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Biographies Continued
Judas Maccabeus
Performances: November 15, 16 and 17

ELIZABETH AXTELL, horn, delights in sharing the period instrument ethos with audiences across the country. Her engagements include Handel & Haydn Society, American Bach Soloists, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Austin Philharmonie, San Diego Bach Collegium, Opera Neo, Carmel Bach Festival, Staunton Music Festival, Vespers at Holy Trinity NYC, Arpeggione, La Speranza, Portland Bach Experience, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Three Notch’d Road, Big Moose Bach Festival, and more. She teaches natural horn at the New England Conservatory and also performs on modern horn in the greater Boston area.
Off stage, Ms. Axtell is an entrepreneur of unconventional ensembles; founding projects include Grand Harmonie, a wind-led period instrument orchestra, and Conica, a natural horn quartet. She has proudly supported community music organizations through service as a board member of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony and as a president of the New England Brass Band. Born in Montana, raised in the Pacific Northwest, and educated in Minnesota, she resides in Boston and Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

Originally from Medford, Oregon, flautist COURTNEY BADURA showed an interest in music from a young age, whether it be hitting keys on the piano or squeaking away on her mother’s old violin. Her love for the flute began on the very first day of 6th-grade band class. Despite not being able to make a noise at first, she quickly found her voice and her passion for making music. She went on to be accepted into the flute performance program at the University of Southern California, where she spent two years studying under Jim Walker.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Ms. Badura chose to take a leave of absence from USC for the academic year. During that time she studied with Diana Morgan as a member of DM Flute Studio. She then finished her bachelor’s in Flute Performance under Christina Jennings at CU-Boulder, where she won the 2022 CU Honors Concerto Competition.
After graduating she moved to the Netherlands, where she began a master’s program in Classical Flute at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. She has since moved back to Boulder and is working as a preschool teacher while pursuing a degree in Psychology and Molecular Biology at CU-Boulder. Ms. Badura continues to find ways to keep music prominent in her life and close to her heart, as shown by her work with Seicento.
Soprano Section Leader and Colorado native MO BAILEY is a dynamic performer specializing in musical theater, early and new music. Most recently, she played the role of a lifetime, Diana, in Brian Yorkey’s and Tom Kitt’s Next to Normal, and will be playing Rosalie Mullins in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s School of Rock next March. She also regularly performs with the Colorado Bach Ensemble, Ars Nova Singers, and now Seicento. 
In addition to her work as a solo and choral artist, she spent many years as the resident soprano of Solis, a Boulder-based quintet that specialized in Renaissance vocal music and newly commissioned works from composers around the world. With Solis, Ms. Bailey performed at the Paramount Theatre alongside Jónsi (Sigur Rós) and Alex for the nationwide tour of their renowned album, Riceboy Sleeps, and can be heard on the soundtrack of the critically acclaimed new Adam Sandler film, Uncut Gems. 
Highlights of her solo career include the roles of Zerlina in an all-female production of Don Giovanni, Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante, First Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and Jenny in Ned Rorem’s Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters, among others, and solo work with the Ars Nova Singers. She received her bachelor’s degree in horn performance and economics from De Pauw University and completed her master’s degree in Vocal Performance at CU-Boulder in 2018 under the tutelage of Abigail Nims.
Trumpeter LUKE BALSLOV, a native of Long Island, New York, regularly performs around the country on both modern and baroque trumpets. In New York, he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Performance at Stony Brook University, studying privately with Kevin Cobb. He began baroque trumpet studies with Kris Kwapis, and later attended the American Bach Soloists Academy and Berwick Academy in Oregon. He has performed with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Boston Baroque, Upper Valley Baroque, Oregon Bach Festival, Staunton Music Festival, Sonnambula, Oklahoma Bach Choir, and others, including as a soloist with Mercury Chamber Orchestra and American Bach Soloists.
While living in Miami, Mr. Balslov was a teaching artist with the Miami Music Project and played regularly with the Miami Symphony and the New World Symphony under conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop, Matthias Pintscher, and Stéphane Denève. He now lives in Houston where he is freelancing and building a private teaching studio.
Oboist ANDREW BLANKE is a prolific performer in the areas of historical and modern practice. He is the principal oboist of Philharmonie Austin and the founder and artistic director of the Harmonie Collective. He also performs with Teatro Nuovo, the Handel and Haydn Society, Tempesta di Mare, Upper Valley Baroque, and the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra, to name a few. He holds performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School. Andrew lives in New York City where he often programs concerts and wanders the city with an air of tasteful melancholy.
EMILY ANNE BOWMAN, viola, is an active performer and educator. Ms. Bowman is a founding member and principal violist of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and has performed as guest artist with Montana Early Music Festival, Wyoming Baroque, Parish House Baroque, Seicento Baroque Ensemble, Baroque Out of Bounds, and the Early Music Happy Hour Chamber Concert series. She especially enjoys working with young musicians as Artistic Director of the Greater Boulder Youth Orchestra and conductor of the GBYO Philharmonic, as faculty with Boulder Suzuki Strings and formerly as Music Director at Shining Mountain Waldorf School. Ms. Bowman has been recognized with the “Exemplary Teacher” award four times by the American Strings Teachers Association of Colorado. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Viola Performance from the University of Colorado, receiving the Gabor Ormai Viola Award. She lives with her husband in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, where in addition to making music she spends mornings as a post-partum doula.
Violinist STACEY BRADY currently resides in Broomfield, Colorado, where she actively performs on both baroque and modern violin. She has participated in early music ensembles since 1997 when she joined St. Mary’s Chamber Orchestra as Concertmaster. She has been a member of the highly acclaimed Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado since its inception in 2005 and has played with Seicento Baroque Ensemble since its first concert in 2011. Ms. Brady also enjoys traveling to perform with other groups including North Carolina Baroque Orchestra and Wyoming Baroque. A teacher as well, she maintains a full studio in Broomfield, runs a program for babies and toddlers, and teaches at the University of Northern Colorado. She is excited to be back performing with Seicento.
Hailed for her “memorable” and “beautiful playing” (NY Classical Review and Opera News), flutist and recorder player extraordinaire KELSEY BURNHAM lives and loves to perform. From the countryside of France to the black sand beaches of New Zealand, Kelsey’s career has taken
her all over the world with ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Juilliard 415, Teatro Nuovo,
the Handel and Haydn Society, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and more. She is frequently a guest
artist and lecturer, specializing in historical and modern instruments from the 1600s onwards. 
In addition to being a recording, performing, and collaborating artist, Ms. Burnham teaches a full studio and holds a position in the Peabody Conservatory’s Preparatory Program. 
As a Baltimore native, she finds it very important to give back to the community she came from and work closely with students who may come from disadvantaged backgrounds like herself.
MICHAEL HOLMES (horn) has always been active across a wide spectrum of musical pursuits. After spending much of his early career performing as a modern hornist in numerous professional orchestras, his pursuits expanded toward conducting and early music. His artistic focus in North America deals primarily with historic music performance practice. From 2000 to 2010, he served as the music director of the Orchestra of the 17th-Century, and was co-founder and artistic director of the Washington Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble since 1997.
Mr. Holmes has also performed on numerous historic instruments and as a vocalist with such ensembles as Piffaro, the Boston Shawm and Sackbut Ensemble, Artek, Stylus Luxurians, the Washington Bach Consort, the Bach Sinfonia, Musica Antiqua, Ensemble Croesus, Teatro Nuovo, and Abendmusiken at the Amherst Early Music Festival. In 2001–2002, he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to live in Helsinki, Finland in order to research Sibelius’s life and works. While in Finland, he toured worldwide with the renowned male voice choir Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat.
Mr. Holmes has degrees in Music Theory / Composition (BM) from James Madison University, and in Orchestral Conducting (MM) from Virginia Commonwealth University, and PhD studies in Musicology at the University of Maryland, College Park. He currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland.
Cellist JOSEPH HOWE’s passion for historical performance has led to regular appearances with American Bach Soloists in San Francisco (including as a soloist), Boulder Bach Festival, and a recent performance at the Smithsonian Beethoven
Institute in Washington, D.C. He serves as principal cello of the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has appeared as concerto soloist, and associate principal cello of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.
He has also recently performed with
Oregon Bach Festival, Colorado Symphony, and Opera Colorado. As a chambermusician, Mr. Howe performs with Front Range Chamber Players, Chintimini Chamber Music Festival in Oregon, and Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival in NorthernCalifornia.
He cares deeply about music education, and he maintains a studio of young
cellists.
Trumpeter JENS JACOBSEN is based in Superior, Montana, where he teaches elementary music. In addition to teaching, he regularly performs on modern and baroque trumpet with ensembles in Montana and around the United States. He currently holds the second trumpet position with the Missoula Symphony and is a regularly featured soloist with the Bitterroot Baroque ensemble based in Hamilton, Montana.
Mr. Jacobsen completed bachelor’s degrees in trumpet performance, K-12 music education, and human biology at the University of Montana, and received his masters in trumpet performance from Indiana University where he studied baroque trumpet with Dr. Kris Kwapis. He plays on an Egger all-historic four-hole baroque trumpet inspired by Johann Wilhelm Haas (Nuremberg, 1649-1723).
 
Violinist GRANT JOHNSON’s musical career began early. He started violin at age four, piano at six, and organ in college. At age 10 he became a member of the renowned Minnesota Boychoir, and with them toured and recorded extensively. As a violinist he has played with many orchestras around the country and was concertmaster for multiple orchestras while in school at the University of Minnesota. He plays regularly with many Colorado ensembles including the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Boulder Philharmonic, Fort Collins Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, and frequently serves as guest concertmaster with the Boulder Symphony.
As an organist, Mr. Johnson has been a featured performer for the American Guild of Organists. He is currently Executive Director of St. Martin’s Chamber Choir in Denver. He was previously a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for three seasons. Prior to that, he spent two years with the Phoenix Symphony as Assistant Librarian. He has also held library positions with the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, Aspen Music Festival, and was Interim Executive Director for the Reading Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Grant has worked in various capacities with many of the top orchestras around the country including the Atlanta Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
A native of Paris, France, violinist BRUNE MACARY has been an active performer in the Boulder area for the past 11 years. Specializing in Baroque music, she is a member of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado as well as the Boulder Bach Festival. She regularly performs with Seicento Baroque Ensemble, the Colorado Chamber Players, and Parish House Baroque. Besides her playing on period instruments, she is the Principal Second with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, a member of Sphere Ensemble, and the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra. She maintains an active studio of violin and viola students in Nederland, where she lives with her husband and two children.

WESLEY MILLER, trumpet, currently teaches and performs as a freelancer in the greater Houston area. A Houston native, he received music degrees from Baylor University (BME), Indiana University (MM), and Stony Brook University (DMA). During his tenure in school, he had the opportunity to study with some of the country’s most influential teachers and performers including Wiff Rudd, John Rommel, Raymond Mase, and Kevin Cobb. As an educator, Dr. Miller served as the Associate Instructor of Trumpet at Indiana University, has presented several clinics/master classes, and presently teaches in a trumpet studio with students ranging from all ages.
Dr. Miller is an active performer with many of Houston’s musical organizations including the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Ars Lyrica, Mercury Baroque, and the Houston Chamber Choir. Dr. Miller has performed with many other orchestras around the country that include the Memphis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Austin Symphony, Waco Symphony, New York String Orchestra, and the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Miller currently resides in Katy, Texas, with his beautiful and talented wife Renée (soprano) and their two amazing children Avery and Carson.
Bassoonist KELSEY ANDREW SCHILLING has a busy performance schedule, including regular appearances with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Bach Collegium Fort Wayne, Dallas Bach Society, Mallarmé Chamber Players (Durham), North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Raleigh Camerata, Washington Bach Consort, and the Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra. Additionally, this year marks his debut performances with Piffaro, the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra, and Music of the Regiment.
On shawms, dulcians, crumhorns, and recorders, Mr. Schilling is a founding member of the Renaissance wind ensemble Forgotten Clefs, which has made appearances at the Smithsonian Institution and the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Series, and has been featured on Public Radio International. An avid traveler, he has performed in 33 states and seven different countries on three continents. Additionally, he has recorded for Dorian Sono Luminus, IU Press, and Naxos. He holds degrees in Early Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University.
JOHN ST. CYR is a double bassist, freelance performer, and educator based in Boulder, Colorado. An active orchestral performer, John is a member of the Cheyenne Symphony in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and has performed with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Boulder Symphony, Illinois Symphony, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Millikin-Decatur Symphony, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Collaborative Piano Summer Institute, and the MI Opera summer opera institute. John is also a member of the CU Early Music ensemble and performs regularly on both baroque bass and viola da gamba. John is the founder and artistic director of the Red Bird Bass Ensemble, an ensemble of middle and high school bass students who give pop up performances in central Illinois. John holds dual Master’s degrees in Double Bass Performance from Louisiana State University and String Pedagogy from Illinois State University, and is currently a Doctoral candidate in Double Bass performance at CU-Boulder. When not practicing or performing, John loves vegan cooking and hikes with his black Labrador, Truffle.
JULIA TAYLOR is a violinist, educator, entrepreneur, and life-long learner. Her journey into the baroque violin was nurtured at the University of Colorado Boulder and at music festivals such as the Amherst Early Music Festival. Her major teachers include Sally O’Reilly, Linda Wang, and Charles Wetherbee, while her historical performance approach was further mentored by Robert Hill and Ingrid Matthews. A core member of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, she holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from CU-Boulder, and degrees from the University of Denver and the University of Minnesota. Ms. Taylor’s exploration of a wide range of musical styles is supported by her two cherished instruments: an 1809 Benigno Saccani violin and a 1755 Leopold Widhalm baroque violin. For more information, visit JuliaTaylormusic.com.
MICHAEL TETREAULT, baroque timpani, holds a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and a Master of Music from the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is currently a member of four professional orchestras in the Rocky Mountain region and is also part of the percussion faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder. He has performed domestically and abroad with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Toronto Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Utah Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Roomful of Teeth, Quattro Mani, and Alarm Will Sound, among many others.
WILLIAM THAUER, oboe, has been praised by The Boston Globe for his “elegant oboe playing,” and by Classical Voice of North Carolina for his “masterful technique” and “warm tone.” He is a founding member of the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra and the Bach Cantata Series at Duke Chapel, and performs with the Mallarmé Chamber Players, Zephyr Trio, and Raleigh Camerata. He was recently featured with Bruton Baroque in Virginia, playing the Bach Double Concerto (BWV 1060).
Mr. Thauer has also performed with the Dallas Bach Society, Houston Bach Society, Washington Bach Consort, Baroque & Beyond, Magnolia Baroque, La Fiocco, Bach Society of Charleston, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity (New York), and Grand Harmonie (Massachusetts). While living in Boston, he performed with The Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Concert Royal, and l’Orchestre Baroque de Montréal. He has recorded for the Atma, Reunion Studios, and Virtuosi labels, and has published articles on historical oboes and their repertoire for recordings on the German label, Ars Produktion.
KEVIN WILLE, assistant director and tenor section leader, is a DMA Choral Conducting and Literature student at the University of Colorado Boulder. He has worked with student and adult ensembles in both choral and orchestral music, including the Missoula Community Chorus and the Garden City Strings ensemble in Missoula, Montana. Mr. Wille holds a deep fondness for 16th-century Italian madrigals and is currently creating editions of madrigals by a lesser-known contemporary of Carlo Gesualdo, Pomponio Nenna. When not studying music, he enjoys reading horror novels and hand-making pasta.
Written correspondence

P. O. Box 171, Boulder, CO, United States, 80306

 

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