Greg Ingles sackbut music director Kris Ingles trumpet cornetto artistic director Erik Schmalz sackbut Mack Ramsey sackbut Robert Mealy violin Julie Andrijeski violin Daniel Swenberg theorbo Mahan Esfahani keyboard “virtually singing through their instruments...” - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The Musicians of Spiritus Collective Recently lauded for her "invigorating verve and imagination" by the Washington Post, Julie Andrijeski is among the leading baroque violinists in the U.S. She is a full-time member of the early-music trio, Chatham Baroque, an award-winning ensemble that performs throughout the Americas. In addition, Ms. Andrijeski regularly appears with several other baroque groups including, among others, Cleveland's Apollo's Fire, the Washington Bach Consort, Cecilia's Circle, Spiritus Collective, and the King's Noyse. Ms. Andrijeski's unique performance style is greatly influenced by her knowledge and skilled performance of baroque dance, and she often teaches both violin and dance at workshops. Ms. Andrijeski has been on the faculty of the Baroque Performance Institute at the Oberlin Conservatory for the past ten years and this year also taught at the Madison Early Music Workshop and a Suzuki Institute in Greenville, South Carolina. Ms. Andrijeski received her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Early Music from Case Western Reserve University in May 2006. Previous degrees include a B.M. in Violin Performance from the University of Denver (1985) and an M.M. in Violin Performance from Northwestern University (1986). She has recorded for Dorian Recordings and Centaur, among others, and records with Chatham Baroque on the Sono Luminus label. Tehran-born keyboardist Mahan Esfahani (b. 1983) is active as a soloist and continuo player acoss the United States and Europe in repertoire ranging from the late Medieval through the early Classical periods. Among the ensembles with whom he has appeared are the highly-acclaimed Renaissance ensemble Ciaramella, the King's Noyse, the Pacific Northwest's Cappella Romana, "Idiom Idiots" with jazz pianist and composer Mark Applebaum, the Whole Noyse, New York's Spiritus Collective, and Cincinnati's Catacoustic Consort. He has appeared or will appear this season as a performer at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, Oberlin College's Fairchild Chapel, Berkeley's MusicSources, Case Western University's Court, Chapel & Countryside Series, New York Early Music Days, Milwaukee Early Music NOW, Seattle Early Music Guild, USC's Huntington Library, the Pittsburgh Renaissance and Baroque Society, the San Francisco Early Music Society series, Tage Alte Musik Regensburg (2007), the San Diego Harpsichord Society, Columbus Early Music, and the Washington D.C. Early Music Festival. He can be heard as a solo organist on the Naxos release, "Sacred and Secular Music of Renaissance Germany,'' with Ciaramella. This season he will be starting a major recording project encompassing the complete solo works for harpsichord, virginals, and organ by English composer John Bull (c. 1562-1628), "the Liszt of his Age," with mentor and collaborator Peter Watchorn. The first CD of this monumental series is due to be released on the Musica Omnia label in 2007. Mahan studied Musicology and Theory at Stanford University (BA with Honors and Distinction, 2005), where he studied principally with Adam Gilbert and George Houle. He currently studies early keyboards and organ with Peter Sykes at the Longy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is a candidate for the Artist Diploma. He also studies privately with harpsichordist Peter Watchorn. Greg Ingles, Music Director, is in demand as a free-lance sackbut player performing with such period instrument ensembles as Tafelmusik, New York Collegium, Concerto Palatino, Aston Magna, the Orchestra of the Renaissance and American Bach Soloists. He is a member of Piffaro: the Renaissance Band which performs throughout the US and Europe and with them, he has recorded on the Dorian and Eufoda labels. Greg recently recorded music by Bertali with Chatham Baroque on the Sono Luminus label. He is also a member of the early wind band, Ciaramella, with whom he recorded their debut CD on the Naxos label. Greg received his Bachelor of Music degree in trombone performance from Oberlin Conservatory and in addition to his performing schedule, he recently completed a D.M.A. at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and is professor of trombone at Hofstra University. Acclaimed for her ‘sterling tone’ in the New York Times, Kris Ingles, Artistic Director, plays baroque trumpet with several period instrument ensembles including New York Collegium, Tempesta di Mare, Foundling Baroque Orchestra, NY State Baroque, Clarion Music Society, Long Island Baroque and Tafelmusik. On cornetto, Kris has performed with New York Collegium, Piffaro, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Early Music NY, Arcadia Players and Brown University among others. Kris can be heard on the Kleos label with the New York Collegium under the direction of Andrew Parrott, on Naxos with early wind band Ciaramella, on Dorian with Piffaro and on Centaur with Aston Magna. She holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in trumpet performance from the University of Michigan and recently completed a doctorate in early music performance at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She lectures on early brass performance practice and trumpet history, including recent appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, University of Wyoming and Rutgers University. When not performing, Kris enjoys teaching dedicated students as professor of trumpet at Hofstra University. One of America’s leading historical string players, Robert Mealy has been praised for his “imagination, taste, subtlety, and daring” (Boston Globe); the New Yorker called him “New York’s world-class early music violinist.” He has recorded over 50 cds on most major labels, ranging from Hildegard of Bingen with Sequentia, to Renaissance consorts with the Boston Camerata, to Rameau operas with Les Arts Florissants. In New York he is a frequent leader and soloist with the New York Collegium, ARTEK, and Early Music New York. He also leads the distinguished Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, and this season is appearing as guest concertmaster and director with the Phoenix Symphony. A devoted chamber musician, he is a member of the medieval ensemble Fortune's Wheel and the renaissance violin band The King’s Noyse, as well as Spiritus. He also directs the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, and was recently appointed Lecturer at Yale University, where he directs the Yale Collegium; in 2004 Mr. Mealy received Early Music America’s Binkley Award for outstanding teaching at both institutions. Mack Ramsey has had a lifelong interest in the performance of repertoires of the 15th to the 17th centuries. He is equally at home on a number of different instruments and is especially fascinated with the role of the municipal wind bands of the 16th century and the special skills and performance practices that help us interpret this music. He is a founding member of the Boston Shawm and Sackbut Ensemble. He has also performed on the sackbut, cornett, slide trumpet, flute and recorder with other wind bands in North America, such as Piffaro, Les Sonneurs de Montreal and The Whole Noyse; Overseas, Mr. Ramsey has performed and recorded with the Taverner Players, directed by Andrew Parrot and the Gabrieli Consort, directed by Paul McCreesh; At home, in the US., he has appeared with many larger ensembles, including Blue Heron, the New York Collegium, Aston Magna, the Folger Consort, Boston Camerata, Early Music New York, Apollo's Fire, Boston Baroque, Concerto Palatino and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra. Erik Schmalz received degrees in trombone performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  Two years after graduation, he was introduced to period instruments and early music.  Since then, Erik has had the opportunity to perform with many excellent groups in North America including Spiritus Collective, Ciaramella, The New York Collegium, Tafelmusik, Clarion Music Society, Piffaro, Early Music New York, Toronto Chamber Choir, Aston Magna, San Francisco Bach Choir, Long Island Baroque, and I Furiosi.  In addition, he has recorded with The New York Collegium, Early Music New York, Aston Magna and Ciaramella.  Erik is currently a freelance performer residing in Connecticut. From the age of 3, Daniel Swenberg knew he had to play the Theorbo...   well, that's not exactly true.  Let's start again: New York-based Lutenist Daniel Swenberg plays a variety of Renaissance and Baroque Lutes, Theorbos, and early Guitars.  As a soloist, Mr. Swenberg concentrates on the repertoires of the Baroque Lute in 18th-century Germany, Austria, and Italy and the Baroque Guitar in Spain and New Spain/Latin America.  His principal devotion is to Basso-Continuo playing (the Baroque practice of semi-improvised accompaniment from the bass).  Among the ensembles with whom he works regularly are: ARTEK, REBEL, Visceral Reaction, The New York Collegium, the Mark Morris Dance Group, Tafelmusik, Opera Atelier, The Metropolitan Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, Staatstheater Stuttgart, New York City Opera, Stadtstheater Klagenfurt, Les Violons du Roy, Piffaro, Spiritus Collective, Les Voix Baroques, Musica Pacifica, the Sejong Soloists, Les Voix Baroques, Apollo's Fire, and Lizzy and the Theorboys.  Recently, he has accompanied Renee Fleming at the MET, Carnegie Hall, the Aspen Music Festival, and at the Mostly Mozart Festival/Live from Lincoln Center.  He has received awards from the Belgian American Educational Foundation (2000) for a study of 18th-century chamber music for the lute, and a Fulbright Scholarship (1997) to study in Bremen, Germany with Stephen Stubbs and Andrew Lawrence King, at the Hochschule fuer Kuenste.   He studied previously with Pat O'Brien at Mannes College of Music (New York City), receiving a Masters Degree in Historical Performance-Lute.  Prior to his concentration on lutes, he studied Musicology at Washington University (St. Louis) and received a B.M. in classical guitar from the North Carolina School of the Arts...  And yes, he spends a lot of time tuning and wondering why he did not take up harmonica or some smaller instrument... Spiritus Collective © 2007