The World of Early Music Instruments
Discover the sounds of historical performance through this mini-documentary and performance series featuring selections from Early Music Vancouver’s Instrument Collection, played by guest artists and musicians from the Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Filmed by Collide Entertainment
Lucas Harris on the unique characteristics of the theorbo, or chitarrone
Theorbist Lucas Harris demonstrates the unique characteristics of theorbo, and reveals how the instrument is most commonly used in Renaissance and Baroque music.
Lucas Harris, theorbo
Toronto-based Lucas Harris discovered the lute during his undergraduate studies at Pomona College, and went on to study the lute and early music at the Civica scuola di musica di Milano and at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. He is a founding member of the Toronto Continuo Collective, the Vesuvius Ensemble and the Lute Legends Collective (an association of specialists in ancient plucked-string traditions from diverse cultures) and is the regular lutenist for Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Lucas plays with many other ensembles in Canada and the USA and has worked with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Atalante, and Jordi Savall / Le Concert des Nations amongst others.
He teaches at the Tafelmusik Summer and Winter Baroque Institutes, Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute, and the Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School, and is a regular guest artist with Early Music Vancouver. Lucas is also the Artistic Director of the Toronto Chamber Choir, for which he has created and conducted more than twenty themed concert programs. One of Mr. Harris’ many pandemic projects was the reconstruction of 12 solo voice motets by the Italian nun Chiara Margarita Cozzolani.
Keyboardist Mélisande McNabney demonstrates unique characteristics of EMV’s Graf fortepiano copy
Keyboardist Mélisande McNabney shares the unique characteristics of EMV’s Graf fortepiano, built by Paul McNulty, explaining how it differs from a harpsichord and modern piano.
Mélisande McNabney, fortepiano
Mélisande McNabney performs keyboard music of all periods, on harpsichord, piano and fortepiano. In August 2015, she received the third prize at the International Competition Musica Antiqua in Bruges, Belgium. Very active on the concert scene, Ms. McNabney is regularly invited as a soloist in series such as Série Jacques Dansereau at Bourgie Hall or with distinguished ensembles including Les Violons du Roy, Montreal Bach Festival Orchestra, Les Idées heureuses, the Theater of Early Music and Ensemble Caprice.
She is a member of Pallade Musica and ensemble Les Songes, with whom she took part in numerous tours of Canada and the USA. In January 2019, she released her debut solo album, Inspirations : D’Anglebert, Forqueray, Rameau which received 5 Diapasons from the famous French magazine.In addition to her performing activities, Ms. McNabney is also a researcher in the field of performance practices and has presented at conferences such as the Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music in Birmingham, UK.She is a graduate of the Amsterdam Conservatory where she studied harpsichord, continuo and fortepiano under Bob van Asperen and Richard Egarr. In 2017, she received a Doctorate degree at McGill University under the guidance of Hank Knox and Tom Beghin.
Nate Helgeson on the baroque bassoon and its unique characteristics
Nate Helgeson demonstrates the unique characteristics of the baroque bassoon on his Guntram Wolf, Kronach, Germany 2011 after HKICW, ca. 1700 instrument.
