Julia McKenzie, violin, co-director
A versatile performer on both historical and modern violins, Julia McKenzie enjoys a varied musical life. She specializes in period performance with the Handel+Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and other period music ensembles; performs with numerous modern orchestras and choruses; arranges and performs music with Shelter Music Boston for audiences in homeless shelters; and dabbles in jazz, blues, and rock in performances and recording sessions with area bands and touring musicians. Favorite musical experiences past and present include productions with Melodic Vision and other multi-media groups, period instrument lecture-demonstrations, music festival tours in Europe, Mexico, and the U.S., and teaching students of all ages. Vivian Montgomery, harpsichord, co-director Vivian Montgomery, DMA, is an award-winning harpsichordist and fortepianist on the early music faculty of the Longy School of Music. She was a 2014 Fulbright Senior Scholar in England, a recipient of a Solo Recitalist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. With degrees from the University of Michigan and Case Western Reserve University, she served as on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music from 2003 through 2013 and has been director of the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition since 2009. Winner of First Distinction at the Warsaw International Harpsichord Competition, Vivian's performing life for 25 years has encompassed concerto solos, solo recitals, chamber music performances, and vocal accompanying work throughout the United States. Her work on little-known piano music for domestic use, especially in Antebellum America, is exemplified by the upcoming Centaur Records release entitled Brilliant Variations on Sentimental Songs. Vivian has ardently explored the musical lives of women from 1500 to 1900, especially through two decades of cross-disciplinary work with her ensemble, Cecilia’s Circle (ccircle.org). Recordings of music by Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (2005) and Barbara Strozzi (upcoming) by the group are on the Centaur label, and other recordings can be found on 10,000 Lakes (Schubert Club) and Innova labels. She holds a post as a Resident Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center (brandeis.edu/wsrc/), where she is founder and co-chair of the Women and Music Mix, an important vehicle for advocacy, concert presentation, and funding of female composers. Vivian’s work as a conductor has led to engagements directing baroque opera, orchestras, and choirs in the midwest and in her current residence, Boston. She is also an accordion player, and can be heard with her clarinetist son Ezra Morrison as leaders of the band Shir Chutzpa at Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland. They live in Medford with Vivian’s husband (Ezra’s father) John Howell Morrison, composer and Longy faculty member. |
Julia McKenzie
violin, co-director Vivian Montgomery harpsichord, co-director Carrie Cheron, vocalist Pamela Murray, vocalist Na’ama Lion, flutist Sarah Paysnick, flutist Sheera Strick, flutist Fiona Last, oboist Diane Heffner, clarinetist/chalumeauist Jeffrey Stock, recorder Danilo Bonina, violinist Lisa Brooke, violinist Yi-Li Chang, violinist Julia McKenzie, violinist Sylvia Schwartz, violinist Jesse Scott, violinist Anna Griffis, violist Lauren Nelson, violist Roy Rudolph, violist Elizabeth Westner, violist Sarah Freiberg, cellist Denise Fan, cellist Colleen McGary-Smith, cellist Carol Lewis, violist da gamba Anne Trout, bassist |