Matthew Leese is known
as a versatile baritone, conductor, director, and teacher, specializing in
early music, art song and opera. He has founded three critically acclaimed
ensembles, including the professional early music ensemble 'Gravitación'. His extensive
performing experience in the USA, New Zealand, Asia and Europe includes
numerous recital and oratorio credits, as well as lead roles in 'Dido and
Aeneas', 'l'Euridice', 'Venus and Adonis', 'Cephale et Procris', ‘The Tide’ and
‘The Telephone’. Matthew has premiered the contemporary roles of Man in 'The
Trapeze Artists' by Anthony Ritchie and Frank in 'Outrageous Fortune' by
Gillian Whitehead. CD credits include ‘Elements’ and ‘Le Stagioni’ with First
Step Records, a disc of new music by NZ composer Anthony Ritchie, and as
medieval soloist on the 2007 Norton Anthology. As a director, Matthew has led
productions of ‘The Magic Flute’, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, ‘Venus and Adonis’,
‘Dido and Aeneas’, Bach’s ‘Coffee Cantata’ and Mozart’s ‘Impresario’, and is
known for his expertise in period stage movement and dance. Future engagements
include Guest Conductor residencies with New Zealand choirs Tudor Consort and
Renaissance Singers in August 2010, singing Lorenzo in Bellini’s ‘I Capuletti e
Montecchi’ for Hawkes Bay Opera and serving as Musical Director in the 2010
Opera Otago production of Monteverdi’s ‘L’Orfeo’. Matthew holds the MM in Early
Music from Indiana University, a GPDip in Historical Performance from the Longy
School of Music in Cambridge and a MusBHons from the University of Otago in New
Zealand. He serves on the Voice and Opera faculty at Millikin University, is
Co-Artistic Director of the New Brunswick Early Music Festival, and is pursuing
a Doctorate in Choral Conducting at the University of Illinois.
A native of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Katherine Moller completed a Bachelor of Music degree at McGill University where she performed with many ensembles including the McGill Symphony and the McGill Baroque Orchestra. Since graduating she has had the opportunity to study baroque violin with members of Tafelmusik at the Scotia Festival of Music and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. A versatile musician and recipient of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts she studied fiddling in Ireland during 2001-2002. Katherine returned to Fredericton in 2002 and began teaching violin and fiddle. She has become active in the local music scene founding and directing the NB Fiddle Camp, the Fredericton Fiddle Orchestra, the York Early Music Ensemble, Moller Music, and co-founding the Fredericton Baroque Music Festival. She performs regularly with Symphony New Brunswick, the Atlantic Sinfonia, the Seasons Baroque Ensemble, a Celtic duo with guitarist Chris Mercer, and a six-piece Celtic Ensemble. Katherine currently resides in Harvey, NB, and continues teaching violin and fiddle in both the Harvey and Fredericton areas.
Matthew Wright is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. There, he attended the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, and studied classical guitar with Ray Chester and lute with Mark Cudek. Upon moving to Cambridge in 1999, Matt began concentrating on the lute, studying with Douglas Freundlich at The Longy School of Music, and subsequently receiving an MM in Early Music Performance. He has performed as a solo lutenist and continuo player for ensembles and soloists throughout the Eastern U.S., Canada, and bits of Europe. Recent concerts have been "Searching, Sharing, Six-course Lute", a solo lute and collaborative recital of 16th Century Italian music, "Love's Constancy", an English lutesong recital with soprano Claire Raphaelson, and "Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String", a concert of Scottish music with Seven Times Salt. Other performances with Renaissonics (MA), Ensemble Al Verso (Switzerland), and Fanfare Consort (CT), and the New Brunswick Early Music Festival. (Canada).. As a teacher of guitar, he currently has students at Riverside Theater Works (Hyde Park, MA), and the Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA). (Photo: Matthew Stein)