Behind the Musik: Midsummer Follies

John Abberger

Oboe

John Abberger, one of North America’s leading performers on historical oboes, has been the principal oboist with Tafelmusik since 1989. He has performed extensively in North America, Europe, and the Far East, and appears regularly with other prominent period-instrument ensembles, including American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Voltaire, Handel and Haydn Society, and Boston Baroque. His recording of the Concerto for Oboe by Alessandro Marcello with Tafelmusik was glowingly reviewed by Gramophone Magazine as “one of the best there is” and “alone worth the price of the disc, even if you have other versions.” In addition to many recordings with Tafelmusik and other period instrument ensembles, he has produced and recorded two discs of concertos and suites by J.S. Bach. Released on the Analekta label, the recordings have received much critical acclaim, including selection as CD of the Month by the German magazine Toccata/Alte Musik Actuell for the recording of orchestral suites. John serves on the faculty at the University of Toronto, and has taught at Western University, and the City College of New York. John is also Artistic Director of the Toronto Bach Festival, an annual 3-day festival devoted to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

A native of Orlando, Florida, he received his training at the Juilliard School and Louisiana State University. In addition, he holds a Performers Certificate in Early Music from New York University.

Geneviève Gilardeau

Violin

Geneviève Gilardeau has been a core member of Tafelmusik since 1999. She has been featured as a soloist several times with the group, in recordings of concertos by Vivaldi and Leclair, and in concert playing concertos by Bach and Telemann. She was introduced to baroque performance practice by the violinist and conductor Jean-François Rivest, at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Chicoutimi and at the Université de Montréal, where she obtained her Master’s degree. A core member of Les Violons du Roy from 1995 to 1998, she commuted during those years from Quebec City to Toronto in order to study baroque violin with Jeanne Lamon at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory. Geneviève also performs with several groups in Toronto (Aradia, Toronto Consort, Classical Consort) and in Montreal (Masques, Les voix humaines). With her husband, lutenist Lucas Harris, she released the CD The Bach-Weiss Sonata. She is the proud mother of 11-year-old Daphnée Gilardeau Harris.

Michael Unterman

Cello

Michael Unterman, a cellist born and raised in Vancouver, BC, is a recent addition to Tafelmusik’s roster, joining the orchestra in January of 2023. Having spent the better part of 20 years studying and working in the Northeast US, he is overjoyed to be back north of the border and playing with this phenomenal ensemble! Michael is also a core member of the string chamber orchestra A Far Cry and serves as principal cellist of Boston Baroque, earning Grammy nominations with both groups in 2019. Of late he has performed and recorded with ensembles including Arion Baroque Orchestra, the Cramer Quartet, Ensemble Caprice, the Knights, Ruckus, and the Thirteen, and has enjoyed past stints as a member of the Portland Baroque Orchestra and as Artistic Director of Five Boroughs Music Festival, where he worked to present chamber music in venues across New York City. Behind-the-scenes work has been an important part of Michael’s musical life, having undertaken roles in fundraising, artistic planning, and curation for 5BMF and A Far Cry, and leading to programs that have been praised as “just the kind of imaginative artistic agenda that more groups should be prodded to try” (The Boston Globe), and “gorgeous and remarkably unified” (Washington Post).

Michael studied at the New England Conservatory and The Juilliard School with Laurence Lesser, Natasha Brofsky, and Phoebe Carrai, and was a Fulbright Scholar to Barcelona, Spain, where he studied with Lluis Claret and Quartetto Casals. His early mentors and musical role models include his longtime cello teacher Judy Fraser, his quartet coach violinist Heilwig von Koenigslow, his mother and pianist-collaborator Kathy Bjorseth, and Tom and Isobel Rolston, the former directors of the Banff Centre, all of whom instilled an enduring drive to bring about and preserve nurturing spaces for music and musicians.

Jonathan Stuchbery

Guitar & lute

Jonathan is a specialist in period instruments of the lute and guitar family based in Toronto, ON. He is praised for his “energizing precision” (The Whole Note) and “wistful lute performance” (La Scena Musicale), while showcasing creative and engaging programming. A graduate of the Schulich School of Music recognized for outstanding achievement in lute, and of the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya he is a regular performer in Canada’s early music scene, performing with ensembles including, Tafelmusik, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Theatre of Early Music, Capella Intima, and Aureas Voces. He is the lutenist with Duo Oriana, who’s album ‘How Like a Golden Dream’ is available under the Leaf Music Label.