|
Biography:
The Baltimore Consort was founded in 1980 to perform the repertory for Elizabethan consort, a specific instrumentation consisting of treble viol, flute, lute, cittern, bandora and bass viol. Familiarity with English music quickly led to an interest in broadside ballads and in Scottish airs and dances. A program of Scottish music was first presented in 1983, shortly after the Consort's New York debut in the Music Before 1800 series. In 1985 a program entitled "The Ballad Monger" explored the relationship between 'folk' and 'art' music in England and incorporated a virginal into the ensemble. Since that time, the Baltimore Consort has concentrated on British, French, and Italian music of the 16th and 17th centuries, with special attention to improvising and creating arrangements in the style of that period.
Christmas concerts have expanded the instrumentarium to include consorts
of recorders, viols, and crumhorns, together with a variety of plucked instruments, organ, and virginal. The Consort's first Christmas CD, Bright Day Star [DOR-90198], was re-released in 1996.
The Baltimore Consort has toured extensively in the U.S.A. and, in 1992,
initiated European touring with appearances in Vienna and Regensburg at the Tage Alter Musik Festival. The Consort and its members have been heard on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and Performance Today, as well as MPR's St. Paul Sunday Morning.
Billboard magazine named The Baltimore Consort one of the Top Classical
Crossover Artists for 1993. The Art of the Bawdy Song and Custer LaRue Sings the Dæmon Lover were listed as two of the Top Classical Crossover Albums of 1993.
The Baltimore Consort personnel are:
Mary Anne Ballard - treble and bass viols, rebec
Mark Cudek - cittern, Baroque guitar, tenor viol, tenor recorder
Custer LaRue - soprano
Larry Lipkis - viol, soprano recorder
Ronn McFarlane - lute
Chris Norman - wooden flutes, bagpipe
Management/Representative:
Joanne Rile Artists Management Inc.,
100 Old York Road, Benson East, Suite 1206,
Jenkintown PA 19046-4609
Tel: (215) 885-6400 / Fax: (215) 885-9929
| Discography: |
| [DOR-90023] | The Best of The Baltimore Consort • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90139] | On the Banks of Helicon - Early Music of Scotland • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90142] | Watkins Ale - Music of the English Renaissance • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90155] | The Art of the Bawdy Song (Purcell, Weelkes, Blow, D'Urfey, et al.) **Parental Advisory** • The Baltimore Consort & The Merry Companions |
| [DOR-90174] | Custer LaRue Sings the Dæmon Lover - Traditional Ballads & Songs of England, Scotland & America • Custer LaRue, Soprano / The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90177] | La Rocque 'n' Roll - Popular Music of Renaissance France • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90198] | Bright Day Star - Music for the Yuletide Season - Old Carols and Dance Tunes from the British Isles, Germany & Appalachia • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90235] | Tunes from the Attic - A 15th Anniversary Celebration • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90238] | A Trip to Killburn - Playford Tunes and their Ballads • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90252] | The Ladyes Delight - Entertainment Music of Elizabethan England • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90279] | The Mad Buckgoat - Ancient Music of Ireland • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-90314] | Adew Dundee - Early Music of Scotland • The Baltimore Consort |
| [DOR-98101] | A Baltimore Consort Collection (3 Disc Boxed Set, Includes: DOR-90139 / DOR-90142 / DOR-90177) • The Baltimore Consort |
| [XCD-90296] | Amazing Grace • Custer LaRue / The Baltimore Consort |
|
