Love Songs of the 15th Century

Robert Eisenstein has led over 200 productions and performances with Folger Consort over the past 40 years include Measure + Dido at the Kennedy Center and Napa Valley Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice at Strathmore, The Fairy Queen, and Hildegard Von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum at the Washington National Cathedral. Director of the Five College Early Music Program; Music Director for the Five College Opera Project production of Francesca Caccini’s La Liberazione di Ruggiero; former faculty member of Mount Holyoke College, where he taught music history and performed the viola de gamba, violin, and medieval fiddle. He is an active participant in the Five College Medieval Studies. Recipient of Early Music America’s Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship by the director of a college early music ensemble.

Christopher Kendall is founder of the Folger Consort. He is dean emeritus of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance after serving two terms as the school’s dean, where he was responsible for establishing the University of Michigan Gershwin Initiative, for re-instituting international touring, for the funding and design of a $30M expansion/renovation of the music building, and for launching the interdisciplinary enterprise ArtEngine and its national initiative a2ru (Alliance for the Arts at Research Universities). In Washington, in addition to his work with Folger Consort, since 1975 he has been Artistic Director and conductor of the 21st Century Consort, the new music ensemble-in-residence at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Mr. Kendall served as Director of the University of Maryland School of Music from 1996 to 2005 during a period of rapid development and its move to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony from 1987 to 1992 and Director of the Music Division and Tanglewood Institute of the Boston University School for the Arts from 1993 to 1996, Mr. Kendall has guest conducted many orchestras and ensembles in repertoire from the 18th to the 21st centuries. His recordings can be heard on the Bard, Delos, Nonesuch, Centaur, ASV, Arabesque, Innova, Bridge, and Smithsonian Collection labels.

Kristen Dubenion-Smith (Mezzosoprano) Recognized for her “velvety legato and embracing warmth of sound” (Washington Classical Review) and “lyric-mezzo of uncommon beauty” (Washington Post), mezzo soprano Kristen Dubenion-Smith enjoys an active career performing oratorio and sacred vocal chamber music, specializing in music of the medieval, renaissance, and baroque eras. As a concert soloist, Kristen has earned recognition for her performances of Bach and Handel. Recent highlights include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, Handel’s Esther with Opera Lafayette, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Washington Bach Consort. Ms. Dubenion-Smith also sings on the 2021 Grammy winning recording of The Prison by Ethel Smyth with the Experiential Orchestra. 2024–2025 season highlights include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Washington Bach Consort, Mozart’s Requiem with the Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, Durufle Requiem with Choralis, and debuts with The Thirteen, Variant 6, and Musica Spira.

Robert Eisenstein has led over 200 productions and performances with Folger Consort over the past 40 years include Measure + Dido at the Kennedy Center and Napa Valley Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice at Strathmore, The Fairy Queen, and Hildegard Von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum at the Washington National Cathedral. Director of the Five College Early Music Program; Music Director for the Five College Opera Project production of Francesca Caccini’s La Liberazione di Ruggiero; former faculty member of Mount Holyoke College, where he taught music history and performed the viola de gamba, violin, and medieval fiddle. He is an active participant in the Five College Medieval Studies. Recipient of Early Music America’s Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship by the director of a college early music ensemble.

Dan Meyers is a flexible performer of both classical and folk music; his credits range from premieres of contemporary chamber music to playing Renaissance instruments on Broadway for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. He is a co-founder of the early music/folk crossover group Seven Times Salt, and in recent seasons has performed with Hesperus, the Newberry Consort, the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Severall Friends, the Henry Purcell Society of Boston, the 21st Century Consort, and In Stile Moderno. He also plays traditional Irish music with the band ISHNA, and eclectic fusion from around the Mediterranean with his ensemble Zafarán. www.danmeyersmusic.com

Allison Monroe performs historical musical repertoires on bowed strings and sings with ensembles such as the Boston Camerata, Blue Heron, Alkemie, Piffaro, the Newberry Consort, Ensemble L’Harmonie des saisons, Les Délices, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, and Apollo’s Fire. She co-founded, performs with, and serves as Artistic Director of medieval band Trobár. Allison can be heard on albums she directed, including with Trobár and The Queen’s Rebels, as well as albums by Apollo’s Fire and Les Délices. A passionate pedagogue, she formerly taught at Case Western Reserve University (2018-2023), where she also earned a DMA in Historical Performance Practice. Currently, Allison is the Director of the Five College Early Music Program in western Massachusetts (2023-present).

Christa Patton, historical harpist and early wind specialist, has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Japan with many of today’s premier early music ensembles including Folger Consort, Piffaro the Renaissance Band, Early Music New York, Boston Camerata, The King’s Noyse, Newberry Consort, Apollo’s Fire, Parthenia, ARTEK, and Chatham Baroque. As a Baroque harpist specializing in 17th century opera, Christa has performed with New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Atelier, and the Opera Theater of Saint Louis. Recent projects include Cantos y Suspiros, a collaboration with soprano Camila Parias performing music housed at the Hispanic Society in New York City. Christa has served on the faculty of Rutgers University and the Graduate Center at CUNY. She is also the director of the Baroque Opera Workshop at Queens College and a popular clinician of early repertoire sharing her knowledge in workshops and conferences.

Reviewers describe Jason McStoots as “elegantly amorous” (Parterre) and as having a “strong satiny voice [that] filled the hall with grace and, when called for, humor” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). A respected interpreter of early music, his operatic appearances with Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) include Sancho Panza in Georg Phillip Telemann’s Don Quichotte, Lepidus in Reinhard Keiser’s Octavia, Le Jeu in Les plaisirs de Versailles by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Morpheus in Circe of Desmarest, and Odoardo in Handel’s Ariodante with Boston Baroque. He has appeared in concert with Folger Consort, Bach Collegium San Diego, Les Délices, the North Carolina Symphony, and the Newbury Consort. He is a core member of Blue Heron vocal ensemble and has been Associate Director of the BEMF Young Artist Training Program since 2017. Recently he has taken on more frequent projects as stage director for operas with the Amherst Early Music Festival, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Brandeis University, and Les Délices.