Hautbois et Basson

Thursday, March 17, 2022
7:00 p.m.
Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Rochester , MN

Friday March 18, 2022
12:00 p.m.
Live-streamed only

*This concert will be replacing the previously scheduled chamber concert, Iberia*

The ancestry of double reed instruments may be bombastic shawms and curtals; as much associated with artillery as art. But during the 17th century, particularly with development of the orchestra in France, the hautbois and the basson were refined and polished. Transforming to ‘play-nice’ with the strings they became sonorous instruments of expressive nuance, and both emotional and technical virtuosity.

Curtis Foster, oboe
Joseph Jones, bassoon
Eva Lymenstull, cello
Don Livingston, harpsichord

Artists

CURTIS FOSTER, Baroque oboe and recorder, whose playing has been praised for its “brilliantly introverted charm” (Seattle Times), has appeared with many of North America’s most respected early music ensembles, including the Handel & Haydn Society, the Seattle and Pacific Baroque Orchestras, Arion Baroque, and Victoria Baroque Players. He has also performed with Portland Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Les Boréades, and Mercury Baroque. In the summer, he can typically be found performing and teaching at various festivals, including the Oregon Bach Festival, Vancouver Bach Festival, Victoria Baroque Instrumental Academy, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, and the Whidbey Island Music Festival. An enthusiastic advocate for music of our own time, Curtis regularly commissions and presents new works by contemporary composers for old instruments. An equally dedicated pedagogue, Mr. Foster teaches Baroque oboe as part of the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Programme at the University of British Columbia, and is regularly invited to present workshops and masterclasses around the US and Canada. He can be heard on recordings from ATMA Classique, Naxos, Coro, Cedille Records, and IU Press. Originally hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Curtis holds degrees from Wichita State University and Indiana University’s Early Music Institute. He also has a passion for restoring and repairing antique and vintage oboes and other woodwinds, having studied instrument repair at Renton Technical College.

JOSEPH JONES began studying the bassoon at age 12 when his piano teacher suggested: “Joey, you might be good at the bassoon.” Some years and many concerts later, Joe works as a bassoonist performing throughout the country and occasionally around the world. His playing has been praised for its “warm singing tone,” and once while performing a Vivaldi concerto he “proved he could easily break the four-minute mile without missing a note” (Star Tribune). Ensembles he has worked with include The English Concert, ACRONYM, Boston Early Music Festival, Early Music New York, American Bach Soloists, the Bermuda Philharmonic, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and Les Arts Florissants at the festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie in Thiré, France. Joe is a graduate of The Juilliard School’s historical performance program, as well as the University of Minnesota and Utah State University.

EVA LYMENSTULL, a native of Michigan, has performed as a baroque cellist and violist da gamba throughout Europe and the US, including appearances with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Holland Baroque Society, and the Orpheon Consort, as guest principal cellist of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and Apollo’s Fire, and as principal cellist of Symphonie Atlantique. She has performed at the Utrecht, Boston, and Berkeley Early Music Fringe Festivals, and on New York’s Gotham Early Music series. As the winner of the 2017 Voices of Music Bach Competition, Ms. Lymenstull recently recorded Bach’s D minor cello suite. Current highlights include a CPE Bach cello concerto performance with the CWRU baroque orchestra and a recording project with Lyra Baroque Orchestra. Ms. Lymenstull received a master’s degree in baroque cello from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she studied with Jaap ter Linden, and also holds degrees from Rice University and the University of Michigan.

Keyboardist DONALD LIVINGSTON collaborates with musicians from across the musical spectrum. Founding director of the Twin Cities Early Music Festival and director of Ensemble Sprezzatura, he has performed with such ensembles as Bach Sinfonia (Washington DC), Musica Antigua (Panama City), La Donna Musicale (Boston), Lyra Baroque (St. Paul), Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony, as well as with soloists and collaborators Cléa Galhano, Anton Nel, Jacques Ogg, Elisabeth Wright, Joel Frederiksen, Ryland Angel, Jed Wentz, Barthold Kuijken, and Dame Emma Kirkby. He has sung as a member of the Rose Ensemble, as well as with the Pro Arte Singers under the direction of Thomas Binkley and Paul Hillier at the Historical Performance Institute of the renowned Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where he received the Doctor of Music in historical keyboard performance. He recently left a positions as Lecturer of Organ and Harpsichord at the University of Texas Butler School of Music and organist at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church to become organist at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis.

Hautbois et Basson

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