Chloe Meyers ~ violin
Heralding her beginnings as a true northern Albertan, violinist Chloe Meyers began her training at the age of three, with the full intention of catching up to her older sister. Her training followed through the University of Victoria, and then McGill University, where she was introduced, and fell in love with, the baroque violin. Chloe now plays a major role in the Montreal and North American early music scene. As first violinist and founding member of Les Voix Baroques, she has taken a lead role in the production of numerous recordings and musical projects, the latest success being the 2008 Opus winning and Juno nominated Membra Jesu recording. She is concertmaster of Nouvelle Opera, as well the recently formed Tempo Rubato with husband Alex Weimann, and plays principal second violin with the prestigious Arion Orchestra in Montreal. With countless projects, concerts, and CD’s behind her, Chloe can be heard with record labels ATMA, Deutschland Funk, Analekta, CBC Records, earlymusic.com and on Bravo television. A firm believer in early childhood education, Chloe’s other passion has been realized in her trained private teaching of children for over a decade.
Lise Boutin ~ violin
Lise Boutin grew up in northern Québec and at an early age displayed a keen interest for the violin. She studied at the Grey nun’s music school from the age of six and as a young adult went to study the violin in Ottawa with Joseph Berljawsky. Lise pursued her violin studies with Lorand Feneyes and the Orford Quartet at the University of Toronto where she received her Master’s degree in music performance. During that period, she also studied with Ruggiero Ricci, Luis Grinhauz and George Neikrug. In the last year of her formal studies, she also specialized in early music and discovered the baroque violin. Lise was a member of the well-known baroque orchestra Tafelmusik and a member of the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal. Now residing in Western Canada, Lise has been concertmaster of the Bach Calgary Orchestra and has appeared as guest concertmaster of the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra and the Brandon Chamber Orchestra. She has also been heard in recital for the Vancouver Early Music and on CBC radio. She was assistant concertmaster for The Phantom of the Opera Canadian orchestra and the Kensington strings of Calgary. She has performed with the Calgary Philharmonic, the Winnipeg symphony orchestra, the Fenice teatro baroque orchestra in Venice, Arcadia, the Great Falls symphony orchestra, the Winnipeg Barok orchestra, the Lethbridge Symphony orchestra and the Red Deer symphony orchestra. Lise has been a member of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra since 1992 and maintains a renowned-teaching studio in Lethbridge.
Stephen Creswell ~ viola, violin
Stephen Creswell is a Seattle-based violist and violinist of eclectic breadth. On historical instruments, he performs with Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque and most recently, for Early Music Vancouver, playing Mozart viola quintets. He has recorded and toured internationally with Tafelmusik of Toronto, and REBEL from New York State. He is a member of both Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver, BC, and the Northwest Sinfonietta, a modern chamber orchestra hailing from Tacoma, Washington. Over the past summer Stephen performed in the Whidbey Island Music Festival, and appeared in Victoria, BC playing Mozart and Beethoven with flautist Soile Stratkauskas and PBO colleagues. On modern violin he participated in the September premiere of Scrape! which is a string orchestra promoting jazz-oriented new music works. Stephen teaches chamber music and baroque theory at the Academy of Music Northwest in Bellevue, Washington. In November 2010 he will be jointly launching a new classical string ensemble, Kügeln Trio, in Seattle, with colleagues Nathan Whittaker and Laurel Wells.
Jenny Essers ~ violin, viola
Originally from Bethesda, Maryland, Jenny began her violin studies with her father, Hendrik Essers. She attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, a student of Angel Reyes, and worked part time with the Toledo, Ohio Symphony until graduation. Two seasons with the Oregon Symphony in Portland, Oregon preceded Jenny’s arrival in Vancouver in 1975 as a member of the first violin section of the VSO. She also played two seasons in the viola section of the CBC Radio Orchestra under John Elliot Gardiner, and was inspired to pursue further studies of early music and period instruments. She then attended workshops with Monica Hugget, David Douglas, and Marc Destrubé, and has played violin and viola in Pacific Baroque Orchestra since its first concert in 1991. In recent years Jenny has also played chamber music for Early Music Vancouver, the Hycroft Concert Series, the Silk Purse, and Roedde House, frequently as a member of the piano trio, Trio Amalie. Jenny lives with her husband, John Rubin, and has two grown children.
Paul Luchkow ~ violin, viola
Paul Luchkow is a versatile violinist and violist whose activities cover the range of music from the 17th Century to the present day on modern and period instruments. A regular feature of Vancouver’s Early Music scene, Paul is a long-time member of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, string leader of St. Jude’s Pro Musica, and appears frequently in concerts for Early Music Vancouver and MusicFest Vancouver. He frequently performs with the Vancouver Symphony, the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, Colin MacDonald’s Pocket Orchestra and in period instrument ensembles in Seattle, Portland, and throughout much of Canada. His latest project involves the exploration of Classical and Romantic music, on period instruments, with pianist Michael Jarvis in the Luchkow-Jarvis Duo. Paul has participated in recordings for the BIS, Koch, Spool, ATMA Classique, CBC Records, Artifact Music and Marquis Classics labels (Hummel Sonatas, Op. 5 with Michael Jarvis – January 2012) and his concert performances are frequently broadcast on the CBC (radio and television) and NPR networks.
Paul is Oscar and Max Webster’s Papa.
Natalie Mackie ~ violone, viola da gamba
Natalie Mackie studied cello at the Conservatoire de Musique (Québec), followed by a degree from the School of Music, University of British Columbia. While at UBC, she began playing viola da gamba and later pursued further studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague. Natalie has played with many ensembles in Canada and the U.S., including New World Consort, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Seattle and Portland Baroque Orchestras, Les Voix Humaines, Les Voix Baroques, Tempo Rubato, Burney Ensemble, Seattle’s Baroque Northwest and others. She has toured throughout Canada, the U.S. and Europe, playing in cities such as New York, Boston, San Francisco, at London’s Wigmore Hall, Paris, Cologne, Strasbourg, Utrecht and Bologna, among others, and has recorded for Radio France, German Radio, BBC, CBC, and NPR. She plays violone, viola da gamba, and occasionally baroque cello, in Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and is also a member of the 17th century string band “La Cetra”, Les Coucous Bénévoles, and the Bach Cantata Project players, and frequently appears in Early Music Vancouver’s summer Festival, and MusicFest. She has performed with Théàtre de l’Arbre Perché in their production of Molière’s “Sganarelle, or the Imaginary Cuckold” and will continue to be involved in their future productions from the French classical theatre repertoire. Natalie has a passionate and abiding interest in new music and performs newly commissioned works both as a soloist and with the ensembles of which she is a member. With a deep interest in multi-disciplinary learning, she has also completed a Masters of Graduate Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University and continues to organize and participate in conferences as a member of the Graduate Liberal Studies Alumni committee.
Angela Malmberg ~ violin
Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Angela graduated from McGill University in 1994 with distinction in violin performance. Lured to by two other musical brothers (and warmer winters), she then moved to Vancouver and took up a position with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. It was here in Vancouver that she began studying and exploring the world of early music by going to concerts and attending early music workshops. In 1997 she began playing in the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and has never looked back. Over the years she has played in many programs for Early Music Vancouver and has joined with the celebrated renaissance band The Kings Noyse for performances in Vancouver, Boston, and Oberlin. In addition to juggling modern, baroque, and renaissance violin, Angela enjoys teaching her small studio of violin students, coaching for the Delta Youth Orchestra, and jamming with her two musical daughters who play violin and cello.
Masako Matsumoto ~ violin
Masako has studied violin at Tokyo University of Arts & Music and Yale University School of Music, Conn, USA. She was a member of String Quartet-in-Residence at Elmira College. NY, and after moving to Vancouver, she played with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra until her retirement in 2007. Masako has attended Early Music Vancouver’s summer program for baroque violin and played with the CBC Baroque Orchestra. She has been a member of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra since its inception. In addition to performing with the PBO, she plays with Pro Nova Ensemble and teaches violin privately.
Arthur Neele ~ violin
Violinist Arthur Neele studied with Vera Beths at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, The Netherlands. After finishing his studies, he worked with a variety of orchestras, including the Residentie Orchestra, the Dutch Ballet Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In addition, Arthur has performed with a number of contemporary music groups, notably Porto’s Remix and Amsterdam’s Schoenberg ensembles. He has appeared on recordings with the Dutch Ballet Orchestra, the Residentie Orchestra and the Amsterdam Mozart Players. Since coming to Vancouver Arthur has focused his attention on period performance, with a particular interest in the violin repertoire of the 17th Century. He currently plays with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and has appeared with Early Music Vancouver’s Festival Orchestra. Next to his musical activities Arthur has over the last ten years pursued a career in health care and these days he divides his time between both interests. He currently works in the Critical Care Department of St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
Glenys Webster ~ viola
Glenys Webster is a long time member of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and plays frequently in concerts for Early Music Vancouver. Born in Winnipeg, Glenys studied with Gerald Stanick at UBC, and then with Jürgen Kussmaul at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. Since returning to Vancouver, Glenys has also pursued her passion for science, earning further degrees in Ecology and Environmental Toxicology / Resource Management, and completing her PhD at the UBC School of Population and Public Health, where her research examines the health effects of environmental chemicals during pregnancy. She and husband Paul Luchkow are the proud parents of little Oscar (Nov 2008) who is already insisting on “playing” his 1/10th size violin almost every day, and Max (July 2011), not yet a pedestrian.
Nathan Whittaker ~ violoncello
Nathan Whittaker, baroque cello, has been described as “a soloist that was not merely good but rather extraordinary”, with “musicianship of the highest order.” (SSJT) As a member of Plaine & Easie, he won the Grand “Unicorn” Prize in the 2009 EMA Medieval and Renaissance Competition. Mr. Whittaker has served on the faculty at the Indiana University String academy, the principle cellist of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic and associate principle cellist with the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra and has performed in early music festivals in Bloomington and Vancouver, as well as the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Currently, Mr. Whittaker is a member of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and teaches at Cornish College of the Arts and the Academy of Music Northwest. He can be heard on CBC broadcasts, and has recorded with the NPR and ATMA Classique labels. Having graduating Cum Laude from Indiana University with a Bachelor and Masters of Music Degree in Cello Performance, Mr. Whittaker is currently a DMA candidate in cello performance with Toby Saks at the University of Washington. His private instructors have included Helga Winold, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Stanley Ritchie, and Peter Wiley.
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