performance of the Bach Cello Suites at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater to accompany Tony Powell’s original choreography for his ballet company, recitals on the viola da gamba highlighting the French, German, and English baroque, the Haydn C Major Cello Concerto with the Mount Vernon Chamber Orchestra, and a Vivaldi cello concerto with The Bach Sinfonia. As a member of the critically acclaimed Cezanne Trio, he performed a series of concerts at the Embassy of the Czech Republic, focusing on new Czech music. He has appeared in recitals at Alice Tully Hall in New York, and in Washington at the Phillips Collection, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Smithsonian Institution with the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Mr. Wolters also served as associate principal cellist of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra for six years. A graduate of New England Conservatory, Mr. Wolters studied cello with Mihaly Virizlay and viola da gamba with Gian Lyman Silbiger. He has recorded for Orion and Northeastern. In addition to performing, Mr. Wolters teaches stringed instruments in the Fairfax County, VA school system and maintains a private studio.
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Barbara Hollinshead, mezzo-soprano, has had career high points singing Bach at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Monteverdi at San Marco in Venice and the St. Matthew Passion one-to-a-part with Tafelmusik in Toronto. She has appeared with many of the East Coast’s finest early music groups, including Chatham Baroque, the Four Nations Ensemble, The Washington Bach Consort, and The New York Collegium, and has sung under the baton of eminent conductors such as Christopher Hogwood and Andrew Parrott. She also performs extensively in Manhattan and its environs as a member of the NY-based chamber group ARTEK which received audience ovations and critical acclaim at its performance in the Regensburg (Germany) Festival for Early Music. Ms. Hollinshead began her vocal studies at her opera-singing mother’s knee, and as an adult has studied with coaches in New York, Washington, and with Max Van Egmond in the Netherlands. Her discography includes recordings of solo lute songs with lutenist Howard Bass, Renaissance Spanish and Sephardic music with La Rondinella, and works by Mrs. H.H. Beach. Ms. Hollinshead rounds out her musical contributions with educational endeavors as professor of voice at American University, a leader of master classes on Renaissance and Baroque styles and a cast member of "Bach to School." When not performing, you can find her judging dive competitions and proudly listening to her sons sing at evensong services.
Jay White, countertenor, has enjoyed a variety of performing experiences ranging from the works of medieval and Renaissance composers to the Baroque masters to contemporary compositions. As a soloist he has appeared with the Washington National Cathedral Choir, Grace Cathedral Choir (San Francisco), Indiana University Opera Theatre and Pro Arte Singers, the BOMB Ensemble, Bimbetta, Ensemble Mirable, Smithsonian Players, Tafelmusik and the Seattle and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestras among others. His opera credits include Pisandro in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse, Secretary No. 3 in Adams’ Nixon in China, and Giasone in Cavalli’s Il Giasone. Trained by Drew Minter, Michael Chance, Paul Elliott, and Linda Mabbs, Mr. White has been hailed by the London Times as “a counter tenor of rare tone”. Mr. White sang eight seasons with the two-time (1999 & 2002) GRAMMY® Award-winning ensemble Chanticleer, travelling to over 40 states and 15 countries, and sharing the stage with Frederica von Stade, Dawn Upshaw, the San Antonio, Atlanta and Virginia Symphonies, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He can be heard on the Angel/EMI, Focus, New Albion, and Teldec labels.
A critically-acclaimed oratorio and concert singer, Marjorie Bunday has been a featured soloist (both alto and mezzo-soprano roles) with many DC, Maryland, and Virginia based choral and chamber ensembles over the years, in US and European concerts, including Washington Bach Consort, Hesperus, Armonia Nova, Alexandria Choral Society, Cantate Chamber Singers, Musikanten, Cathedral Choral Society "Summer Sing," Washington Choral Ensemble, University of Virginia Glee Club, Woodley Ensemble, and Washington Men's Camerata. Outside of the Washington area, she has had solos with the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Magnificat, (with a Denver Bach Society B Minor Mass coming up in October 2007); and she is an artist-in-residence with Musikanten Montana's Helena Choral Week yearly since 2004, performing and teaching workshops on choral technique and madrigal singing. Ms. Bunday, a near-life-long resident of the DC area, can be heard in many venues across the city, as she is in great demand as a professional chorister, small ensemble singer, and church singer. Although best-known for her performances of the early and baroque music repertoire, she has added her voice to many U.S. and world premieres of choral music, art song, and chamber music.
Allison Mondel, soprano, received her M.M. in Early Music Vocal Performance from the Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA) in 2003. While at Longy, Allison had the extraordinary experience of studying with Laurie Monahan, and discovered a new love and inspiration: medieval music. She has engaged in extensive scholarly studies of the Montpellier and Las Huelgas manuscripts, and is a notation and performance specialist on the chants of Hildegard von Bingen. Her interpretation of Hildegard has led her to performances in the Boston Early Music Festival and special performances with the Ars Nova Singers (Boulder, CO) in The Passion of St. Ursula, an original passion play based on the martyrdom of St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. She has also led teaching and coaching sessions on the interpretation of Hildegard's chants and takes the utmost joy in sharing her love of this music with others. Also during her time at Longy, Allison engaged in several Baroque operatic productions, including Charpentier's Actéon, Lully's Le bourgeois gentilhomme and Jacopo Peri's Euridice. In 2001, Allison had the privilege of singing in the Boston Early Music Festival's production of Lully's Thesée and Rameau's La Guirlande presented at Jordan Hall and Tanglewood. In the fall of 2004, she sang the role of La Messaggiera in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with the Harvard Early Music Society. The Boston Phoenix noted her performance as "a powerful turn." More recently, Allison co-founded Williamstown Early Music, a concert series based in Western Massachusetts offering unique and adventurous programming. Stemming from her love of Renaissance choral music, Allison has spent many years singing professionally with various choral groups in the greater Boston area and NY Capital region. She has most recently moved to the Baltimore/DC area, where she continues to sing and teach early music.