Rameau & the Art of Dance
Guest artists
Robert Mealy
Guest Director & violinist
Robert Mealy is one of America’s most prominent Baroque violinists. The New York Times commented that “Mr. Mealy seems to foster excellence wherever he goes;” the New Yorker has called him “New York’s world-class early music violinist.” Mr. Mealy began exploring early music in high school, first with the collegium of UC Berkeley and then at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied harpsichord and baroque violin. While still an undergraduate at Harvard College, he was asked to join the Canadian baroque orchestra Tafelmusik; after graduating, he began to perform with Les Arts Florissants. Since then, he has recorded and toured with a wide range of distinguished early music ensembles both in America and Europe, and led orchestras for Masaaki Suzuki, William Christie, Andrew Parrott, Paul Agnew, Nicholas McGegan, and Helmuth Rilling, among many others. As Orchestra Director for the Boston Early Music Festival, he has led the BEMF orchestra in festival productions, international tours, and Grammy-award-winning recordings for over a decade. In New York City, he is principal concertmaster at Trinity Wall Street, where he has led all of Bach’s cantatas and many Handel oratorios. A devoted chamber musician, he co-directs Quicksilver, an ensemble exploring the virtuosic music of the seventeenth century. Their recordings and festival appearances have delighted audiences across America. In 2018 he made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall. He has appeared at international music festivals from Berkeley to Belgrade and from Melbourne to Edinburgh, and is a regularly featured artist at Les Jardins de William Christie.
Caroline Copeland
Dancer
Caroline Copeland is an embodied dance historian, choreographer, and educator. She is an associate director with the New York Baroque Dance Company, performing with the troupe throughout the US and Europe, most notably at Stockholm’s Drottningholm Theater, the International Händelfestspiele Göttingen, Danspace at St. Mark’s Theater (NY), the Guggenheim Museum, and the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival. Ms. Copeland is also a featured performer and choreographer for Boston Early Music Festival, where her credits for choreography include Steffani Niobe, Handel Almira, Campra Le Carnaval de Venise, and Monteverdi Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria. Her creative collaborations in opera, concert dance, and education include projects with Opera Lafayette, Musica Angelica, Cantata Profana, Merz Trio, and Juilliard415, and her choreography has been presented at the historic Federal Hall in downtown Manhattan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Public Theater, Alice Tully Hall/Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and the Philipszaal in the Hague. She received a MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College and is currently on the dance faculties of Hofstra University and SUNY Purchase as well as a guest lecturer for Juilliard’s Historical Performance program.
Julian Donahue
Dancer
Julian Donahue is a choreographer and dancer based in Brooklyn. Julian has danced with New York Theatre Ballet since 2018, performing masterworks by Antony Tudor, Merce Cunningham, Jerome Robbins, José Limón, and many others. Julian also specializes in baroque, renaissance, and folk dance forms, performing with New York Baroque Dance Company and Boston Early Music Festival. He has performed baroque dance at Lincoln Center and at the Kennedy Center, and started dancing with Ellen Cornfield in October 2024. In 2021, Julian founded Julian Donahue Dance to create and showcase dances that express transformational political ideas, tell stories, and expand the public imagination. His choreography has been presented at the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, Battery Dance Festival, and more.
Performers
Caroline Copeland and Julian Donahue, dancers
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra with Juilliard415
Directed by Robert Mealy
Program
Music from Zaïs, Naïs and other operas by Rameau and Marais
Rebel Les caractères de la danse
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