River of Red - music by Hildegard of Bingen
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Margriet Tindemans has performed and taught medieval music on four continents. She has been called a rare combination of charismatic performing and inspiring teaching, a scholar with a profound knowledge of music, poetry and art of the Middle Ages -- a national treasure. Tindemans was a founding member of the German ensemble Sequentia and the Huelgas Ensemble of Belgium. As a player of early stringed instruments, such as medieval fiddle, rebec, and harp, she performs and records with Medieval Strings and is a frequently invited guest with the Folger Consort, the Newberry Consort, and other leading early music ensembles. For the Seattle Early Music Guild she has directed biannual medieval workshops since 1990, including the 1998 Hildegard von Bingen Festival, which attract students from all over North America and Europe. In alternate years she leads a musical pilgrimage tour through northern Spain, following the famous Camino de Santiago.
Deirdre Forman joined the Medieval Women's Choir in their second season. She has performed under the direction of Margriet Tindemans in two productions of Ordo Virtutum, a Gallery Concerts production of Hildegard von Bingen's virtuosic chant, and a concert series by Cathedral and the Arts of Spokane. She performed in the Early Music Guild's production of Il Ballo delle Ingrate, and will be singing in the Northwest Puppet Center's presentation of the baroque opera La Liberazione de Ruggiero, 2007. She has performed and recorded modern compositions with the Fisher Ensemble, and has sung for the vocal ensemble Opus 7 since 2001. She has studied voice with Nancy Zylstra, Marianne Weltmann, and Ruthanna Metzgar.
Ann Glusker has many years' experience singing early music, both in Seattle and in her native Philadelphia. She has sung with Ancient Voices under Alexander Blachly, the Oriel College (Oxford) Chapel Choir, and the Sarum Singers. She has also appeared with Pomerium and the Baltimore Consort. In Seattle, she has been a member of the Tudor Choir and Opus7, and currently sings with the Women's Schola and Cantorei of St. James Cathedral. In 2003 she joined the Medieval Women's Choir. She has studied with Julianne Baird, Nancy Zylstra, and Charles Peterson. Ann is an epidemiologist at Public Health-Seattle & King County.
Katherine Hanson joined the Medieval Women's Choir in 1993. Her performances of medieval music, under the direction of Margriet Tindemans, include two productions of Hildegard von Bingen's Ordo Virtutum and a program of Hildegard's virtuosic music produced by Gallery Concerts. In May 2005, with the early music trio Le Nuove Musiche, of which she is a founding member, Kathy presented a Seattle Musicians of the Guild concert on Women in Early Music. Other local credits include the role of Soul in Bach's cantata Selig ist der Mann at the Seattle Bach Festival. Kathy also sings contemporary art music and is exploring improvisational singing with the ensemble Lola Tarot.
Shira Kammen received her degree in music from UC Berkeley and studied vielle with Margriet Tindemans. A member of Ensembles Alcatraz and Project Ars Nova, and Medieval Strings, she has worked with Sequentia, Hesperion XX, the Boston Camerata, and the King's Noyse, and is the founder of Class V Music, an ensemble dedicated to performance on river rafting trips. She has performed and taught in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Israel, Morocco and Japan, and on the Colorado and Rogue rivers. Shira happily collaborated with singer/storyteller John Fleagle for fifteen years, and performs regularly with a medieval ensemble, Fortune's Wheel; a new music group, Ephemeros; an eclectic ethnic band, Panacea; and Trouz Bras, a band devoted to the dance music of Celtic Brittany.
Peggy Monroe has performed for and instructed children or families under the auspices of the Washington State Cultural Enrichment program, the King County and Seattle Arts Commissions, and the Seattle Library's Bunn Trust Fund. In conjunction with the Early Music Guild's education program, she has presented "A Medieval Experience" at schools throughout the Seattle area. Peggy is assistant music director of the Seattle Recorder Society, and teaches and performs in workshops nationally, including the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop. She is a regular member of early music ensembles in Seattle as a recorder player and percussionist, including the Medieval Women’s Choir. Peggy has served on the Board of Directors of the American Recorder Society, and serves on the Education Committee of Early Music America.
Marian Seibert is a lifelong musician and devoted ensemble singer. A Seattle native, she sang in the Northwest Girlchoir for nine years and was a member of the children's chorus at Seattle Opera in Turandot and Carmen. More recently, she appeared in Les Arts Florissants with the Benevolent Order for Music of the Baroque (now Baroque Northwest) and in Il Ballo delle Ingrate with the Early Music Guild. Her medieval drama credits include Humilitas in Hildegard von Bingen's Ordo Virtutum and First Angel in The Play of Daniel. She has also sung more recent music, including Poulenc with the Esoterics, Massiaen with St. James Cathedral, and John Tavener with the Tudor Choir.
Linda Strandberg has appeared as soloist with the Pacific Northwest Chamber Chorus, the Seattle Choral Company, and Choral Arts Northwest. As an early music performer, she is a member of the Tudor Choir, and has performed on the Gallery Concerts series. Her opera credits include the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass' A Madrigal Opera at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles as well as leading roles in Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and The Medium. She currently teaches voice at Seattle Community College.
About the CD Cover Artist
Alice Dubiel has exhibited her work nationally and throughout the Pacific states during the past 26 years. Much of the artist’s work is concerned with ecology and the politics of representation. Installations at the City of Auburn Arts Commission Gallery, the White Sturgeon Gallery at the Water Resources Center in Vancouver, WA, and the ten-year retrospective at Ohlone College in Fremont, CA have featured water and seed shrines and conceptual work involving land use issues. Locally the artist has collaborated with artists and community members on installations at Bumbershoot and the Tacoma Art Museum. Dubiel works and lives with her family in Seattle. Born in Berkeley, CA, she received a master’s in painting from San Jose State University and an AB in English literature from UC Santa Cruz, pursuing graduate literature studies in medieval literature, art and critical theory at Bryn Mawr College and UC Irvine. In 1984, Dubiel received funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities for research on women’s performance. In addition to offering courses in studio art and expository writing, she has taught English literature and art history, especially focusing on ancient, medieval, and contemporary art. Her work appears in Women Artists of the American West by Susan Ressler.