Chatham Baroque
Friday, June 24th 2022 7:30 PM
Pre-Concert Chat begins at 7:00 PM
Founded in 1990, the ensemble Chatham Baroque consists of Artistic Directors Andrew Fouts (violin), Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba), and Scott Pauley (theorbo & baroque guitar) who invite an array of guest instrumentalists and vocalists for productions of world-class early music performed on period instruments. The group holds a concert series in Pittsburgh, collaborates frequently with opera, theater, and dance companies, and tours nationally and internationally.
About Chatham Baroque
Since its founding in 1990, Chatham Baroque has become “One of the country’s mostdistinguished period ensembles” (Palisadian Post), and “One of Pittsburgh’s greatest treasures” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
The ensemble has toured across the United States as well as in South America and Mexico, the Virgin Islands, and Canada. The New York Times praises their “colorful virtuosity”; the Washington Post calls them “musically impeccable”; the Chicago Tribune, “a splendid period-instruments ensemble”; and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette proclaims, “Pound for pound, you aren’t going to find a better ensemble … than Chatham Baroque,” and “in terms of quality of artistry, Chatham Baroque is comfortably on par with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Opera.” Chatham Baroque’s productions have been repeatedly listed among Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “Ten Best Classical Concerts” and the ensemble was called one of the “Top 50 Cultural Forces in Pittsburgh,” serving as ambassadors for early music in Pittsburgh both nationally and abroad.
Led by Co-Artistic Directors Andrew Fouts (violin), Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba), and Scott Pauley (lute, theorbo, baroque guitar), Chatham Baroque prides itself on its commitment to the Pittsburgh region. It is Ensemble-in-Residence at WQED-FM and Calvary Episcopal Church, and its scope of work has been substantially broadened in recent years by exciting collaborations with Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera, Renaissance & Baroque, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, and Attack Theatre. Chatham Baroque also gives free family concerts at public libraries, presents its children’s series Peanut Butter & Jam Sessions, and participates in other various community and early childhood events.
The ensemble continues to thrive with a full calendar of concerts, tours, and musical collaborations, and has recorded ten critically acclaimed CDs, the latest of which is No Holds Barred: Stylus Fantasticus Sonatas and Suites of Biber, Schmelzer, Bertali & Schein.
Artistic Directors Biographies
Andrew Fouts (violin) joined Chatham Baroque in 2008. In performance with the ensemble he has been noted for his “mellifluous sound and sensitive style” (Washington Post) and as “an extraordinary violinist” who exhibits “phenomenal control” (Bloomington Herald-Times), while the Lincoln Journal-Star wrote that his “talent challenges the top soloists of today’s classical stage.” In 2008 Andrew won first prize at the American Bach Soloists’ International Baroque Violin Competition. In addition to Chatham Baroque, he regularly appears with The Four Nations Ensemble, Apollo’s Fire, and Ars Lyrica. Since 2010 Andrew has served as concertmaster with the Washington Bach Consort, in performance with which the Washington Post has written “Fouts, the group’s new concertmaster, was exemplary on the highest part, playing with clean intonation and radiant tone.” He has taught at the Madison Early Music Festival and the Oficina de Música de Curitiba, Brazil, and can be heard on recordings with Chatham Baroque, American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Musik Ekklesia, and Alarm Will Sound. His principal teachers include Charles Castleman at the Eastman School of Music and Stanley Ritchie at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Andrew enjoys biking, yoga, and vainly trying to win the affections of stray cats, and working on his old house.
Patricia Halverson (violone, viola da gamba), holds a doctoral degree in Early Music Performance Practice from Stanford University. She studied viol with Martha McGaughey while at Stanford, and following the completion of her D.M.A., continued her studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague. A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Patricia is a founding member of Chatham Baroque. Recent collaborations outside of Chatham Baroque include concerts with Four Nations, The Rose Ensemble, Empire Viols, J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Sixth Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Bach passion performances with Baldwin-Wallace University, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Patty has taught recorder and viol at summer workshops including the Madison Early Music Festival, Early Music Mideast and the Viola da Gamba Society of America’s annual Conclave.
Outside of music, Patricia enjoys gardening, baking sourdough bread, jigsaw puzzling.
Scott Pauley (theorbo, archlute, baroque guitar) holds a doctoral degree in Early Music Performance Practice from Stanford University. Before settling in Pittsburgh in 1996 to join Chatham Baroque, he lived in London for five years, where he studied with Nigel North at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. There he performed with various early music ensembles, including the Brandenburg Consort, The Sixteen, and Florilegium. He won prizes at the Early Music Festival Van Vlaanderen in Brugge and at the Van Wassenaer Competition in Amsterdam. In North America Scott is a regular guest artist with The Four Nations Ensemble, and has also performed with Opera Lafayette, Tempesta di Mare, The Folger Consort, The Toronto Consort, and Hesperus and has soloed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He has performed in Baroque opera productions as a continuo player, both in the USA and abroad. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, with the acclaimed British ensemble, the English Concert.
Scott has been renovating an 1880s townhouse in Pittsburgh for the past two years and enjoys playing tennis.
Guest Artist Biographies
Atlanta native Evan Few (violin) has established himself as a leader in his generation of historical performance specialists, having studied and performed repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Gershwin on period instruments. An assertive, collaborative instrumentalist, he is equally adept as music director, orchestral musician, and chamber soloist and has performed on stages across the globe with some of its most esteemed early music ensembles, including Anima Eterna Brugge, Bach Collegium Japan, and the Taverner Consort. Evan is a core member of Apollo’s Fire and the Carmel Bach Festival; Associate Concertmaster and Artistic Administrator of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra; frequent guest of Chatham Baroque and Four Nations Ensemble; and co- founder of Filament, featured in Early Music America’s 2021 showcase of Emerging Artists.
Evan received his principal violin training at Oberlin College as a pupil of Marilyn McDonald, and pursued further studies in string quartet performance at Rice University and in baroque violin at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag. He has participated in the making of numerous recordings available from Accent, CPO, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and Zig-Zag Territoires. His violin was built for him in 2010 by Matthieu Besseling of Amsterdam, modeled after early Stradivarius examples; he plays with baroque bows by Luis Emilio Rodriguez Carrington (2011) and Thomas Pitt (2016).
Evan lives in Philadelphia and is a devoted home cook and yogi.
Over the last decade, Edwin Huizinga (violin), has crossed many borders and boundaries as an artist around the world. Finding new and unique ways to connect with audiences performing in different genres, on different stages and platforms, and always striving to commit and connect with the community. Huizinga is a founding member of ACRONYM a world-renowned baroque ensemble, and Fire & Grace, which gives him the opportunity to share modern baroque premieres, new arrangements, and compositions with the musical community.
Huizinga has recently become the Artistic Director of the Sweetwater Music Festival and is also on the Artistic Leadership team of the Carmel Bach Festival. Huizinga loves to compose and works with a vast number of artists in the world of rock and roll, the world of ambient music, as well as working with Baroque Opera company, Opera Atelier on some contemporary compositions that contain a certain amount of reverence to that of the baroque as well.
Joshua Stauffer (theorbo, baroque guitar) is a restless creative who performs music from over four centuries on a variety of plucked instruments. He began his career as an electric guitarist performing jazz and improvised music, before transitioning to the classical guitar via contemporary works and chamber music. His diverse musical interests converged when he encountered the theorbo, a large lute which performs primarily basso continuo, or improvised accompaniment, in chamber and orchestral works from the 17th and early 18th centuries.
A keen interest in musical collaboration has taken Joshua across the United States and around the globe, including concerts in Thailand, New Zealand, England, France, Switzerland, and Canada. He is a founding member and the executive director of Time Canvas, an ensemble dedicated to performing early music and new compositions on period instruments. Recent orchestral appearances include Portland Baroque Orchestra, Atlanta Baroque, and Ruckus, and performances as a guest artist at the Juilliard School, the Orchestra Now at Bard College, and the Festival de música de Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Joshua received his Master of Music in historical plucked instruments at The Juilliard School in New York City. Previous studies include a Master of Music in classical guitar in the studio of Jason Vieaux at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in jazz guitar at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Outside of music, Joshua is an avid runner and enjoys working on open source software.