Music and Satire: From the Writings of Rabelais

Robert Eisenstein (Artistic Director, viol, violin,recorder) 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. Faculty member of Mount Holyoke College, where he teaches music history and performs 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 (Artistic Director) is founder of the Folger Consort. He has recently become dean emeritus of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance after serving the two-term limit of 10 years 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 ArtsEngine 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 American Art Museum. Mr. Kendall served as Director of the University of Maryland School of Music from 1996 to 2005 during a period of rapid development at the School 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, and Smithsonian Collection labels.

Robert Aubry Davis, television and radio personality, is a native Washingtonian and an active member of the area’s cultural community. Davis is the creator and host of “Millennium of Music,” a program dedicated to music from the thousand years before Bach. The program, now in its 44th season, is carried by more than 100 public radio stations nationwide, internationally, and on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. He has been host and moderator of WETA TV’s Emmy Award-winning weekly arts discussion program, “Around Town,” since its inception in 1986. Davis can also be heard on SiriusXM’s classical music channel. He is a regular lecturer at a variety of area seminars and performances and has written liner notes for a wide variety of classical and folk recordings. Robert has been awarded knighthoods by the Republic of France and the Kingdom of Belgium for service to the arts; and was named a Knight of the Order of the Lion by the Republic of Finland.

Crossley Hawn is a DC-based soprano, known for her ability to perform across various musical styles. She has been a soloist with a number of ensembles, including The Folger Consort, The Washington Bach Consort, Chatham Baroque, Musica Spira, The City Choir of Washington, Cathedral Choral Society, Choralis (winner of 2018 Young Artist Competition), The Thirteen, Cathedra, Musica Spira, The Reston Chorale, Maryland Choral Society, and Maryland Summer Chorus. Crossley is also an active ensemble singer, and a member of Eya Medieval Music, an award-winning female ensemble specializing in early music. In addition to the previously mentioned ensembles, Crossley has also appeared chorally with the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants, Kinnara, True Concord, EXO Choir, Chorosynthesis, Chantry, and The District Eight.

In opera, Crossley has performed such roles as Dido/Dido and Aeneas, Giannetta/L’Elisir d’Amore, Drusilla/L’Incoronazione di Poppea, and Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro. Other operatic highlights include Adele/Die Fledermaus, Suor Dolcina/Suor Angelica, Amahl/Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Serpina/La Serva Padrona. She has participated in numerous noteworthy events throughout her career, including performing for a wedding at the White House, singing David Lang’s the little match girl passion with the composer in attendance, performing in chamber choirs for two Popes, and serving as cantor at Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral.

Crossley has performed across seven different countries throughout her career. She is currently employed at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Washington National Cathedral. In addition, Crossley served as Project Manager and ensemble singer for Experiential Orchestra’s GRAMMY-winning premiere recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison. She is an Artistic Director of Bridge Voices, a vocal chamber ensemble specializing in new works for voices, and winner of three film festival awards for the original film, America, You’re Beautiful.

Crossley shares her passion for music with her husband Allan and her toddler son Ziven, both of whom are skilled conductors.

Anna Marsh (Bassoon) early bassoons and recorders is a multi-instrumentalist fluent in Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Modern styles. Originally from Tacoma, WA, Anna holds a doctorate of music in historical performance from Indiana University and has appeared worldwide with Opera Lafayette, Tempesta di Mare, Folger Consort, Musica Angelica, Tafelmusik, Washington Bach Consort and Atlanta Baroque among others.  She has taught privately & at festivals at the Eastman School of Music, Los Angeles Music and Art School, Amherst Early Music, San Francisco Early Music Society, the Hawai’i Performing Arts Festival & Western Double Reed Workshops.  She also has been heard on dozens of recordings & on Performance Today, Harmonia, CBC radio & recorded for Chandos, Analekta, Centaur, Naxos, the Super Bowl, Avie, and Musica Omnia’s Grammy nominated album, Handel’s Israel in Egypt. www.annamarshmusic.com 

P. Lucy McVeigh (Alto), Baltimore native, is an avid interpreter of early and contemporary music. She currently serves as an alto and enlisted conductor in the United States Army Field Band. McVeigh also enjoys singing with the Washington National Cathedral Choirs, The Washington Bach Consort, Cathedra, and the Folger Consort. McVeigh holds degrees in music from Wellesley College and the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. She is most passionate about bringing new music to life, and in her free time greatly enjoys playing board games and dancing with her husband Clyde and two wonderful kitties, Stevie and Alexis.

Oliver Mercer (Tenor) Described as “excellent,” and “sterling,” by the New York Times, tenor Oliver Mercer performs regularly throughout North America and Europe as a concert soloist, recitalist, and opera singer. A specialist of the Baroque era, he has performed with Glyndebourne Opera Festival, English National Opera, Spoletto Festival USA, Boston Early Music Festival, Opera Theater Company Ireland, Charleston Bach Festival, Savannah Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, IN Series, and Mid Wales Opera. He has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Trinity Wall Street, the Barbican London, Washington National Cathedral, the Kennedy Center, and the Royal Albert Hall. Recent and upcoming engagements include an international tour of Handel’s Solome with the English Concert, his debut with Opera Lafayette, and concerts with the Washington Bach Consort, Folger Consort, the Thirteen, and Clarion Music Society.

A versatile multi-instrumentalist, Dan Meyers is a flexible and engaging performer of both classical and folk music; his credits range from premieres of contemporary chamber music, to headlining a concert series in honor of Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival, to playing Renaissance instruments on Broadway for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Company. He is a founding member of the early music/folk crossover group Seven Times Salt, and in recent seasons he has performed with the The Newberry Consort, Hesperus, The Henry Purcell Society of Boston, Early Music New York, Amherst Early Music, The 21st Century Consort, In Stile Moderno, and the Cambridge Revels, making concert and theatrical appearances in NYC, Washington DC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Memphis, Santa Fe, at the Yellow Barn Festival in Vermont, and at at the “La Luna e i Calanchi” festival in Basilicata (Italy).

Patricia Ann Neely has performed and recorded with many early music ensembles here and abroad, including Sequentia, Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra and Viol Consort, Tempesta di Mare, Washington Bach Consort, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the Folger Consort, Rheinische Kantorei Köln, among others. She currently directs Abendmusik – New York’s Early Music String Band which has released its first recording, Whyte Noyse–The Complete Consorts of William Whyte. She is a member of the Board of Early Music America (EMA) and has been chair of its IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access) Taskforce. She is also on the Board of the Viola da Gamba Society of America and Chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. Ms. Neely has been on the faculty of many early music workshops including the Amherst Early Music Workshop and the Viola da Gamba Society Conclave, and has been on the faculty of Wagner College, Vassar College, Mannes College of Music, and The Brearley School. She holds a BA in music from Vassar College and an MFA in Historical Performance from Sarah Lawrence College.

Ms. Neely is very active in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives in Early Music. She was featured in the inaugural concert of the Gotham Early Music Scene, Inc. Open Gates project, a series dedicated to creating greater access to stages for musicians of color in Early Music, Chair of the Early Music America Idea Task Force (2019-2021) and is currently a member of the board and Chair of the EDI Committee of the Viola da gamba Society of America. Her interview on “Inclusion and Diversity in Early Music in the US,” appears in the Oxford University Press book, Voices for Change In the Classical Music Profession, and was recently interviewed for inclusion in the History Makers – The Digital Repository of the Black Experience. (https://www.thehistorymakers.org/)

Praised for his “powerful baritone and impressive vocal range” (Boston Music Intelligencer) and as a “musicianly, smooth vocalist, capable in divisions” (Opera News Online), bass-baritone Andrew Padgett is an accomplished interpreter of early music from medieval to baroque repertoire. He has worked with several early music luminaries including Masaaki Suzuki, Benjamin Bagby, and Paul O’Dette, and has been featured as a soloist in concert venues worldwide, such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, NYC, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and the Esplanade Concert Hall in his hometown, Singapore. He is a frequent collaborator with ensembles such as TENET, Bach Collegium San Diego, Pegasus Early Music, and Piffaro, both as an ensemble artist and a soloist.

Andrew has been a featured soloist on a number of recently-released recordings, including Fortuna Antiqua et Ultra and Medieval Song from Aristotle to Opera with Concordian Dawn, and The Music of Gerre Hancock with The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys.

Andrew holds a B.S. in physics, an M.M. in voice from UC Santa Barbara, and an M.M. in Early Music, Oratorio, and Chamber Ensemble from Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music. After several years in New York City, as a member of the internationally-acclaimed Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, he now lives in Boston with his wife and son, where he frequently sings with Emmanuel Music on their long-running Bach Cantata Series, under the direction of Ryan Turner. In his free time, Andrew enjoys miniature painting and homebrewing.

Cameron Welke (Lute) spends most of his time explaining to well-meaning strangers that the lute is, in fact, quite a different instrument from the flute. He brings a passionate curiosity and a deep creative drive to all manner of historical plucked instruments, which he plays with “expert technical dexterity, consummate phrasing and endearing expressivity” (Chestnut Hill Local). Past and current engagements include performances with the Washington Bach Consort, Tempesta di Mare, the Folger Consort, the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Early Music City, and Hesperus. In 2022, he gave the first lute masterclasses to ever take place in the Dominican Republic through La Foundation de Conciertos de la Villa de Santo Domingo. He explores repertoire for two baroque lutes in Duo Silvio with duo partner Richard Stone; the two gave the modern premiere of Stone’s reconstructions of lute duets by Sylvius Leopold Weiss in the fall of 2019. 

Cameron began his musical life as a classical violinist and a rock and jazz guitarist. He holds a B.M. in classical guitar performance from Belmont University, where he studied with Francis Perry and John Pell, and a M.M. in historical performance on lute and theorbo from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Richard Stone. He currently teaches lute at Grinnell College and lives in Richmond, VA.