OUR MUSICIANS
The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra is composed of top-notch artists adept at ensemble playing, and often emerging as soloists within the group. Much of the repertoire requires such talent from all of its members due to small performance forces (typically not more than sixteen musicians). In lieu of a conductor, the group performs as one organism, each player contributing to the whole that is suggestively steered by lead violinist Julie Andrijeski.
The ABO consists of a small core of musicians who live in the Atlanta area, supplemented by guest performers and featured soloists from throughout the United States and the world. The Orchestra often supplements its strong base with guest artists specializing in historically-informed Baroque performance.
In addition to its intimate yet powerful performing forces, the Orchestra’s venues are cozy compared to typical concert halls. This close proximity helps to break down the barrier between musicians and their audiences, creating a sense of cooperative interaction.
Members perform on instruments made in the Baroque era, about 1600-1750, restored to their original setups, or on authentic replicas. The string instruments, fitted with gut rather than steel strings, are played with bows of an earlier design. This allows tones and articulations that differ from “modern” instruments. Horns and trumpets have no valves. Flutes are made of wood. The harpsichord, lute, and a portable pipe organ stand in for today's piano and guitar. But, the tuning is different. Most importantly, our musicians have ample room for improvisation and a great deal more individual expression than what is tolerated in a conventional symphony orchestra.
Atlanta Baroque Orchestra
Julie Andrijeski is celebrated as a performer, scholar, and teacher of historical music and dance. She is Head of the Historical Performance Practice program at Case Western Reserve University where she oversees the HPP ensembles and teaches historical violin and dance; and Teacher of Baroque Violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she also contributes choreography for their opera program. She is often invited to present workshops in dance and music at universities nationwide and was a Visiting Lecturer at the Juilliard School for several years. Her article on historical violin performance is published in A Performer’s Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music. A Grammy Award winner, Andrijeski is entering her fourteenth year as Artistic Director and Concertmaster of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and is also Co-director of the New York-based ensemble Quicksilver. Recently, she has also been delving into her personal bucket list of projects including a program of 17th- and 18th-century music on the quinton, a 5-stringed instrument that straddles the worlds of viols and violins.
Alexandra Dunbar is an award-winning harpsichordist, pianist, and pedagogue. She holds degrees from the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Interlochen Arts Academy (IAA 97-99, IAC 98). She received a full scholarship as a resident in the C. V. Starr Fellows Program in the Doctoral program at Juilliard in the harpsichord studio of Lionel Party. Solo performances with orchestra have included Orchestra 54, Dorian Baroque Orchestra, The Memphis Chamber Music Society, The Symphony of Westchester, and The Chamber Orchestra of New York. Dunbar has collaborated on performance projects with the The Dryden Ensemble, the Foundlings Ensemble, and The New York Philharmonic. Dunbar is on the music faculty at University of North Georgia and Piedmont Conservatory, and she concertizes and maintains a private teaching studio. She is a faculty member in the Music Theory department at the world-renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. Currently she serves as harpsichordist and co-artistic director for Amethyst Baroque Ensemble.
Daniel Elyar has specialized in baroque performance practice in Europe and North America for thirty years. He has performed and recorded with ensembles in North America and Europe including Tafelmusik, the Utrecht Baroque Consort, Concerto d’Amsterdam, Teatro Lirico, Concerto Palatino, Les Arts Florissants, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Vox Luminis, the New York Collegium, The King’s Noyse, The Newbury Consort, Ensemble, REBEL, NY State Baroque, Tempesta di Mare, Washington Bach Consort, the Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Clarion Players and Choir, the Trinity Baroque Orchestra on Wall street and is a founding member of the Franklin Quartet. As an educator, has taught for over twenty years at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia and is full-time faculty staff and from 2014 to 2016 he directed the Renaissance Collegium at Temple University. Mr Elyar has recorded for Chandos, RadioBremen, Naxos, ELECTRA, ATMA, Musica Omnia and Hungarton labels and has been nominated for Grammy Awards nearly a dozen times.
Atlanta native Evan Few has established himself as a leader in his generation of historical performance specialists, having studied and performed repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Gershwin on period instruments. An assertive, collaborative instrumentalist, he has appeared on stages across the globe with some of its most prestigious early music ensembles, such as Anima Eterna Brugge, Bach Collegium Japan, and the Taverner Consort. Much in demand by many of the top Baroque bands of the United States, Evan is a core member of the Carmel Bach Festival, Principal Second Violin of Philharmonie Austin, and co-founder of Filament. He has participated in the making of numerous recordings available from Accent, CPO, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and Zig-Zag Territoires, among others. His violin was built for him in 2010 by Matthieu Besseling of Amsterdam, modeled after early Stradivarius examples; he plays with baroque bows by Luis Emilio Rodriguez Carrington (2011) and Thomas Pitt (2016). Evan lives in Philadelphia and is a devoted cook, plant dad, and yogi.
Baroque violinist Jeanne Johnson’s music can be heard around the world, from Brazil to Indonesia, Sweden to Turkey. Jeanne is a founding member and prior co-concertmaster of Atlanta Baroque. She has been concertmaster for the Washington Bach Consort, and has performed, toured and recorded with numerous groups including Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Chatham Baroque, Asheville Baroque (including a concert at the Viola da Gamba Society 2018 Conclave), Bach Akademie Charlotte, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Opera and Ballet, Charleston Symphony, Savannah Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony and Chattanooga Symphony. A winner of an Early Music America Professional Development Award in 2002, Jeanne gave a recital at the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments in 2005, and has been featured on several radio broadcasts including Harmonia, Performance Today, and WNYC. Performances by her Baroque trio Music of the Spheres include The Frick Collection, the Tage Alter Musik Festival in Germany, the Berkeley Early Music Festival mainstage, and the San Francisco Early Music Society. In 2016, Centaur Records released Jeanne’s recordings of violin works by Johann Jakob Walther and Jean-Fery Rebel with Eco dell’Anima. She has also recorded for Koch, Magnatune and the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and has served as orchestra director and violin faculty at Clayton State University. www.jeannespheres.com
Russian born Matvey Lapin holds BM and MM degrees from St. Petersburg State Conservatory. He dates his interest in historical performance back in his pre-college years. While in Russia, he performed with the most prominent HIP groups, including Musica Petropolitana and Musica Antiqua Rossica in St. Petersburg, as well as Moscow-based Pocket Symphony and Pratum Integrum. After settling in the U.S., Matvey completed his DMA minor field in historical violin at the Historical Performance Institute of Jacobs IU School of Music. He collaborated with such notable musicians as Stanley Ritchie, Nigel North, and Jeanne Lamont. Matvey performs regularly with Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Duke Chapel Bach Cantata series, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, El Fuego, Mallarme Chamber Players, and Raleigh Camerata. His recent collaborations also include Washington Bach Consort, Bach Society of Charleston, and Salem Bach Festival, among others.
Sung Lee’s passion for oboe and music took root in his teens. Throughout the years, oboe has remained a constant in his life amid his excursions in architecture and music therapy. For the past two decades, he has been sharing his talent and zeal as a performer on oboe, flute, recorder, shawm, and other historical woodwinds. As principal oboist of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Sung can be heard on the recordings, The Lully Effect, The Versaille Revolution, and The Colorful Telemann.
While maintaining a diverse and vibrant performance schedule, at Central Piedmont Community College, Sung directs early music ensembles and teaches music appreciation sharing years of experience and knowledge in music, architecture, and music therapy. Each semester, he leads collaborative projects at Central Piedmont bringing together various student ensembles. At a bilingual preschool, La Escuelita, Sung facilitates joyful and active music making with three and four-year-old’s who call him Mr. Sung.
Liz Vivian Loayza Herrera is a Bolivian Baroque violinist and scholar exploring the vibrant intersections of European and Latin American music. Currently pursuing a master’s in Historical Performance at Case Western Reserve University under Julie Andrijeski’s guidance, she has distinguished herself through diverse performances with the versatile CWRU HPP Ensembles, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, and the Resonance Project. Her current projects reflect her dual commitments to performance and research and include educational initiatives with Les Délices while performing in their professional ensemble, presenting colonial Bolivian villancicos with the CWRU Collegium and Early Music Singers, and lecture-recitals illuminating the music of Juan de Araujo and the archives of Sucre, Bolivia. Liz’s work repositions Bolivian repertoires not as peripheral curiosities but as vital contributions to the Baroque, demanding renewed attention through both scholarship and artistry.
Anna Marsh, early bassoons and recorders is a multi-instrumentalist fluent in Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Modern styles. Originally from Tacoma, WA, Anna holds a doctorate of music in historical performance from Indiana University and has appeared worldwide with Opera Lafayette, Tempesta di Mare, Folger Consort, Musica Angelica, Tafelmusik, Washington Bach Consort and Atlanta Baroque among others. She has taught privately & at festivals at the Eastman School of Music, Los Angeles Music and Art School, Amherst Early Music, San Francisco Early Music Society, the Hawai’i Performing Arts Festival & Western Double Reed Workshops. She also has been heard on dozens of recordings & on Performance Today, Harmonia, CBC radio & recorded for Chandos, Analekta, Centaur, Naxos, the Super Bowl, Avie, and Musica Omnia’s Grammy nominated album, Handel’s Israel in Egypt.
Mía Mangano started cello at early age of 6 years old and studied at the Higher Institute of Arts of Cuba where she majored in Cello and Double bass performance with a specialty in Baroque cello and viola da gamba. Her teachers include Vladimir Drovach ,Arelis Saldivar and Felipa Moncada In Cuba. She worked as a teacher at several schools and conservatories including the Vocational School of Arts and the National School of Music of Cuba as well a s a full-time cellist in renowned orchestras as Villa Clara Symphony Orchestra, Soloists of Habana, the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra and at the Ballet and opera orchestra of Havana. In 2016 she moved to Georgia where she has been active with local orchestras and early music ensembles.
Violinist Ute Marks lives in Metro Atlanta, but is a native of Germany, having grown up in the state of Saxony, where the cities of Leipzig and Dresden are central to the history of Baroque music. Ute came to Georgia State University in 1994 to study with violinist Oliver Steiner, then returned to Germany to complete Masters’ degrees in both Music Education as well as English and American Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin. Moving back to Atlanta in 1997 to live with her American husband, besides teaching private violin lessons, she became a founding member of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and established her career as a Baroque violinist. Besides having performed regularly with Dr. George Lucktenberg at Reinhardt University, she plays with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, New Trinity Baroque and other early music ensembles in the Atlanta area.
J. Tracy Mortimore performs extensively on modern and historical double basses and violone. Early music groups he has appeared with include Santa Fe Pro Musica, Washington Bach Consort, Musica Pro Rara, Tafelmusik, Opera Atelier, Toronto Consort, Seattle Baroque, Bourbon Baroque, Chatham Baroque, Folger Consort, Tempesta di Mare, Apollo's Fire, Clarion Music Society, Pegasus, NYSEMA, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, North Carolina Baroque and Aradia Ensemble with whom he has made over 50 recordings. Mr. Mortimore currently resides in Cleveland where in addition to his work in early music, he is the bassist for The Cleveland Chamber Symphony, an ensemble specializing in contemporary classical music. Outside of the classical music world, he can be heard playing with Tierradentro, an Argentinian folk music band based in Pittsburgh and Calder Riot, an avant jazz improvising trio. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Tracy is also an expert home renovator.
Dr. Kelly Nivison, baroque flute, is the artistic director and founder of Raleigh Camerata, and the Co-Director of Bands at Ravenscroft School. She performs regularly with the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Mallarme, Durham Symphony, and Carolina Philharmonic, and has previously performed with the North Carolina Symphony, Indy Baroque Orchestra's Ensemble Voltaire and the Bourbon Baroque Orchestra, as well as several other modern orchestras and ensembles. She has won the National Flute Associations Graduate Research Competition (2018), been a semifinalist in the NFA’s Baroque Flute Artist competition, and won second place in the Indy Baroque Orchestra’s concerto competition (2014). She received her doctorate in historical flute performance at the Early Music Institute at Indiana University in 2017, and additionally holds degrees from Florida State University (MMus) and Appalachian State University (BMus).
Violinist Stephen Redfield, honored as “Best Instrumentalist of 2018-19” by the Austin Critics Table, was a student of Dorothy DeLay at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory and Donald Weilerstein at the Eastman School. He has been Professor of Violin at the University of Southern Mississippi since 1996. He has maintained an active schedule as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States and internationally, even through the pandemic, live and online. Over his 40 years with the Oregon Bach Festival, he has participated in numerous recordings, including the Grammy® Award-winning disc Credo. Stephen is concertmaster of Santa Fe Pro Musica, the Arizona Bach Festival, the Conspirare Company of Voices and La Follia Austin Baroque. And his performances as concertmaster and soloist with the Victoria Bach Festival have been broadcast nationally.
Katie Rietman has performed as a cellist on over 60 CD recordings and numerous concerts and radio broadcasts with notable baroque ensembles worldwide. Her performing career has taken her to 21 countries in Europe, North America ,and South America. She is a prizewinner in the Bonporti competition ( Rovereto, Italy) and a semi-finalist in the Van Wassenaer competition ( Den Haag, Netherlands.) She has been the principal cellist in New York of the Trinity Wall Street Baroque Orchestra for the complete cycle of the Bach Cantatas; the Clarion Society; and with the St. Thomas Boys’ Choir. She is also principal cellist of Aradia in Toronto, Spire Kansas City, the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and the Dallas Bach Society. She currently lives in Santa Fe and has performed there with the Desert Chorale , Pro Musica, Opera West, the Santa Fe Opera, and on the new baroque concert series “MarketMusic” at NMSA, where she is the cello teacher. In addition, she has a large private cello studio and very much enjoys teaching the next generation!
Violist Dr. Kathryn Steely is regularly engaged in performances of early to modern solo, chamber, and orchestral repertoire. She performs regularly with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and with Philharmonie Austin, a period instrument ensemble, based in Austin, Texas, as well as with the Madison Bach Musicians. Her MSR Classics recording of William Flackton’s Viola Sonatas, the first English sonatas written specifically for viola, was reviewed “a delight.” She is also an experienced orchestral violist, performing with the Atlanta Opera, the Fort Worth Symphony, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Fort Worth-Dallas Ballet, and as a member of Florida’s Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Steely is an enthusiastic mentor for students and recently completed a long tenure as Professor of Viola in the Baylor University School of Music. Her students have been regularly accepted into the country’s leading music schools and summer music festivals and are active in a variety of music professions. She has been a featured presenter at national conventions for the American String Teachers Association, the American Viola Society, and the College Music Society, has presented master classes across the country and has been honored to serve on several occasions as a jury member for the Primrose International Viola Competition. Steely has served as president of the American Viola Society and as editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society. She holds performance degrees from Bethel College, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Northwestern University.
