Wednesday, November 8, 2023 @ 12:00pm – 1:00pm (PST)
Christ Our Hope at the Josephinum, Seattle, WA, United States

PMW kicks off the 2023-2024 Sanctuary in the City season with a Bach Festival, featuring three of J.S. Bach's most enduring works – the Orchestral Suite in B minor featuring Anthony Allen on baroque flute (which includes the "Badinerie"), the beloved A minor violin concerto, and the joyful fireworks of the 5th Brandenburg Concerto.

About Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin

Baroque violinist Tekla Cunningham delights in bringing the music of the baroque, classical and romantic eras to life with vivid and expressive historically informed performances.

Praised as "a consummate musician whose flowing solos and musical gestures are a joy to watch", her performances have been described as "ravishingly beautiful" and "stellar". Her greatest musical love is music of the baroque and chamber music of all stripes, though she can’t seem to quit Johannes Brahms. She is co-artistic director of Pacific MusicWorks in Seattle, artist-in-residence at the University of Washington and founder and director of the Whidbey Island Music Festival.

Tekla plays regularly as concertmaster and principal player with the American Bach Soloists. Her new release 'Stylus Phantasticus' with Pacific MusicWorks is delighting critics. "Tekla is a marvel…an endlessly songful bird". Early Music America describes the recording as "played with verve, the music presented here reaffirms the old notion that instrumental music can have the flair of any theatrical spectacle. … a stellar vessel for the boldest showmanship".

Tekla plays on a violin made by Sanctus Seraphin in Venice in 1746.

http://www.teklacunningham.com/

About Adaiha MacAdam-Somer, baroque cello

Multi-instrumentalist Adaiha MacAdam-Somer is currently adjunct professor of cello at Linfield University in Portland. She is equally at home on the cello, baroque cello, and all branches of the viola da gamba family. She performs regularly with a variety of ensembles, including Portland Baroque Orchestra and Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and serves as artistic director of Voice of the Viol.

https://orpheuspdx.org/people/adaiha-mcadam-somer/

About Shelby Erin Mass, violin

Shelby Mass is a violinist currently based in Seattle, Washington. She has a master's degree in baroque violin from the Historical Performance Institute at the Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Stanley Ritchie and Ingrid Matthews. She also holds a bachelor's degree in violin performance from Miami University of Ohio where she studied with Harvey Thurmer and was awarded Outstanding Music Scholar.

Since joining Seattle's musical community, she has played with Byron Schenkman and Friends, the North Corner Chamber Orchestra, the Saratoga Orchestra, the Northwest Sinfonietta, Music at Epiphany Parish, and the McCall Mountain Symphony. Shelby became involved in Early Music through the Cincinnati Early Music Festival, the Bloomington Early Music Festival and the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project. While living in Indiana she also enjoyed playing with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, and the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, among others.

About Stef Creswell, baroque viola

Stef Creswell is an enthusiastic and lifelong proponent of both early music performance and chamber music. They have played with members of the Lafayette Quartet, studied with the Juilliard and Borodin quartets, and performed as a member of both the Alighieri Quartet and the Alder Quartet. Stef has attended International String Quartet competitions and several workshops. Their first teacher in early music endeavors was Stanley Ritchie, at Indiana University. Thereafter they worked with August Wenzinger, Gustav Leonhardt, Phoebe Carrai, and Jean Lamon, among others, having studied at the Amherst and Oberlin summer institutes, and also performed and recorded with Tafelmusik. In Seattle, Stef has performed with Tekla Cunningham and Caroline Nicolas in Pacific MusicWorks projects and in the Whidbey Island Music Festival, and with Henry Lebedinsky in Early Music Underground, Classical Uncorked! and for the American Guild of Organists Seattle Convention, 2022. They have played solos with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and Seattle Baroque Orchestra, been a founding member of the Seattle New Music Ensemble, taught chamber music in the schools for 12 years through the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and recently completed their third year as Chamber Music Program Coordinator at Summer Strings, the Cascade Youth Orchestra day camp for young musicians.

https://seattlebachfestival.org/team-member/stef-creswell/