ABOUT THE FOUNDERS
Holly Chatham
Holly Chatham is a performer of wide range and skill, sought after for her continuo and improvisational skills on early keyboards as well as her virtuosity on the modern piano. An "elegantly florid" (San Francisco Classical Voice) player and a "leader in the field" (Counterpoint), Ms. Chatham is hailed as possessing "a wonderful improvisational flair" (Atlanta Early Music News) on the keyboard. She has played under directors such as Jos van Immerseel, Paul Hillier and Stanley Ritchie, and in such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space (New York), Merkin Hall (New York), Spivey Hall (Atlanta), The Krannert Center at University of Illinois, Schubert Hall (Minneapolis/St. Paul) and Schoenberg Hall at UCLA, to name but a few. She has performed at the Bloomington Early Music Festival, Miami Bach Festival, and at Music in the Vineyards in Napa Valley. She has also performed and been interviewed on WNYC's Soundcheck as well as National Public Radio's programs Performance Today and Harmonia. Ms. Chatham is a founding member of the critically-acclaimed ensemble reconstruction, which combines new commissions with music of the Baroque, aiming to break the boundaries of categorization (www.reconstructionmusic.com - click to visit). Last season found reconstruction performing in such venues as the Lane Series at University of Vermont, Ford Hall at Ithaca College, NY, and The Cutting Room in NYC, and this season the group embarks on a tour of Mexico. Ms. Chatham toured the U.S. extensively as harpsichordist for the ground-breaking ensemble Bimbetta from 1998 until 2003, performing in major concert series throughout the country and giving workshops and master classes at many colleges and universities, including University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), University of California (Chico, Riverside), and University of Washington (Pullman). Bimbetta was chosen to be honored in 2003 for Chamber Music America's Anniversary Concert, featuring ensembles which have changed the face of chamber music in America over the past ten years.
Ms. Chatham received her Master of Music degree in Harpsichord and Fortepiano Performance from the Early Music Institute at Indiana University (Bloomington) where she studied with Elisabeth Wright and Colin Tilney. At IU she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate, the highest honor bestowed upon a music student at IU, and was winner of the Baroque Concerto Competition. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Clayton College and State University (Atlanta), where she studied with George Lucktenberg, Michiko Otaki and Lyle Nordstrom.
Patrick Wood
British-Mexican violinist Patrick Wood studied as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and holds a BA and MA with honors in Modern Languages from Oxford University. He began to play the violin in Mexico City as a pupil of Icilio Bredo, later studying at the Royal Academy and with Erick Friedman and Eugene Drucker in the United States. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed widely throughout the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Italy and Spain.
Mr. Wood is a regular performer with the Berkshire Bach Society, appearing as soloist alongside artists such as Eugene Drucker of the Emerson Quartet, Carol Wincenc, Aldo Abreu and Kenneth Cooper. His chamber and recital performances have been broadcast across the United States on WWFM the Classical Network. Mr. Wood has served as concertmaster of New York Philomusica, is a soloist and Concertmaster for the Vermont Mozart Festival, and performs with the New York Chamber Soloists. From 1989 to 1997, Mr. Wood was a member of The English Mozart Players, as both soloist and Concertmaster with the group in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe.