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
Alice Culin-Ellison, violin and viola, is a versatile historical performer with a special interest in late 16th/early 17th century repertoire. She is a founding member of Incantare, an ensemble of violins and sackbuts focusing on musical and cultural connections of under-explored musicians. Alice performs around the country with groups including The Newberry Consort, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, and the Apollo’s Fire, and was the Artistic Director of Bourbon Baroque from 2017-2022. Alice received her Doctorate from CWRU in Historical Performance, and also holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Indiana University. In her free time, Alice is an avid adventurer and outdoorswoman.
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.
Cellist Erin Ellis leads a versatile career as a performer and teacher. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States as well as in Canada, Germany, Chile, Italy, and Holland. Her recording of J. Dall’Abaco’s 11 Capricci for solo cello was recently released on Albany Records. As a baroque cellist, Erin has performed with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Indy Baroque Orchestra, and with members of Chatham Baroque. A dedicated music educator, she maintains an active private studio and is the cello professor at West Virginia University, where she teaches cello, coaches WVU’s graduate string quartet (Montani Quartet), and coordinates an active string chamber music program. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Erin earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She went on to receive the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree with a minor in Early Music from the Eastman School of Music, where she was recognized with the Graue Award for Excellence in Musicology. She studied the cello with Richard Aaron, David Ying, Alison Wells, Phoebe Carrai, and Martha Gerschefski.
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.
Jeanne Johnson’s performances have been lauded by the press as “stunningly effusive,” and “delivered with gusto.” Her Baroque trio Music of the Spheres made its European debut at the 2006 Tage Alter Musik Festival in Regensburg, Germany, and was featured in the chamber music magazine Ensemble. In 2016, Centaur Records released Ms. Johnson’s recordings of violin works by Johann Jakob Walther and Jean-Fery Rebel with Eco dell’Anima. She has performed with Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque, Brandywine Baroque, Musica nel Chiostro (in Tuscany), the Carmel Bach Festival, and the Atlanta Symphony. Ms. Johnson has served on the faculty of Clayton State University and has maintained a large private teaching studio for twenty years. She studied with James Buswell and Stanley Ritchie, receiving her bachelor’s degree in performance with honors from Indiana University and her master’s degree with distinction in performance and academics from New England Conservatory.
In addition to playing 2nd flute with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra since its founding in 1997, Janice Joyce teaches flute students and masterclasses. She has performed with a variety of groups, ensembles, and orchestras throughout the southeastern USA. In addition, she has performed at multiple NFA conferences and regional festivals with chamber ensembles, duos, and flute orchestras. In her spare time, Janice performs with music therapy programs at nursing homes, memory care centers, and hospitals. She holds a Bachelor and Master of Music in Flute Performance from UGA and UWG, respectively, and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Her former instructors include Trevor Wye, Clare Southworth, Eldred Spell, and Stephen Preston.
Grace Kawamura, violinist, is a musician and educator in the Metro-Atlanta area. Prior to her studies with Andrew Jennings at the University of Michigan’s masters program, she completed her undergraduate studies under the tutelage of Helen Hwaya Kim at Kennesaw State University. Grace has performed with orchestras such as the Atlanta Opera Orchestra, Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and currently holds the Principal Second Violin chair of CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and Georgia Symphony Orchestra. Grace has performed with early music ensembles such as the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute’s Faculty Ensemble, and recently served as concertmaster for Amherst Early Music Festival’s opera production of Il trionfo dell’onore. Grace is currently the Middle School Orchestra Director and violin instructor at the Lovett School in Atlanta, GA. In her spare time, you will find her at the hot yoga studio or at the barn riding dressage horses.
Liz Vivian Loayza Herrera is a Bolivian violinist and educator. Her journey as an early music performer began with discovering the baroque violin during her undergrad years at Michigan State University. She is a multiple recipient of the EMA’s workshop scholarship in 2023 and 2017 and also the prestigious Nicolas Fortin Scholarship in 2021. Driven by her passion for learning, Liz has participated in early music festivals across the United States and Canada, including the Oregon Bach’s Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, American Bach Soloists Academy, and the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin College. Currently Liz is a graduate student in the DMA program at Case Western Reserve University and student of Julie Andrijeski. Liz holds the position of Executive Director at the recently founded Sociedad Boliviana de Musicología. In this role, she is dedicated to rescuing, cataloging, and transcribing musical manuscripts spanning from the XVII to XX centuries. In addition, the Sociedad actively promotes the interpretation of Bolivian baroque music, both nationally and internationally, contributing to the understanding and appreciation of early music from the New World.
Violinist Ute Marks lives in Metro Atlanta, and 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 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.
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 and at festivals at the Eastman School of Music, Los Angeles Music and Art School, Amherst Early Music, San Francisco Early Music Society, the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and Western Double Reed Workshops. She also has been heard on dozens of recordings and on Performance Today, Harmonia, CBC Radio, and has recorded for Chandos, Analekta, Centaur, Naxos, the Super Bowl, Avie, and Musica Omnia’s Grammy nominated album, Handel’s Israel in Egypt.
Kathryn Montoya appears with a variety of orchestral and chamber music ensembles including the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Tafelmusik, the Wiener Akademie, Pacific Musicworks, and Apollo’s Fire among others. She received her degrees at Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington. While at IU, she was the recipient of the prestigious Performer’s Certificate and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Germany. Recent projects include the Globe’s Tony award-winning productions of Twelfth Night on Broadway, concerts and master classes in Shanghai, and tour and Grammy award-winning recording, Charpentier: La couronne de fleurs - La descente d’Orphée aux enfers with the Boston Early Music Festival. Montoya has been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today and can be heard on the Erato, Naxos, CPO, NCA, Analekta, and Dorian Sono Luminus labels. In her free time, she can be found in Hereford, England, converting an 18th-century barn into a home with her partner, James.
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.
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.
Atlanta-native baroque cellist and violist da gamba Maya Ridenour is passionate about engaging today’s audience with music from the medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods. Her repertoire also includes 21st-century works written for historical instruments with an eye to the past. As an ensemble player she has collaborated with renowned violinist Rachel Podger, Academy of Ancient Music director Laurence Cummings, and the Yale Voxtet. She enjoys providing music for church services as a choral scholar and string player. As a pit musician, Maya has performed in historical productions of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Scarlatti’s Il Trionfo del Honore. A passionate music teacher, she is a fellow for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program where she works with middle and high school students. Maya has a BM from Oberlin Conservatory and is currently a Masters student in Juilliard’s Historical Performance program. Her mentors are Phoebe Carrai, Darrett Adkins, Catharina Meints, Martha Bishop, Lillian Gordis, and Mary Beth Bryant.
Sarah Schilling is a specialist in period oboes and recorders, and has been teaching at the Interlochen Early Music Workshop since 2016. She is in demand as a period oboist and performance practice specialist. Schilling performs with period instrument groups throughout the Americas including Washington Bach Consort, Chatham Baroque, Forgotten Clefs, Bourbon Baroque, Grand Harmonie, Mallarme Chamber Players, Montana Early Music Festival, and Festival Internacional de Música Sacra. An active scholar in performance practice, Schilling has been published by Mozart Society of America and the International Double Reed Society. She is the director of the Interlochen Early Music Workshop at Interlochen and has been a guest instructor at Grand Valley State University and The Princeton Festival. Sarah writes for WFIU Public Radio’s Harmonia Early Music and is a Director of Outreach at Forgotten Clefs, a Renaissance Wind Band.
Violist Dr. Kathryn Steely is regularly engaged in performances of early to modern solo, chamber, and orchestral repertoire. Drawn to the grace, gestures, and collaborative nature of period music performance, she currently performs with Philharmonie Austin, a period instrument ensemble, based in Austin, Texas. Her MSR Classics recording of William Flackton’s Viola Sonatas, the first English sonatas written specifically for viola, was reviewed “a delight.” Upcoming Centaur recording Music for Flute, Viola, and Piano featuring recently composed works is expected in late 2024. She is also an experienced orchestral violist, having performed with 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 recently completed her tenure as Professor of Viola at Baylor University School of Music where she has been an enthusiastic mentor. Her students have been regularly accepted into the country’s leading conservatories 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.
