Galax Quartet
Baroque violinist David Wilson has performed extensively with period instrument ensembles in the United States and Europe, including Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra. A co-founder of the Bloomington Early Music Festival, he also performs regularly at the Boston Early Music Festival, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. He has taught Baroque violin at Indiana University. He is the author of Georg Muffat on Performance Practice published by Indiana University Press. (Order here from IU Press.)
Elizabeth Blumenstock is a frequent soloist, concertmaster, and leader with San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and American Bach Soloists, and is concertmaster of the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany. Her chamber affiliations include Musica Pacifica, Ensemble Mirable, and Galax Quartet, among others. She is Director of the Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival and teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the USC Thornton School of Music, as well as at the Juilliard School.
Composer and performer on the viola da gamba, Roy Whelden has been called “a key figure in the world of new music” (Early Music America). He has been profiled as a composer and gambist on Minnesota Public Radio. His recordings include the award winning Shock of the Old and Galax – music for viola da gamba (New Albion 059), as well as Like a Passing River (New Albion 072). He has performed and recorded with many internationally known ensembles, including the medieval ensemble Sequentia.
David Morris has performed with Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, the Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle Baroque Orchestras, Musica Angelica, the Boston Symphony and the Mark Morris Dance Company. He was the founder and musical director of the Bay Area baroque opera ensemble Teatro Bacchino, and has produced operas for the Berkeley Early Music Festival and the San Francisco Early Music Society series.
From Berkeley to Hong Kong, contralto Karen Clark’s performances of medieval to modern music have received high praise. Recent San Francisco Bay Area appearances include, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Stravinsky’s Svadebka, and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Rückert Lieder. In new music, Karen has premiered numerous chamber works by leading composers, such as, Ben Johnston, Fred Frith, and Joseph Schwantner. The Los Angeles Times called Karen’s premiere of Ben Johnston’s Parable, “stunning.” Recent recordings include On Cold Mountain: Songs on Poems of Gary Snyder, with the Galax Quartet (Innova). Karen’s new CD release with Vajra Voices, O Eterne Deus: Music of Hildegard von Bingen (Music & Arts) is acclaimed by the San Francisco Chronicle, which says, “The music of Hildegard von Bingen is rendered here with heartfelt elegance.” Karen has performed and recorded with world leading ensembles, such as, Sequentia, Boston Camerata, Ensemble P.A.N., Waverly Consort, New York Early Music (Fred Renz), and Joshua Rifkin’s Bach Ensemble. Karen holds degrees from the Indiana University School of Music where she studied with the legendary artists Virginia Zeani, and Thomas Binkley. A devoted voice teacher and practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method®, Karen has developed a somatic approach to vocal instruction which she offers in private studios (Oakland & Petaluma, CA) and workshops throughout the U.S. Karen has taught in the music departments of Princeton University, Swarthmore College, Sonoma State, in the Thornton School of Music of USC, and U.C. Berkeley.
