Kings and Commonwealth: Political music of 16th and 17th century England

Robert Eisenstein, Artistic Director (bass viol)

Robert Eisenstein has led over 200 productions and performances with Folger Consort over the past 40 years, including Measure + Dido at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 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. Recently retired as the 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; Mount Holyoke College faculty emeritus, where he taught music history and performed on the viola de gamba, violin, and medieval fiddle. He is an active participant in 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.

Alastair Bellany

Professor of History, Rutgers University

• Degree: Ph.D., Princeton University B.A. (First Class Honours), Oxford University
• Rutgers : At Rutgers Since 1996
• Specialty: Early Modern British Isles: Political and Media History, Climate and Environmental History