Medieval – Mountain Collegium

Annette Bauer

Annette Bauer is a recorder player and multi-instrumentalist. Born and raised in Germany, she holds a diploma in medieval and Renaissance music from the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland. From 2001-2012 she called the San Francisco Bay area her home, where she studied sarode and voice in the classical North Indian tradition under Maestro Ali Akbar Khan. In 2004, she completed an M.A. degree in music from the University of California in Santa Cruz. As a freelance musician, she worked with early music ensembles all over the United States, including her own groups Cançoniér, Les Grâces, Farallon Recorder Quartet, and The Lost Mode, and as guest artist for Piffaro, Magnificat, and Texas Early Music Project, among others. From 2012-2020 she toured the world as a musician for Cirque du Soleil’s show TOTEM, performing over 2300 shows across 36 cities, 12 countries, and 4 continents. Annette is now making a new home with her partner and young daughter in Montréal, Quebec. She is currently sharing her love of music by offering online and in person music lessons in her private studio, as well as teaching online workshops for the American Recorder Society and Amherst Early Music, including an ongoing online class on early notation. Annette is the current music director of the North American Virtual Recorder Society (navrs.org), directs the annual San Francisco Early Music Society Recorder summer workshop (sfems.org), and coaches Harmonia, one of the ensembles of the Montreal Recorder Society. In the Montreal music scene, she has performed as a guest artist with Montreal-based medieval women’s ensemble Scholastica, Trio Regard Persan, Projet O of choreographer Sarah Dell’Ava, and with singer-songwriter Juulie Rousseau. In the spring of 2024, she was part of a creative residency at the Centre Des Musiciens du Monde, working on a musical duo project together with Chinese guzheng player Ran Wang, creating a program inspired by the historical silk road.

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FB page: Annette Bauer – musician
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Al Cofrin

Medieval, Renaissance, Renaissance reeds, Renaissance winds

Al Cofrin earned a BA in Jazz Theory & Composition at the University of Texas in the early 1980s. He became interested in medieval music when a professor pointed out that both jazz and medieval monophonic music utilize similar improvisational skills. He continued graduate music studies and worked on a thesis project of medieval monophonic songs and dances resulting in the 1995 publication of pre-15th century transcriptions and a collection of Renaissance dance music. The publication of his work led to the desire to perform the music he had worked with for so long. Istanpitta was born in 1994 and continues to play for concert venues and universities across the country. He has been on faculty for several Early Music related workshops including the Texas Early Music Workshop and San Francisco Early Music Workshop.

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Therese Honey

Folk Music, Harp, Medieval, Renaissance

Childhood fascination with the harp blossomed into an exciting and successful career as a professional harpist and recording artist for this Houston native. As a self-proclaimed “crusader for music of great heritage”, Honey draws on her vast knowledge of early music history and her stunning virtuosity to bring alive for her audiences the incredibly beautiful music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque eras.

Honey’s unique specialization keeps her in demand for lectures, concerts and festival engagements across the United States. With a vast and varied repertoire that includes familiar classical and popular favorites, she is a first choice for performances at social occasions as a soloist or with chamber groups.

Therese Honey delights and entertains her listeners when she performs on any one of her collection of harps, which range in size from the modern gold Concert Grand harp to the ancient Celtic harp.

Therese Honey is a specialist in Celtic and Early harps, with a background in classical pedal harp. Therese tours throughout the United States and in 1997 she performed at the 20th Annual Carolan Festival in Keadue, Co. Roscommon, Ireland.Bristol Renaissance Festival 199

Therese performs early music in the Houston area as well as with the Texas Early Music Project (TEMP). She presents concerts of Medieval and Renaissance music on copies of historical harps and wire-strung and other folk harps of ancient design.

She performs traditional music solo and as a member of Wyndnwyre, with an emphasis on the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and Wales and 13th-century Medieval music. Therese occasionally joins forces with Istanpitta for performances of Medieval music.

She has an active teaching studio in the Houston area and tours throughout the US as a clinician and adjudicator.

In addition to her private studio, Therese teaches workshops on Medieval, Renaissance and Celtic repertoire, arranging and style, and Harp Ensemble. She is a dynamic teacher who inspires and motivates her students to learn more about the harp: its technique, repertoire and history.

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