Events
Sukin Series
BILLINGS SYMPHONY WINDS: SERENADE
Thursday
Feb 20, 2025
7PM
The Billings Depot
2310 Montana Ave.
$25-45
Our own Billings Symphony Winds explore the 18th-century Harmoniemusik tradition and its impact on the modern wind ensemble, seamlessly intertwining enchanting serenades by Dvorak, Mozart, and Strauss with contemporary wind quintets by Ibert and Zemlinsky. Experience up-close-and-personal the rich harmonies, vibrant melodies, and tight ensemble which make them a core component of our orchestra.
- Baroque Music Montana (BaMM) performs works by celebrated composers of the Baroque, as well as many pieces rarely or not heard since the eighteenth century.
- The group has also appeared on series in Seattle, Spokane, Syracuse, Ottawa, and Quebec and in colaboration with such organizations as Intermountain Opera Bozeman, the Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings Symphony, Phillipsburg Theatre, Coulter Museum of Art, Bozeman Art Museum, UM and MSU, and Bitterroot Baroque in creative programming serving Montna through outreach, house, and public concerts, outdoor performances, lectures, masterclasses, and an annual Period Performance Workshop.
Guest artists
CARRIE KRAUSE | VIOLIN
Violinist Carrie Krause’s “elegant, sparkling performance brought audience cheers” ‐Seattle Post Intelligencer. Raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, Carrie Krause performs as baroque violinist with ensembles across the country and on numerous international series. Carrie was guest artistic director and concerto soloist with Seattle Baroque in a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. She has performed as concertmaster of New Trinity Baroque in Atlanta, as guest concertmaster of Pacific Baroque in Vancouver and the San Francisco Bach Choir, as associate concertmaster of Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland, and as principal with Spire in Kansas City and the Oregon Bach Festival. Carrie has also appeared with Chatham Baroque, New York State Baroque, Portland Baroque, Passamezzo Moderno, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Clarion, The American Classical Orchestra, and Concert Royale in New York. Festival engagements include the Leipzig Bach Festival as soloist, the Belgrade Early Music Festival in Serbia and Sastamalla Gregoriana in Finland as concertmaster, and the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Festival Dan les Jardins de William Christie in Nante, France, and the BBC Proms in London. Carrie has worked under such conductors as Jordi Savall, Ton Koopman, Richard Egarr, Nic McGegan, and Masaaki Suzuki.
Carrie founded Baroque Music Montana, a presenting organization for a series of concerts across the multi-state region and the annual Period Performance Workshop, providing employment and learning engagement to local, national, and international musicians.
As a modern violinist, Carrie serves as concertmaster of the Bozeman Symphony. Carrie was concerto soloist with the Billings Symphony, Fairbanks Symphony, Casper Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, String Orchestra of the Rockies, and Bozeman Symphony. She has served as guest concertmaster of the Big Sky Festival Orchestra, Billings Symphony, Helena Symphony, and guest artistic director of String Orchestra of the Rockies. She was thrice featured in the Grammy Award-winning TV series, 11th and Grant. She founded and directs the Second String Orchestra for amateur players and the Bozeman Chamber Ensembles for youth. Carrie maintains a studio of twenty-five students, including award winners at the MTNA and ASTA competitions.
AARON SHEEHAN | TENOR
Aaron Sheehan regularly performs in the United States, South America, and Europe. Known especially for his singing of the French Baroque, he also enjoys a reputation as a first rate interpreter of the works of Bach, Handel and Mozart and sang the title role in Boston Early Music Festival’s Grammy Award winning recording of Charpentier’s opera La déscente d’Orphée aux enfers.
He has performed concerts at Staatsoper Berlin, Concertgebouw, the Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Early Music Festivals of Boston (BEMF), San Francisco, Vancouver, Washington DC, Carmel, Regensburg and the Halle Handel Festival. He also works regularly with AKAMUS, Boston Baroque, Handel and Hayden Society, Opera Lafayette, Pacific Music Works, Philarmonia Baroque and Tafelmusik.
Aaron Sheehan currently teachers Historical performance voice at Boston University.
ARWEN MEYERS | SOPRANO
Praised for her “crystalline tone and delicate passagework” (San Francisco Chronicle), soprano Arwen Myers captivates audiences with her timeless artistry and exquisite interpretations. Transmitting a warmth and “deep poignancy” (Palm Beach Arts Paper) onstage, Arwen shines in solo performance across the US and beyond. With outstanding technique and mastery of a wide range of vocal colors, Arwen’s dazzling oratorio and solo appearances feature repertoire from the Baroque to modern day, and everything in between. Her history includes appearances with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Vancouver, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Lorelei Ensemble, working with such notable conductors as Nicholas McGegan, Monica Huggett, David Fallis, John Butt, David Hill, Beth Willer & Scott Allen Jarrett.
Recent solo highlights include Handel with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Bach, Purcell & Mozart with Portland Baroque Orchestra; concert tours with Early Music Vancouver; two albums and a concert tour with Lorelei Ensemble; Handel with Oregon Bach Festival; Fauré with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; and the world premiere of Zachary Wadsworth’s When There is Peace with Chor Leoni, which received national broadcast across Canada. Of her title role in Handel’s Semele with American Bach Soloists Academy in 2018, San Francisco Classical Voice noted, “some of these star turns were shiny indeed, with soprano Arwen Myers leading the way… her musicality and demure demeanor remained a renewable pleasure.”
A passionate collaborator, Arwen features with some of the nation’s leading chamber ensembles, including Seraphic Fire, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Bach Collegium San Diego, & Fear No Music. Her performances of new music include the world premieres of two title roles written specifically for her by celebrated composer Robert Kyr. Additional solo roles in world premiere performances & recordings include Zachary Wadsworth’s JUNO-nominated oratorio When There is Peace which received national broadcast across Canada, GRAMMY-award winning J.J. Wright’s Billboard chart-topping commercial release O Emmanuel, and James Kallembach’s Antigone with Lorelei Ensemble.
JOANNA BLENDULF | VIOLA DA GAMBA
Joanna Blendulf has performed and recorded with leading period instrument ensembles throughout the United States and abroad. She is currently co-principal cellist and principal viola da gamba player of the Portland Baroque Orchestra and has also performed as principal cellist of Pacific MusicWorks, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, and Bach Collegium San Diego. Ms. Blendulf is an avid chamber musician, performing regularly on major concert series and appearing on numerous recordings with her groups, including Ensemble Electra, Ensemble Mirable, Music of the Spheres, Nota Bene ViolConsort, Trio Pardessus and Wildcat Viols. She appears as a frequent guest viol player with the Catacoustic Consort and Parthenia. Joanna’s world-premiere recording of the complete cello sonatas of Jean Zewalt Triemer with Ensemble Mirable was released in 2004. Ms. Blendulf’s festival engagements have included performances at Tage Alter Musik Regenburg, Musica Antigua en Villa de Leyva in Colombia, the Bloomington, Boston and Berkeley Early Music Festivals, the Ojai Music Festival, as well as the Carmel and Oregon Bach Festivals. Joanna holds performance degrees with honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where she was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate for her accomplishments in early music performance. Ms. Blendulf is Associate Professor of Music (baroque cello and viola da gamba) at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
JOHN LENTI | BAROQUE GUITAR, LUTE, THEORBO
John Lenti, described by the Seattle Times as “a joy to behold,” is regularly beheld playing lute, theorbo, and baroque guitar with lots of orchestras, choirs, and opera companies on both coasts of the United States, as well as in the interior, non-coastal part, and a few, coastal or otherwise, in other countries. While orchestral work as an accompanist and concerto soloist comprises most of his career, chamber music is John’s primary interest and he enjoys touring with his groups Wayward Sisters, the I-90 Collective, and Ostraka, while appearing as a guest with many other notable ensembles. With various groups he is frequently heard on most early music concert series and at lots of festivals. His recording credits include several well-received albums with some of the aforementioned bands, and his liner notes, program notes, and lectures have drawn praise.
While Lenti’s time is spent doing a great many things on a great many historical plucked instruments and teaching a bit, his most intense musical love is the English golden-age lute song repertoire, and his sincere desire is to become the Gerald Moore of the lute (currently accepting applications for a quiet Fischer-Dieskau with no vibrato), once that becomes remunerative. His repertoire extends from the early 16th century to the present day, but other than something really neat like an electric theorbo concerto, his commitment to the music of our own time is negligible if not actually averse. A native of South Carolina, John attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and Indiana University, and he studied lute with Jacob Heringman, Elizabeth Kenny, and Nigel North, also receiving valuable guidance from Pat O’Brien, Walter Gray, and Ricardo Cobo.
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