Texas Toot - Texas Toot

Miyo Aoki

Miyo Aoki is a dedicated recorder player and teacher, performing music ranging from medieval to modern and teaching students of all ages and levels. She is a member of the Farallon Recorder Quartet and has performed in the US, Germany, and Poland, with groups including The Eurasia Consort, Utopia Early Music, and Gamut Bach Ensemble; and at the Amherst Early Music Festival, Bloomington Early Music Festival and Whidbey Island Music Festival. In recent years she was delighted to play with the Boise Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and Oregon Symphony, respectively, in performances of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

In addition to private lessons, she teaches regularly for Seattle Historical Arts for Kids and at workshops around the country, including the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop, SFEMS Recorder Workshop, Amherst Early Music Festival, Early Music Week at Pinewoods, and Hidden Valley Early Music Workshop. Miyo holds a KAZ Diplom (Artist Diploma) from the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, Germany, where she studied with Professor Han Tol, and degrees in both early music performance and mathematics from Indiana University, where she studied with Professor Eva Legêne.

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Annette Bauer

Recorder

Annette Bauer is a recorder player and multi-instrumentalist. Born and raised in Germany, she holds a diploma in medieval and Renaissance music from the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland (2001), and an MA in music from the University of California in Santa Cruz (2004).

From 2001-2012 she called the San Francisco Bay area her home. There, she studied North Indian classical music on sarode, a 24-stringed lute, with her teacher Ali Akbar Khan, and worked as a freelance musician with early music groups all over the United States, including Piffaro, Texas Early Music Project, Magnificat, Cançonier, Les Graces, and Farallon Recorder Quartet. From 2012-2020, she spent eight years touring the world as a musician for the Cirque du Soleil.

Since 2020, Annette is now making a new home with her partner and young daughter in Montréal. She is currently sharing her love of music by offering online instruction to students of all ages in her private studio, including an ongoing class on 14th-16th-century notation through Amherst Early Music, as well as teaching early music and recorder workshops.

She spent a few weeks this spring (2023) as returning resident at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Oregon. There she composed and improvised music inspired by the visual beauty of nature, and worked on her pipe and tabor, double recorder, and bagpipe skills. She is also the new director for the San Francisco Early Music recorder workshop 2023.

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Tish Berlin

Recorder

Letitia Berlin teaches in California and at workshops around the country, including the Amherst Early Music Festival and the Oregon Coast Recorder Society Winds and Waves workshop. She directs the Hidden Valley Early Music Road Scholar workshop, the San Francisco Early Music Society Music Discovery Workshop and several small workshops for Tibia Adventures in Music. Besides Farallon, Ms. Berlin performs with the Tibia Recorder Duo, the Wild Rose Ensemble and the Sitka Trio.

Ms. Berlin has performed as a guest artist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. Recordings include two CDs with the Farallon Recorder Quartet: Ludwig Senfl: Motets, Lieder and Instrumental Works, and From Albion’s Shores: Music of England from the Middle Ages to Purcell, as well as Ladino love songs with Yátan Atán on the New Albion label.

Ms. Berlin received a master’s degree in early music performance practices from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a three-time recipient of the Recorder Residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, Oregon, sponsored by the Oregon Coast Recorder Society. Ms. Berlin is a Past President of the American Recorder Society.

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Frances Blaker

Recorder

Frances Blaker performs on recorders of all types and sizes with the Farallon Recorder Quartet and Tibia Recorder Duo. As a member of Ensemble Vermillian she explores, transcribes and performs chamber music of the 17th and 18th centuries. She has performed as soloist with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Vita Nova, and numerous other groups in the US, Denmark, England, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Frances is conductor and music director of BABO (Bay Area Baroque Orchestra), a community orchestra for accomplished amateur players. As co-director of Tibia Adventures in Music, she organizes workshops for small groups of adult students in the US and abroad. She teaches private recorder lessons both in person and long distance via Skype and is a sought after instructor at workshops all around the US.

Ms. Blaker is the author of The Recorder Player’s Companion and the “Opening Measures” column in the American Recorder magazine, and a collaborator and performer on the Disc Continuo series of play-along recordings.

Her compositions have been published by PRB Productions and Lost in Time Press. Ms. Blaker can be heard on Ensemble Vermillian’s two-volume survey of German 17th century chamber music centering around Buxtehude’s opus 1, Stolen Jewels and Buried Treasure. The Farallon Recorder Quartet’s recordings include the works of Ludwig Senfl and newly released recording of music from England, From Albion’s Shores.

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Bruce Brogdon

Lute/theorbo

Bruce Brogdon studied classical guitar at the University of St. Thomas. His interest in early music led him to take up the lute, and he has studied privately and in masterclasses with Paul O’Dette and Pat O’Brien. Bruce has performed with the Texas Baroque Ensemble, the Green Mountain Consort, the Houston Baroque Ensemble, the Texas Early Music Project, La Follia Austin Baroque, Ars Lyrica Houston (based at University of Houston), and Aquinas, the resident ensemble of the University of St. Thomas.

Bruce leads his own group, Canzonetta, which specializes in plucked string continuo (lutes, guitars, and harp), and features music of the 16th and 17th centuries.

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Jennifer Carpenter

Recorder

Jennifer Carpenter’s love for the recorder began while earning her Bachelor of Music in clarinet performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her pursuit of early music studies brought her to study at the University of North Texas where she received a Master of Music degree in musicology with an emphasis in early music performance and is ABD (all but dissertation) for her PhD in the same field from UNT.

As a recorder player, Jennifer performs regularly as a soloist and in early music ensembles in both Texas and Colorado. She is a member of Parish House Baroque, Colorado Springs’ early music ensemble, which performs concerts along the Front Range.

She enjoys teaching as much as performing. In addition to teaching private lessons, both in person and online, and coaching ensembles, Jennifer has been on the faculty of early music workshops in TX, CA, NM, CO, and AZ. Her enthusiasm for working with amateur recorder players has led her to serve on the Board of Directors of the American Recorder Society. Jennifer was the music director of the Dallas Recorder Society from 2009-2014 and continues to mentor and coach ARS chapters across the country. She is also the president of the Board of Directors for the Boulder-based early music ensemble Seicento Baroque Ensemble. Happily a resident of Colorado Springs, CO, she is enjoying integrating into the early music scene on the Front Range.

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Valerie Chaussonet

Voice

Valerie Chaussonet is a French language maven and artist in the Austin Texas area. She has provided French language coaching and instruction to the TEMP singers for over 15 years. In addition, she manages an art studio, often shows in local and regional galleries, and holds French speaking and cooking afternoons at her home.

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Al Cofrin

Dance band, Improvisation

Al Cofrin earned a BA in Jazz Theory & Composition at the University of Texas in the early 1980s. He became interested in medieval music when a professor pointed out that both jazz and medieval monophonic music utilize similar improvisational skills. He continued graduate music studies and worked on a thesis project of medieval monophonic songs and dances resulting in the 1995 publication of pre-15th century transcriptions and a collection of Renaissance dance music.

The publication of his work led to the desire to perform the music he had worked with for so long. Istanpitta was born in 1994 and continues to play for concert venues and universities across the country. Al has been on faculty for several Early Music related workshops including San Francisco Early Music Workshop.

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Saskia Coolen

Recorder

Saskia Coolen studied recorder at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Kees Boeke and Walter van Hauwe. She also studied the viola da gamba and musicology at the University of Utrecht. With Camerata Trajectina, she specializes in Dutch music from the Middle Ages until the Golden Age. This ensemble has already made 40 cds and played more than 1000 concerts in the Netherlands and abroad.

From 2004-2014 she was a member of Brisk Recorder Quartet Amsterdam. This quartet plays early music, but also a lot of contemporary music, specially composed for them. They make music theatre productions especially for kids. For years Saskia taught at the conservatories of Hilversum and Amsterdam; nowadays she travels the world to teach at workshops, courses and masterclasses. A leading thread through her work is historical improvisation.

For several years she has been a director of the Baroque Academy at Amherst Early Music (in the US) and artistic co-director of Camerata Trajectina.

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Héloïse Degrugillier

Recorder

Héloïse Degrugillier has worked extensively as both a recorder performer and teacher throughout Europe and the United States. Recent performances included a recital at the National Music Museum in South Dakota, with the Dunya ensemble in Jordan Hall, and with the Boston Early Music Festival Opera.

Héloïse is the president of the Boston Recorder Society, and teaches recorder, baroque flute and the Alexander Technique at Tufts University. She has a Masters in Music from the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands. She has studied with Heiko ter Scheggett, Saskia Coolen, and Pedro Memelsdorff.

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Carol Deihl

Viol

Carol Deihl discovered the viol at the Fall Toot’s beginning viol class many years ago, and was immediately smitten. She was a founding member of the Dallas Consort of Viols and the piano player for Martha’s Maggot English Country Dance Band before moving to the rather remote mountains of Ouray, Colorado with her reclusive husband and fellow viol player Kim Shrier.

Carol develops software to support her music habit. Carol also plays recorder, keyboards, and various other instruments, has an unused degree in physics, and thinks that most of the good music was composed before 1750.

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Therese Honey

Harp

Therese Honey has been performing, studying, researching and teaching harp in the Houston area since 1968. She performs early music with the Texas Early Music Project and La Follia Austin Baroque and more, and performs Celtic music at the North Texas Irish Festival, Milwaukee Irish Festival, and more, in addition to nationally broadcast PBS Christmas Specials.

She has presented concerts and workshops throughout the United States and Canada. Ms. Honey has published several books of arrangements of Celtic and Early Music for Celtic harp, and has recorded 4 solo CDs.

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Scott Horton

Lute/theorbo

Scott Horton studied lute and continuo with Nigel North at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He was a member of Texas Baroque Ensemble which toured the Netherlands and Finland, and accompanied Dutch baritone Max van Egmond on tour in the United States.

After moving to Washington, D.C. in 1986, he was active in the field of early music, having performed with the Washington Opera, Washington Bach Consort and Maryland Handel Festival among other ensembles. He was invited back to Texas in 1989 to perform with the Houston Grand Opera and in 1992 was the featured performer at the Early Music Festival at Round Top, to which he returned in 1993, 1994 and 1996.

Mr. Horton has taught at the University of Texas, University of North Texas, University of St. Thomas and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. In 1995, he relocated to Texas where he performed in various groups including Texas Baroque Ensemble, Aquinas Ensemble, Ars Lyrica, Texas Early Music Project, Texas Bach Choir and La Follia Baroque. He performed recently in productions of Orfeo, Coronation of Poppea and Ariodante of Houston Grand Opera and Dallas Opera. He is also presently on the faculty of the Armstrong Community School at the Austin Lyric Opera.

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Jan Jackson

Recorder

Jan Jackson, director of Passing Measures, has been directing and performing with professional and educational Early Music ensembles in Central Texas for over 30 years. She has participated in various Early Music festivals and Renaissance faires around the country and in numerous workshops, including those at Amherst College and the Professional Recorder Program at Indiana University.

Ms. Jackson has performed with the Texas Early Music Project, in addition to directing and performing with Passing Measures (medieval, renaissance, and baroque repertoire), Timely Treasures (harp/recorder duo with early music and celtic repertoire) and currently with the Worthy Waites of Whimsey.

She has served on the National Board of Directors for the American Recorder Society and on the Educational Committee for that organization. A registered Suzuki recorder instructor, she is a charter member of the American Recorder Teachers Association, was a member of its board of directors and the chair person for ARTA’s Scholarship Committee. She has served as a faculty member for the Armstrong Community Music School (South Austin), and the Texas TOOT. She teaches in students’ homes, at workshops, with the Lifetime Learning Institute, and privately at her studio, the Academie of Musick (North Central Austin).

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Danny Johnson

Director, Voice

Award-winning director, international performer, and recording artist Daniel Johnson has been the artistic director of the Texas Early Music Project since its inception in 1987. Johnson has performed and toured both as a soloist and ensemble member in such groups as the New York Ensemble for Early Music, Sotto Voce (San Francisco), and Musa Iberica. He can be heard on various recordings for Koch International, Foné Records (Rome), Amherst Festival Productions, and the Texas Early Music Project label.

Johnson was the director of the UT Early Music Ensemble, one of the largest and most active in the U.S., from 1986-2003. In 1998, he was awarded Early Music America’s Thomas Binkley Award for university ensemble directors. He is also the recipient of the 1997 Quattelbaum Award at the College of Charleston. Johnson teaches master classes in performance practice and also serves on the faculty, staff, and the Executive Advisory Board of the Amherst Early Music Festival. He has been on the faculty of the Texas Toot since 1994.

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Joan Kimball

Loud band, Recorder

Joan Kimball is the former artistic co-director and a founding member of Piffaro, The Renaissance Band. She has concertized with the ensemble throughout the U.S., Europe, and South America and has performed with many of the leading early music artists and ensembles in this country. With Piffaro she has recorded for Newport Classics, Deutsche Grammophon Archiv Produktion, Dorian Recordings and PARMA/Navona, and in addition can be heard on the Vanguard, Eudora and Vox Amadeus labels.

Widely known in the early music community as a teacher of recorder, early double reeds and bagpipes, she has been on faculty at early music festivals and workshops across the country, including The Madison Early Music Festival, The Early Double Reed & Sackbut Workshop, Amherst Early Music, The San Francisco Early Music Recorder Workshop, and Hidden Valley Early Music Workshop.

Joan has intimate knowledge and experience with early double reeds, playing both shawm and dulcian, as well as capped reeds and bagpipes. She has far too many of the latter in various sizes, pitches and volumes in her studio, and is committed to keeping them all in good working order! She makes her own reeds for all her instruments and supplies them as well for reed players across the country. One of her specialties is refurbishing whole sets of krumhorns, replacing the old plastic reeds with more authentic cane ones. In addition, she collaborates with instrument maker Joel Robinson on the construction of Medieval and Renaissance bagpipes.

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Jane Leggiero

Viol

Jane Leggiero, now based in Austin, holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College and a Master of Music degree from Boston University. She has performed with ensembles across the country including the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra under Jeannette Sorrell, the Boston University Baroque Orchestra under Martin Pearlman, Seraphic Fire, La Follia Austin Baroque, Texas Early Music Project, the Buxtehude Consort, and L’Academie. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Boston University Baroque Orchestra, Cambridge Concentus, and the orchestra of the St. Cecilia Concert Series in Austin.

An avid chamber musician, she has been an active member of many ensembles, including Les Pommes et Les Roses and Rossignol. She has performed with Long and Away: A Consort of Viols, the Boston University Consort of Viols, and is co-artistic director and founding member of Consort Conspiracy.

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Peter Maund

Percussion

A native of San Francisco, Peter Maund studied percussion at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and music, folklore and ethnomusicology at the University of California, Berkeley. A founding member of Ensemble Alcatraz and Alasdair Fraser’s Skyedance, he has performed with early and contemporary music ensembles including Anonymous 4, Chanticleer, El Mundo, and many others.

He has been a featured performer and clinician at festivals throughout Europe, the Americas, and in the Middle East. Maund is the author of “Percussion” in A Performers Guide to Medieval Music, Indiana University Press, 2000. He has served on the faculty of UC Berkeley as well as in workshops sponsored by Amherst Early Music, the San Francisco Early Music Society, the American Recorder Society and the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. Described by the Glasgow Herald as “the most considerate and imaginative of percussionists,” Peter Maund can be heard on over 50 recordings.

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Alison Melville

Recorder

Long recognized as one of Canada’s bright lights on historical flutes, Toronto-born Alison Melville began her musical life by playing the recorder in a school classroom in London (UK). Her career as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician with many ensembles has taken her across North America and to New Zealand, Iceland, Japan and Europe. She plays medieval, renaissance, baroque and modern recorders; renaissance, baroque and classical flutes and one-keyed piccolo; and Norwegian seljefløyte.

Besides her work with The Toronto Consort, Alison is a member of the Ensemble Polaris and is artistic director of the mixed-media Bird Project. She appears regularly with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and as a guest with other ensembles across North America.

Some memorable career moments include playing for The Tudors, The Borgias, CBC-TV’s The Friendly Giant and Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter; solo shows in inner-city London (UK) junior schools; a recent recital in sunny southern Spain; and, oh yes, a summer of concerts in Ontario prisons.

Alison has been heard on CBC/Radio-Canada, BBC, RNZ, NPR and Iceland State Broadcast Service, and on over 50 CDs, including five critically acclaimed solo recordings. A professor at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (USA) from 1999 to 2010, she now teaches at the University of Toronto and Wilfrid Laurier University.
More info: www.alisonmelville.com
Photo © Mary Perdue.

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Rosamund Morley

Viol

On treble, tenor and bass violas da gamba, and their medieval ancestors, Rosamund Morley has performed with many distinguished early music ensembles as diverse as ARTEK, The Boston Camerata, Piffaro, The Catacoustic Consort, Sequentia and Les Arts Florissants. She is a member of Parthenia, New York’s premiere consort of viols, and a founding member of the Elizabethan ensemble My Lord Chamberlain’s Consort. For many years she toured worldwide with the Waverly Consort and she developed an interest in contemporary music while playing with the New York Consort of Viols.

Her busy teaching schedule has included numerous national and international workshops such as Charney Manor and the Benslow Music Trust in Hitchin, UK, Triora Musica in Liguria, Italy, the Cammac Music Center in Quebec, Amherst Early Music in New England, the Port Townsend workshop in Seattle and the annual conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society of America. She directs the Viols West Workshop in San Luis Obispo, California and teaches the viol consort for the Collegium Musicum at Yale University.

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Author name: Texas Toot